So by now you have come to realize that I am going to say it like it is….at least from my perspective. What I want to write about today is the importance of TAKING CARE OF YOU the caregiver. Statistics show that caregiver burnout is high and often times because we as caregivers don’t know how to take care of ourselves while taking care of a loved one we may end of hospitalized or passing prior to the loved one.
How do we as caregivers take care of us? Well, I can only comment from how I take care of me. On Fridays, after I have fed and changed my mother I take a bubble bath. After I get on my comfy couch and watch some TV. Saturday mornings at 7am, after I have given my mother her thyroid medicine, I go for a walk with Jesus. I usually walk 3 miles. I come home tend to mother’s hygiene needs and feed her breakfast. Then I make my own breakfast and watch CBS Saturday. At noon I listen to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on NPR…usually while ironing.
Sundays after church, I bring momma into the den with me, via the Hoya lift, and I soak her feet, comb her hair, and soak her nails. After all that I get back on my comfy couch, while momma is in the comfy recliner next to me, and I watch TV or read the paper.
All these little things aid to my sanity. I also have Tuesday movie days at AMC $6 bucks. Now that I’m retired from the military I have a little more free time. But as you can see I take time to take care of me and do some of the things I like to do.
What are the things you like to do? Figure a way to do them. When I was in Hawaii one of my friends would come and stay the weekend with my mother and I would rent a cabin on the beach. Of course this was probably once every 6 months but once again I did what I needed to keep my sanity. What do you need to do? DO IT and have no guilt!!!!!
Tip for Caregiving:
Once my mother became bed ridden it was EXTREMELY difficult to maneuver her in the bed. So Deborah took a flat full size sheet and folded it in half then in half again and maybe a third time in half. Anyway she then put the folded sheet on the bed width wise. She then placed momma on top ensuring that the sheet was under momma’s shoulders and mid thigh. She calls it a pull sheet. Now when we need to change momma we don’t have to lift her up and roll her over we go to the opposite size we want to roll to and grab the two ends of the pull sheet and pull toward us. Momma is then genially pulled by the sheet, remember is is under her shoulders and mid thigh, and she rolls to the size we need and she’s on her size so we can change her or her chucks pads. It’s so much easier and way better for my back!
Caregiving.....Screaming is allowed! 