Speaker 1: Hi everyone. I'm Holly Robinson, pete, actor, author, advocate, do
Speaker 1: it all mom, and I'm also a caregiver. And this
Speaker 1: is care Walks, a podcast from iHeartRadio and Voltaian Arthritis
Speaker 1: Pain Gel. It's a show for family caregivers who give
Speaker 1: everything to everyone and need to make time for themselves
Speaker 1: through movement. Every episode is designed for you to walk
Speaker 1: as you listen, so just think of me and my
Speaker 1: guests as your weekly walking buddies. We'll discover a community
Speaker 1: ourselves and maybe even alleviate some joint pain due to
Speaker 1: arthritis in the process as we walk together and connect
Speaker 1: to the best parts of being a caregiver. As a reminder,
Speaker 1: right now you're listening to the abridged version of this episode,
Speaker 1: but if you're looking to get a little extra inspiration,
Speaker 1: don't miss a minute. Check out the full length version
Speaker 1: of this episode in your podcast feed. OK. In today's episode,
Speaker 1: we're going to be digging into the shifting dynamics when
Speaker 1: adult children become caregivers for their parents. I am really
Speaker 1: looking forward to speaking with today's guest on this topic.
Speaker 1: Not only is she an actor, advocate and podcaster, but
Speaker 1: she is also a family caregiver who took care of
Speaker 1: her father when he suffered from a heart attack. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about my friend Jenny Garth. I've known Jenny for
Speaker 1: many years, and I'm looking forward to connecting with her
Speaker 1: and comparing our experiences of caring for our parents. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's challenging, for sure, but there's also something really special
Speaker 1: about being a caregiver to a parent as their adult child.
Speaker 1: It gives you a whole new opportunity to get to
Speaker 1: know them, and I'm really interested to hear Jenny talk
Speaker 1: about how it may have shaped her life and relationship
Speaker 1: with her father in really positive ways. I also know
Speaker 1: that Jenny has struggled with joint pain, as so many
Speaker 1: of us caregivers do, so I'm going to ask her
Speaker 1: about her own relationship with movement and how she keeps
Speaker 1: active with osteoarthritis. Before we get to our conversation with Jenny,
Speaker 1: let's get moving and start our walk with intention, an
Speaker 1: intention of gratitude. We sometimes forget to express gratitude to
Speaker 1: even the simplest gifts in our lives. There's a lot
Speaker 1: to appreciate about where we are in this moment. Show
Speaker 1: gratitude for your body on this walk and all that
Speaker 1: is doing to keep you moving forward. Think about how
Speaker 1: the parts of your body must work in harmony for
Speaker 1: you to do the amazing things you do every day.
Speaker 1: It's not always easy, I know, but your body shows
Speaker 1: up for you. Use today as a reminder to share
Speaker 1: that strength. Appreciate your movement, and consider how you can
Speaker 1: connect with someone who might need that little nudge to
Speaker 1: find that gratitude today too. We can only be as
Speaker 1: strong as the connections we make, whether that is sharing
Speaker 1: a buy beautiful memory or deepening your connection with yourself.
Speaker 1: Give thanks for the important connections in your life as
Speaker 1: you settle into the rhythm of your walk. I'm going
Speaker 1: to keep talking and share with you my conversation with
Speaker 1: our guests Jenny Garth, and together will widen our community
Speaker 1: of caregivers. Today I have the pleasure of talking to
Speaker 1: not only a great friend of mine, but also a
Speaker 1: magnificent actress, fellow podcaster and caregiver, Jenny Garth. Like me,
Speaker 1: Jenny cared for her father for many years, and she
Speaker 1: has recently spoken out about living with osteo arthritis. Jenny,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. Hey, Holly, I'm
Speaker 1: so glad to see you too. This is an awesome
Speaker 1: way to have some girl time catch up.
Speaker 2: I know, I just follow you on the Instagram. I
Speaker 2: see all your work. I saw the whales in Vancouver.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Oh well, well I follow you as well. And that's
Speaker 1: social media used for good. It keeps us in contact
Speaker 1: with each other. Yes, exactly. This program is really designed
Speaker 1: to support caregivers. Share a little bit with us about
Speaker 1: your journey as a caregiver.
Speaker 2: Well, it started off really young. I was about thirty
Speaker 2: when my father suffered his first massive heart attack. We
Speaker 2: lived in Illinois on farm. Everything was perfect and idyllic,
Speaker 2: and my dad was this big, strong man. All of
Speaker 2: a sudden he was, you know, incapacitated and having a
Speaker 2: heart attack back then, all those years ago, was a
Speaker 2: lot different than having a heart attack now. So it
Speaker 2: was much more invasive and disruptive to life and so
Speaker 2: much harder to come back from. So that really changed
Speaker 2: my life as a young girl, uprooted our family. We
Speaker 2: had to move to Arizona for a drier climate for him,
Speaker 2: leave some siblings behind. It was really a pretty traumatic experience. Then.
Speaker 2: This was a few years later. My mom was having
Speaker 2: to work and continued to like do what she needed
Speaker 2: to do to keep the household going, and so I
Speaker 2: would fill in for her. And that was when I
Speaker 2: was already living out in LA and acting, but I
Speaker 2: would take breaks so that I could go back and
Speaker 2: take care of my dad. This as a young girl
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, Wow, I'm going to jump in and
Speaker 2: do this the best I know how. And it was
Speaker 2: a lot. I think that it had a lot of,
Speaker 2: you know, impact on just every aspect of my life.
Speaker 1: Like many caregivers, did you go through like an evolution
Speaker 1: of emotions throughout your experience as a caregiver and what
Speaker 1: or who were the strongest support systems for you and
Speaker 1: your family?
Speaker 2: For me, back then with my dad, I had my
Speaker 2: mom to talk to. I have my siblings. Now with
Speaker 2: my mom, I have my siblings to talk to about it,
Speaker 2: sort of share stories and the ups and downs of
Speaker 2: it and the frustrations of it. And I feel like
Speaker 2: that's so important to have somebody or more than one
Speaker 2: person that you can just talk to and kind of
Speaker 2: vent with yes and let go of all that responsibility
Speaker 2: for a minute. That burnout is so real and if
Speaker 2: you don't address it, I feel like it's just a
Speaker 2: disaster waiting to happen because you can't handle it all
Speaker 2: on your own.
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about joint pain.
Speaker 1: You recently shared that you are dealing with osteoarthritis, and
Speaker 1: I would love to know what did the road to
Speaker 1: your OA diagnosis look like.
Speaker 2: Well, it was full of denial. Let's start with that,
Speaker 2: because who wants to say, oh, I have joint pain.
Speaker 2: I feel like I might have arthritis. For me, that
Speaker 2: was like something that old people had to deal with,
Speaker 2: and I was just not ready to cross that bridge
Speaker 2: or just acknowledge it. And the fact is it's not
Speaker 2: an old people's disease quote unquote. You can have osteoarthritis
Speaker 2: or forms of arthritis. You can have joint pain at
Speaker 2: any age, and it's just specific to who you are,
Speaker 2: your genetic makeup, and what your lifestyle is like, and
Speaker 2: the foods that you're eating.
Speaker 1: Anything that you're doing, or products that you're using specifically
Speaker 1: that have really help with your OA. Joint pain.
Speaker 2: Well, there's over the counter voltairean arthritis pain gel is
Speaker 2: something that you can rub on and get relief with that.
Speaker 2: I use it, my siblings all use it. And then
Speaker 2: people come out of the woodwork like, oh, Voltairean. I
Speaker 2: use Voltairean too, because it's like it really does help.
Speaker 2: You know, I have five dogs. I'm constantly bending and
Speaker 2: lifting and taking care of them and playing, and you know,
Speaker 2: I just want to stay really active. And also Holly,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I'm so excited that I'm going to
Speaker 2: be a grandma someday. Not yet.
Speaker 1: Wait, I thought you were going to break some news
Speaker 1: to me. I wasn't ready.
Speaker 2: H No, no, no, I'm not ready either, But I'm
Speaker 2: really looking forward to that. And I want to be
Speaker 2: super like active and I want to stay like, you know,
Speaker 2: tip top shape, not just for me and my dogs
Speaker 2: anymore my husband, but for my grandkids someday. Realizing the
Speaker 2: importance of exercise and movement the whole package, the whole
Speaker 2: like physical, mental, emotional, all the well beings that go
Speaker 2: on with a person, like all the parts of me
Speaker 2: that I need to keep well. That's my goal.
Speaker 1: What are some of your favorite self care practices? What
Speaker 1: just makes you feel like you love yourself?
Speaker 2: Being outside, being in nature, Like you know, just putting
Speaker 2: down the work and going outside and having some good
Speaker 2: fresh air is one of my favorite things to do.
Speaker 2: I'm a meditator too. I love to just sit quietly.
Speaker 2: It sort of grounds me back to my true nature
Speaker 2: of just being quiet. I will light some incense before
Speaker 2: I go to bed, just and also, you know, it's
Speaker 2: so easy to watch the news before you go to sleep,
Speaker 2: or watch something on TV before you go to sleep,
Speaker 2: but I try to remember to turn the TV off
Speaker 2: and just be in like silence and let my body
Speaker 2: sort of calm down the way it's rhythmically supposed to
Speaker 2: and have a good night's sleep. So sleep is the
Speaker 2: most important thing, like I have. Like a thing that
Speaker 2: I learned from a therapist was a seven day week,
Speaker 2: Like look at your month in seven day increments, Like
Speaker 2: if your life is a pie chart, right, and here's
Speaker 2: the part where you're taking care of someone else, here's
Speaker 2: your work, here's your romance life, here's your social life,
Speaker 2: here's your self care life. Make sure your pie is
Speaker 2: really as balanced as you can when you're divvying up
Speaker 2: your time and your energy. It's really important orant to
Speaker 2: have that balance as much as you can.
Speaker 1: It is so important. And Jenny, I really appreciate this conversation.
Speaker 1: It's been so awesome talking to you. I feel like
Speaker 1: we see each other and we've worked together, We've done things.
Speaker 1: We see each other in passing, but this is like
Speaker 1: the longest conversation we've ever had and it's the best one.
Speaker 1: And I hope that everyone listening. Well, we'll take something
Speaker 1: from this, and I really appreciate you joining me for
Speaker 1: care walk So thank you Jenny Garth.
Speaker 2: Happy, so happy to do it. Great to see you
Speaker 2: you too.
Speaker 1: I want to thank Jenny Garth again for being my
Speaker 1: guest today. Really enjoyed our conversation. We talked about the
Speaker 1: parent child dynamic, how she saw her dad as such
Speaker 1: a strong figure as a child, the importance of balance
Speaker 1: in your life when you're a caregiver, and some of
Speaker 1: Jenny's favorite self care practices. She loves her baths, so
Speaker 1: do I, meditation and being in nature. Well that's it
Speaker 1: for today's episode. Thanks again to Jenny for joining me.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to tune in next week when we talk
Speaker 1: all about nutrition and joint pain with doctor Monica Agerwall.
Speaker 1: Care Walks is produced by iHeartRadio in partnership with voltairean
Speaker 1: Arthritis Pain Gel, and hosted by me Holly Robinson Pete.
Speaker 1: Our executive producer is Molly Sosha. Our head engineer is
Speaker 1: Matt Stillo. This episode was written and produced by Sierra Kaiser,
Speaker 1: with special thanks to our partners at GSK Platform, GSK, Weber,
Speaker 1: Shandwick and Edelman.