How do they do it?
Caring for an elder parent, with mobility issues, with health issues, on a 24/7 basis is not simple, nor easy. I am finding that I am bound to the house, more and more, and rely on David to do the chores, such as grocery shopping, or even shopping for household items like bleach.
Doing laundry two out of three days, sometimes every day, is a grind, as is checking to make sure there are rubber gloves on hand, swaps for night use, and all that. It piles up, becomes routine, and yet not.
And through all this time, your ear is constantly cocked for any out of the ordinary sign, or break in the routine. You sit and glance over 20 or 30 time per hour, while struggling to complete an online project, or work through some code hiccup.
It isn’t much, but then you resent having to break your routine, to take her to the bathroom, because it means another depend, another dollar lost, and another ten minutes gone. It sounds selfish, when you think about it, and it is. Yet, that is the daily grind, the little things, that test your mettle, that test your resolve.
Yes, it is easier to dump them off at an old folks home, at some retirement place, and it is no wonder either, why so many don’t survive for long in those environments. I can see why, because the feelings of being abandoned must be high, and the care, can never equal that given by someone who loves them.
But it is those little things that defeat one, that wear one down. IF only there was a way to combat that, to fight it, and not let it get under your skin. That is the trick, perhaps, of surviving being a care giver, 24/7.