My caregiving days are long gone. I cared for my parents for many years.
As I read all of the difficult questions on this forum, I think about what could be implemented in their lives in order to cope better with their challenging circumstances.
Are you keeping things the same or have you decided that changes are in order for the upcoming year?
If you are a past caregiver, please let current caregivers know about changes that you made as a caregiver that improved your situation.
Many experience anxiety and depression. Exhaustion can turn into burnout.
Burnout isn’t just harmful to the caregiver, but also for the person that is in need of care.
I would have been more prepared knowing what I was dealing with.
She developed dementia later on and I had no idea of what that actually meant. I thought that it was something that people referred to when they spoke about someone being senile or slightly forgetful.
I didn’t think about caregiving in the long term. I kept pushing myself to get through it day by day.
It’s incredibly sad to know that often years go by before important decisions or changes are made.
Caregiver support groups are wonderful. I only wish there was some type of preparation class for caring for the elderly.
We need to be more aware of care providers such as home health, agency care, private care, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing facilities and hospice.
Before we became parents there were parenting classes held in hospitals to prepare us for caring for our children.
How many of us are prepared to be caregivers? I know that I wasn’t fully prepared to take on such enormous tasks.
"I didn’t think about caregiving in the long term. I kept pushing myself to get through it day by day."
It starts with the LO needing "a little help," and then one day you suddenly realize that you are now "living their life FOR them," because they are now completely dependent on you propping them up, minute by minute.
The insidious scope creep of caregiving is no one's fault. But I tell you what, the next time I am called upon to care for an elderly LO, I will know SO much more about what is coming and will make sure to bring in "the village" much, much sooner.