Stories from Caregivers: John from PENNSYLVANIA
PA
John
FROM PENNSYLVANIA
I cared for my mother, Clarice for 22 months in 2007-2008. She lived at home until breaking a hip and after surgery she went to rehab and then her failure to thrive and increasing dementia required a move to a nursing facility. The stress on her and the rest of our family in the nursing home situation, propelled my action of moving her to my home. The most difficult challenge was finding good in-home care. It was a revolving door for the first 2 months until we found a great match for my mother and that was a huge relief. I worked regular hours during the day then tried to juggle the demands of caregiving at night and on the weekends. Drs. appointments, medications management, food issues, ADLs, and the dementia were all a big part of my life and became the biggest obstacles to spending quality time with my mom. I spent a lot of my own money to afford some luxuries like a cleaning person who also did the laundry and some out-of-pocket respite care to allow me time to do the grocery shopping and on occasion do something social with friends. By and large, it was a stressful, tiring, financially burdensome time but I would not change it for the world. The time that I was able to share with my mother was, without question, the most rewarding and fulfilling time of my life. I was able to give back to her some of the love and caring that she had given to me. Let's do everything in our power as an organization and a culture to encourage and support in-home care for our aging loved ones. It is the right thing to do. The attached photo, shows my mother in 2005 at age 88. She died in June 2008, one week prior to her 91st birthday. I still miss her a lot.
