The Team
People need to know that it would have been impossible for me to take care of my Mother alone. Frankly, I didn’t have the knowledge to do it when this began and I was only able to do with the help of some really great women.
These women had individual strengths that made the overall system work.
LeeAnn had the morning [6-10AM] and she took care of the personal grooming things that were important to my Mother and were part of her routine.
Lynne was the evenings and centered on maintaining strength. She was also my principal instructor in the skills of care-giving because things like changing a bed with someone in it require knowledge. Lynne also did the cleaning, as she had done for my Mother for years, and organizing everything that was needed to take care of Mom.
When I got in trouble outside of normal hours there were two great on-call nurses who rode to the rescue: Susan on weekends, and Linda during the week. They saved me multiple times.
For a dose of sunshine there was Wendy. Wendy just radiated good feelings whenever she was around. Her ‘job’ was giving Mother a bath and changing the bed, but if Mom was refusing to do something, I knew that Wendy could make it happen.
There were others, but these are main group that kept me functioning for the long haul, and made it possible for my Mother to stay in her house among familiar things.
2 comments
Really glad you had them Bryan. If I hadn’t had the RDNS (Royal District Nursing Service) there is no way I could have coped! But. I’ve mentioned them before. I am sorry to say, that before my Mom was terminal, I’d never given RDNS or other groups like them a thought. That all changed since! Thankfully, even in this insane World today, you can still find good and decent people. 😀
There are still some decent people, it’s what keep us going. 🙂
Good luck with the red tape my friend! Wish I could help.
You don’t have any real idea what it takes to care for someone who is really sick until it falls to you to do it, and then you discover you really someone to show you how. Just the basics aren’t easy unless you know the techniques.
You need to know what equipment and supplies are necessary for many different functions and no one really offers a class on it that you could take if you saw that you would need it down the road. You need a support structure for this to work.
The VA and the cemetery are the only major issues left. I still have to deal with the DMV and the banks, but that was simplified by decisions made years ago. I can deal with things that only affect me, but those that affect my brothers too are really stressful. They aren’t used to running into brick walls.