1. Caring for Mom at Home: Remember Emotional Needs
You might recall my sister Cindy, but when you don't, permit
me to give you a brief summary: My sister owned a very
successful material-managing business for many years, but
she gave it up to care for our parents in their later years.
The timing was appropriate for my sister and our parents
certainly needed her. Along the way, Cindy gained insight.
I would like to talk about a little but vital piece of the insight
Cindy comprehended while caring for our mother -- the
importance of focusing on the psychological needs of the aging parent/patient, and not permitting
the need for "physical care" to become your entire relationship.
Once you read Cindy's remarks below, I would recommend that you simply seek help if you find
yourself consumed using the "physical caring" only and missing the possibility to completely enjoy
the emotional and relationship needs of your loved one.
She was bed bound and totally reliant while caring for my very ill Mother in the final years of her
life. Using a tracheotomy, she was sent home due to difficulties in coming off the ventilator within
the hospital that she continued to live with. She had a feeding tube for nutritional support not to
mention, she had a urinary catheter. The wide-ranging quantity of care that had to be delivered to
Mom every day was overwhelming at times. It was important to help keep the feeding tube website
quite clean, catheter site, and the tracheotomy site to avoid disease. Along with bathing and
changing her always, it was a very active 24 hours.
But there was. When you are ensuring you get it right and so focused on a your loved one's
attention, you can occasionally forget about your loved one's mental needs. Here are some things I
learned:
Make sure their room is light with lots of keepsakes around. Try to reminisce together regarding the
significance of a particular keepsake and let them tell stories of its significance to you.
If at all possible, have their bed near a window so they can look out. My mother loved birds and the
squirrels we fed outside her window. Place pictures of their favorite scenes in their own field of
vision if no window is available.
Tune in with their history. My mother particularly liked me to listen to her talk about her service in
WWII as a Morse code operator and viewing VHS movies about the war with her.
Take time for attractiveness! I learned to spend additional hours applying the lotions she loved,
brushing my mum's hair, and filing her nails.
Quit and spend time together. Sometimes my mom merely needed me to sit with her and hold her
hand. She loved me reading to her until she fell asleep.
Toward the end of Mom's time she said to me, "Please hug me, no one has embraced me recently." It
2. broke my heart to think I'd missed this very particular part of her attention. With all the daily work
that was continuing to make certain her physical care was finished, I'd forgotten among the main
facets of care giving - spending mother and adoring -daughter time with my Mum.
If you find yourself in a scenario for example this, where you're administering so much physical care
that there doesn't seem to be hours or energy please seek help. Being a caregiver might be
challenging. There are health professional services which may enable you that time you along with
your loved one truly need so you could be a daughter again.
Private Home Care