Stories from Caregivers: Carole from CALIFORNIA
CA
Carole
FROM CALIFORNIA
Took care of my stepmother, age 90, mother, age 92, grandmother in my home for five years, passed at 95, dad, passed at 79 (I was an only child so there was no one else...at 64, I am raising my 8 year old granddaughter, while my daughter looks for a job in the medical field. They both live with me in my home. I started caregiving at the age of 12.......my French mother and my French grandmother asked me to do their Toni Home Permanents.....Does anyone remember Toni home perm kits...????? And if that were not enough for a lifetime of working 30 year career at the University of California San Diego Campus and Medical Center, I also have SIX rescue dogs, one cat and one fish....I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF CAREGIVING.....it's what God gave me to do and I am grateful for every minute of peaceful slumber, reading the Bible for strength, and waking up to each beautiful sunrise.....How blessed we are to live in the United States of America....I have two more granddaughters in Budapest Hungary and they are on their way back to the US very soon......more babysitting....I'm the luckiest grandma on the face of the planet....If I feel down one day, I just turn on CNN and I snap out of it in a few seconds........Even though I am fighting skin cancer on a daily basis, I trust that I have many more years of caregiving left in me.... I even take care of my ex husband once in a while, when he does not have a girlfriend to help him.....Best Advice for any lifelong caregiver: schedule 24 hours a week for yourself and NO ONE ELSE.....one whole day and night just for your mental and spiritual well being........the life you save, just may be your own! sorry, don't know how to upload photos......:-(
