I wanted to reach out and say hello. I’ve just joined this community and am in awe of all you cope with and how you support each other. I’m a 53 year old with no siblings, and no aunts/uncles/cousins. My relationship with my parents - especially my mother - is a difficult one and I dread talking to her. I had very bad experiences with my elderly grandmother living with us when I was a child. My father has terminal cancer. They are now both in a care home and I am selling their house. My mother is now very disabled but not ill. And very dependent on my father all her life. So this will hit her very hard. I know I am very lucky as the hard work of caring is not on me. But I wake each morning with a pit of dread and panic at dealing with the calls to hospital, care home etc and emotion/worry that the day will bring. My husband is sometimes able to help but not since being a miserable child at home in the midst of daily rows have I felt more keenly my only child status. I shied away from joining this forum as I didn’t want to admit to myself any of this was real. Silly! But here I am and I hope to be able to support others as well as get some support myself. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far.
Hello OnlyR
And a Belated extremely warm welcome to the forum, it is a very safe place to be, to express yourself and although a little quiet at times, a great place full of understanding and supportive people.
I think you have been very brave in making this difficult decision, writing your first post on any forum can be a challenging move, but I am really please that you have done it. I know you say that you have your Husband for support but other than that you feel your only child status more keenly, well, in our own way, we are all family here and you have just been adopted into the fold 
I am sorry to hear about that you have a somewhat difficult relationship with your parents, especially your Mother, and more so that your Dad has terminal cancer, this I can see from what you have written is putting great strain on you, and I wonder if you have had the chance to take a look at some of the supportive advise that is available in other area's of this Macmillan site?
This LINK will give you access to some fantastic support resources along with family and friend forum, where people are very open and honest on their feeling, as we don't all have support structures to lean on in our daily lives, and this is why there are so many of us here....and even if the support is available as it is in your Husband, we don't always want to burden our loved ones with everything.
I hope you will lower your shield further, and keep in touch.
Lowe'
Things do get easier somehow, whether it is because we do not have the energy physically and emotionally to carry on with the intensity that the original onslaught of feelings bring, or whether it is because, as we sleep we compartmentalise the things that are happening in our lives.. or maybe it is both, but what ever the reason, we cope.
I hope that you are managing to cope a little better now.
Lowe'
Fellow only child here OnlyR - I completely completely relate. No extended family - also no husband 
- fresh out of family courts and getting divorced, my mum was diagnosed with stage 4 bladder cancer with spread to lung and kidney - literally double whammy.
I hope you're ok - you're not alone, you really aren't - we are very used to coping and very un-used to reaching out and asking for help, to the point of it almost being impossible. It's so important though .
I hope you get time to rest where you can, so that you can be strong enough to deal with everything when you need to. I think even though they are being cared for by professionals, it doesn't make it easier for you emotionally x
HI OnlyR
just came across your post. I'm on only child too (I'm 50) with ageing parents but it's my husband who is terminally ill. Ageing parents seem to regress to being toddlers at times - no reasoning with them! - and like you over the past few years I don't think I've ever wished more for brothers or sisters.
It's not easy but you'll get through it. I'm fortunate in that I have a few very close friends that are closer than family to me. They are worth their weight in gold.
This group and the Carers forum are a great place to reach out to others in similar situations. It's good to know that you may be an only one but you're not alone.
hang in there. Take care
love n hugs
Wee Me xx
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