I've read lots of the posts in this forum, and I see many more that reflect anger, frustration and resentment than I do that reflect the satisfaction of taking care of others. For those who've been caregivers for a while - if you could go back in time, had the financial ability to put your loved one(s) in an appropriate facility, and live your life without the burden of caregiving, would you do it? Complicated question, I know, but thank you.
I'm a care giver-again, and will do the best I can for my loved one.
Judge not, lest ye be judged; for those who have not done care giving.
And Worriedspouse- if you cannot take care of someone, and object to placing them in a facility, exactly what DO you do with your LO?
I do know that my mom decided to quit driving about 4 years ago. That was a big relief. She was in an independent living apartment and her friends would switch off driving to happy hours. They would be back by 7:00 pm, and I always worried until I knew she back safe and sound.
I wish I would have kept her car. It was a nice old Acura Legend with low miles.
Best,
Thomas Y.
just incredible all the love you gave, give.
hugs!!
i wish for you to be happy. i hope now you can pour all that love into you.
i wish you well! :)
i hope you find good solutions. :)
this is just my opinion:
i believe promises should be kept --- but not all promises.
if it turns out a promise was a bad idea (morally bad for you for example; destroying your life), then bad promises shouldn't be kept.
there is a promise that trumps that promise.
some sort of promise by the universe that trumps bad promises: namely to be kind to others AND yourself.
a loving mother doesn't want to destroy, eat up your life.
you weren't born for that purpose.
and i hope now you can give all that love/kindness to yourself :) :).
So looking back, I feel that I did everything OK, but I could not change her mind. And even now, she has this idea that she doesn’t want anyone in the house. So bringing in a caregiver is really really hard, we can’t do it until she becomes even less cognitively aware than she is right now.
At least from this experience, I have changed my own mind about my own future, and I intend to not live alone after I’m widowed, and to allow my adult children to help make those types of decisions for me. I definitely used to be one of those people that said, I will never put my parents in a facility. I don’t say that anymore. And I don’t want to be attached to the idea of living in my own home all my life. For me, it’s important that I give up that sense of ownership and trust that my adult daughters will make the best decisions they can when that time comes.
Instead, she remained in her home too long. By the time of her death the roof leaked, the electric was shot, plumbers were called in regularly. At the same time, Mom was having difficulty getting around even with a walker and an electric scooter, suffering falls, confused about her medications, and getting sick from food she had improperly prepared or stored. The 4 of us struggled to try to find repairmen for her old mobile home, ran out of luck and patience trying to hire housekeepers, and got very tired of calling the ambulance for her falls. We are now in our 70's and getting her 185 pounds off the floor was something we simply could no longer do as she became less able to do any help.
On the other hand, if she had gone into one of the fine AL facilities near her home, we would have visited her just as much, I would have taken her out to lunch just as often, the sister who lived further away would have still called her everyday. We would have enjoyed her long life much more if there had been staff to attend to the physical issues. In either of the facilities she might have chosen the transition to nursing care would have been a seamless change when it was required.
Another important point is that we would have gone through cleaning out her home and storage units years earlier when we were physically much more able to do so. The months we spent cleaning out her things after her death were filled with a lot of stress and physical strain that we were no longer able to deal with. Five years earlier would have made a huge difference.
Most of all, I think Mom would have been much happier to be in a facility with friends and activities. Our visits might have been greeted with much more joy if each visit did not begin with "I don't understand, but this is not working. Could you fix it?" Even during the lockdown, I think she might have been happier in a place where she would have at least seen staff members. We would have visited through the windows (both facilities are single story; neither facility had problems with COVID), just as we did at her home. She was lonely at her home after she quit driving and we simply could not provide her with all the companionship she had formerly had with her friends. I am certain she would have been happier if she had gone into AL with them.
COVID-19 tore through long-term care facilities across the country, accounting for a third of coronavirus deaths during the first year of the pandemic. Tragic tales of deaths due to problems with testing, personal protective equipment and infection control emerged at state veterans’ homes in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas.
The inspector general’s report on the VA Illiana Health Care System in Danville is the first to publicly detail extensive breakdowns at a facility operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The agency runs a system of 134 nursing homes that serve roughly 9,000 veterans a day across 46 states, the District of C
An examination by the Government Accountability Office in June found there were 3,944 cases and 327 deaths among residents of VA nursing homes from March 2020 through mid-February. The cumulative case rate among residents was 17% and the death rate was 1%.
Those numbers are miniscule compared to nursing homes nationwide, where researchers estimate there were 592,629 cases and 118,335 deaths last year. The death rate among long-term care residents as of March was 8%, according to the COVID Tracking Project
The setting I have chosen was a wonderful home during my mother’s 5 1/2 final years, and also served two of her younger sisters and her brother in law.
If ANYONE thinks that good care in a residential care setting means “without the burden of caregiving”, they will either be in for a rude awakening or will be abandoning their “LO” to the “easy out”.
I was at the nursing home every day, twice every Sunday, while my mother lived there, and was working 35 hours a week myself.
My mother THRIVED there. Except that Covid ruined lives for everyone who experienced it first hand, her baby sister, my current LO in residential care, would have continued to be comfortable until her own passing.
Nothing about caring for an elderly human being who is fully incontinent, non-verbal in dementia, unable to do the most simple independent human actions, nothing, is joyful or pleasant or fulfilling as a full time life style.
Out of love and respect and admiration, some adults successfully CHOOSE to care for elderly or otherwise severely disabled family members. That type of CHOICE can work.
If the “choice” is made by anyone other than the caregiver in that sort of situation, family should expect “anger, frustration and resentment”.
...i also (please understand i'm not talking about all cases, just some) feel that some of our LOs should have planned better for old age.
old age has been going on forever.
it is not a surprise - not something that suddenly happens and they had no idea.
i feel some of our elderly LOs should have planned better, instead of putting us (adult children) in difficult situations.
My sister was forced into a home against her will. She had dementia, but was the sweetest person you could ever know! She lost the ability to speak clearly and walk after repeated falls when she was there. I found out they were drugging her and reported it to her doctor. The doctor said take her off these sedatives immediately. They ignored the doctors request denying that they received it. The doctor sent it again and they still denied getting it. So I went to the doctors office and got a hard copy and handed to them. When they took her off the drugs she recovered.
But during the lockdowns they put my sister on hospice. I asked what is wrong, is she dying. They said NO, this is just to get her more care. Hospice then decided it was time for her to die! They denied her basic care ...no food, no water! I did not find out until it was too late! They killed my sister!
On December 3, Mom fell. Ended up in the hospital. Then a rehab facility. Then to a beautiful assisted living which she agreed to as the plan after rehab. She lasted less than one day and then wanted "out"!. Unfortunately she tested positive for covid and was transferred to a skilled nursing facility. She did not have to leave the AL but refused to isolate so they transferred her to a covid unit where she could get out of her room.
I have been called repeatedly to take her out of the SNF unit. She has demanded that I care for her in her home and threatens to take a taxi home. I am in her home now. I left my home so I could be here to support her transition to AL. Not enough for her. My siblings, who live closer, are separating themselves from her. This is truly an untenable situation. I do not feel capable, in my 60's. to provide the extensive care she needs.
My mother is coherent and appears to have good mental health. She is, however, a hoarder and an addict. She has had a fire in her home and fires aides at a drop of a hat. (one because she was fat and would eat too much).
What to do?!? Does anyone know of a legal reason I can keep her in assisted living? She is a hairsbreadth away from requiring nursing home care. I would prefer AL if possible. Please, I need advice.
Everyone is agreed that it all depends on people, beliefs, and circumstances – there is no -one size fits all’ answer. Why waste people’s time?
If I were going to advise someone about this, the first thing I would suggest is for the person who is thinking about being the caregiver to take a CNA course or at least devour the available youtubes about the skills tests. It gives a person a pretty detailed summery of just what the job IS! Even if you hire people to help, you know how to assess their job performance.
I honestly believe that keeping Mom at home was more expensive than the best local nursing home. It took a toll on my health and relationships outside of caregiving. It has been 12 years and my husband is only now telling me how abandoned he felt. I thank him with all my heart for riding it out.
Going with a facility changes everything. You really need to be a presence as an advocate for your loved one, but you can be a son/daughter instead of trying to reinvent the wheel every damn day.
Sadly, I’m solely responsible for her. I should have placed her into an assisted living facility.