Kelly Spain and Julie Kurek

Recorded February 16, 2022 Archived February 16, 2022 51:46 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: ddv001409

Description

Kelly Spain [no age given] speaks with her friend and husband's physician, Julie Kurek (44). Kelly talks about the symptoms her husband experiences, the challenges she's faced as a caregiver, and how her and her husband's relationship has evolved as a result of his Parkinson's diagnosis.

Subject Log / Time Code

Kelly (K) and Julie (J) introduce themselves and talk about how they know each other.
K reflects on what has been most surprising in navigating her husband’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. She talks about all the changes she has gone through.
K says sleep is currently a struggle for both her and her husband. She describes how her husband has very vivid dreams and often speaks and acts out his dreams. K says sometimes she doesn’t fall asleep until seven in the morning.
K says her husband was diagnosed when he was thirty-nine years old. She describes how their faith evolved with the diagnosis. Kelly says her faith has waived a little over time. She says she is struggling with some things spiritually and mentally because Parkinson’s has become the center of her and her husband’s life and there is not much room for anything else. K describes a feeling of stagnancy and lack of growth she’s experiencing. K says this is a space she feels many caregivers are at.
K talks about the jobs her and her husband held before his Parkinson’s diagnosis. She expresses her frustration with how her husband was let go from his job. She says it shined a light at how people treat the medically challenged.
K describes how the challenges at work affected her and her husband’s home life.
K discusses the limited resources for younger patients with disabilities She says she was successful in getting resources for her husband as someone with disabilities but not for herself as the caregiver. K says they have both faced additional barriers because they are younger than retirement age. K talks about her struggles in learning of who she is outside of a caretaker.
K paints a picture of how she felt when she cut off her hair. She says when did it, she was thinking, “I don’t have time for me”.
K explains the changes her husband experienced when he took his afternoon medicine. She says he would go into a daze and become very childlike. K says their children did not know how to deal with seeing their dad like that. K talks about how her relationship with her husband has changed.
K talks about her husband’s symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions.
K expresses her gratitude for J’s service in her and husband Parkinson’s journey.
J shares what she has learned from K and her husband.

Participants

  • Kelly Spain
  • Julie Kurek

Partnership

Partnership Type

Fee for Service