I recently needed to use that phrase in a way I had hoped never to have to use it. No, my husband did not need CPR, but he was unresponsive. He lost consciousness while being moved using a ceiling transport device. Slipping out of the harness, he fell four feet from the lift equipment, landing […]
As a former nurse and current caregiver, may I emphasize to you the importance of your role as a member of the healthcare team. Never doubt your value to the team for I can assure you that your value is beyond measure. Different Pieces of the Story In years past, doctors made all important decisions
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I wrote the following poem based on an event that happened while Lynn was a patient in the hospital. I recognized changes beginning to occur that indicated he was heading for trouble with his medical condition. I tried to alert the medical team that something wasn’t right, but they insisted, based on lab reports, that
Something’s Different. Something’s Not Right. Listen to Me. Read More »
Caregivers Need Preparation The more knowledge a caregiver, the better prepared they are to meet the challenges encountered when home alone. When healthcare professionals (HCPS) send a patient home for a family member to provide care, they don’t envision the obstacles the family will encounter. For instance, I don’t think HCPs understand how the gap
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What’s to Come One of the joys of having a progressive disease is that everything changes. Just as you adjust to one change, something happens, and the “fix” you had in place no longer works. As Lynn’s caregiver, I have not found his physician particularly helpful in warning me about future things. If I ask
What Goes In Must Come Out Read More »
For the most part, our home life is fairly stable, meaning we have the same things happening daily. We have a routine – I get Lynn up for the morning and help him with his exercise, take him to the bathroom for his bowel regimen, put him back to bed, and do a partial bath,
Every time Lynn starts acting differently for several days in a row, I wonder if it means there’s some new problem we have to face. MS can affect so many different body parts and functions that I never know if a new problem is MS or something else. For instance, Lynn has been sleeping a
Something New to Deal With Read More »
I admit my life is very busy and very difficult. I also admit I manage it pretty well, but just because I have to do some pretty difficult tasks day after day, and I keep doing them, doesn’t make me an angel. I realize that most people who are not full-time caregivers are amazed at
I always have guilt feelings when I write about any negative emotions I feel in being a caregiver, but the fact is, I have them, and I expect most other caregivers to have them as well. It doesn’t mean we don’t love the person we care for, but it means that providing care is not
Feeling Alone or Maybe Just Left Out Read More »
There are many responsibilities and consequences of being a caregiver that I don’t like, things I would prefer not to do or that are difficult to manage, but the biggest challenge I have is lack of sleep. I think that if I had time to sleep more, my life would be a lot different. Typically,
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Often, when I meet someone who has just become a caregiver, they ask me how I do it; “How do you handle the daily stress of working and caregiving full time while still managing a home?” I always reply, “I try to take it one day at a time and just deal with what’s happening
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I’m sure you have heard others reference the saying, “Turn lemons into lemonade.” It implies taking something bad and turning it into something good. Our pastor challenged us to think along those lines but with a different twist. When something has you down, or something bad/inconvenient happens, try thinking about why that’s a good
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