Episode 25: Peggy Dunn – The Long Goodbye

What happens when the person you’ve loved for more than 50 years is still here—but life together begins to change?

Peggy Dunn joins Rod & Chris to share what happened when her husband of more than five decades was diagnosed with dementia, beginning a journey often described as the long goodbye.

Peggy talks honestly about watching someone you’ve built a lifetime with begin to change, stepping into the role of caregiver, and experiencing a kind of grief that doesn’t wait for death. It can begin with a diagnosis, a forgotten memory, a change in personality, or the realization that the life you planned together may no longer look the way you imagined.

It’s a conversation about dementia, caregiving, marriage, love, and anticipatory grief—grieving the losses that happen along the way while still loving and caring for the person who is right in front of you.

And after more than 50 years together, there are a lot of memories, a lot of love, and a lot to hold onto.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Peggy and her husband’s life together
• The dementia diagnosis that changed their lives
• What “the long goodbye” really means for a spouse
• Becoming a caregiver after decades as partners
• The grief that can begin long before someone is gone
• Finding a way forward when life doesn’t look the way you expected

Sometimes grief begins with goodbye.

Sometimes it begins long before.

Music Attribution
“Sergio’s Magic Dustbin” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/