Elder care and care giver roles

One of the issues when you are a care giver of the elderly is you find your own world changes even with the natural rewards of taking care of someone's needs that need you. One thing I catch in myself after a month in RMC is working to keep up with the weather outside that room, the day of the week and every morning I start out telling Mom what day, time, and day of the week it is to help her. I find myself now speaking more loudly than normal after trying to ensure she can hear and I catch myself when tired I repeat statements and phrases after trying to be advocate and translator for her for hours. Part of care giving with a 92 year old Mom with a bad ear and poor eyesight, is keeping her goal oriented for the future, part of her own healing efforts, keeping her focused on goals like eating when you have no appetite, and feeling a participate in her own healing. I also find the nurses must talk to each other around Mom and she is hearing what they say about other patients and it goes in her internal tape recorder to replay for me each morning of the night's adventures. I find myself trying to keep oriented for things like how to get her to eat after having nausea an hour before I get there by 7 am to help feed breakfast. I go back at lunch and supper to try and get her to eat and drink more at each meal and to keep a check on things. Medicare's 21 days in transitory care started last Monday so this is the 7th day and physical therapy is working to get her able to feed herself, get to a chair, and in and out of the hospital bed with air mattress on her own. I helped the nurses with wound change out and care this weekend learning how to help and freeing the nurse assistant to take care of a new patient nearby who needs a lot more help. Mom watches CNN to keep up with things and I read the Messenger to her. Your world shrinks to a certain environment. Getting off to MCC for Tai Chi, going to see Belle our horse and loving on her a little with a treat, or reading helps get me some mental relief and I try and work out at the Fitness Formula for my knee still which helps.

Tai Chi at MCC for relaxation and growth inside

One of my blessings is while dealing with Mom sick in the hospital is Madisonville Community College atmosphere and how the Tai Chi class helps me cope and relax. As a care giver, it is hard to take time for yourself. It is a good blessing that folks I can look up to are good influences in my life. One thing we talked about in between three sets of forms was what heroes we have for good things. So you could think to things like Jane Goodall, a scientific hero of mine, Ben Franklin a childhood hero, Cousteau, Steve Irwin, Issac Asimov, Leo Laporte for technology reporting on TechTV etc., James Hancock a Madisonville post man and expert bird watcher who I used to do Christmas bird counts with in support, Paul Summers who is the most honest politician I ever knew, Don Hayes who mentored me in the office and who shows best how best to live your life, Charlie Basset who worked with me for many a year and who was one of the WWII veterans who made this world safe like my Uncle Donald and Uncle Buford, my teachers who taught me how to think and learn to love learning, and spiritual influences like Christ, John Wesley, Paul Cartwright who as a circuit rider preached with two pistols on the pulpit in the 1700's, Paul, Barnabas, Peter, Buddha, and Silas.  We all are the sum of the positive and negative influences in our lives and I was lucky to have good parents, family, and was lucky enough to have many good friends that enrich my life from the Van Sandt's, Greg, Jim, Nancy, and Ann Wilson, the Madison family, and now Larry and Cherri Neisz I got to know recently as neighbors. I worked with an extended family that meant a lot to me as co workers and operators I inspected for years. Many folks are not that blessed. But heroes can include ordinary folks not famous that simply do good things to make the world a better place like Sue Ann Salmon I know from Madisonville, Mrs. Sigler my Ky History teacher at Providence, Rella Jenkins my guidance counselor from MCC days, and many a fire marshall, EMT, fireman and policeman I saw in action at spills regularly doing heroic things well.  Part of growing as a person is being nurtured by good influences in your life. Now that I am retired I look at going back to MCC after a full career for fun things like my Tai Chi class as a circle of life that has been enriched by encountering folks all this time. I have even added new friends in my class now. Just like my barn family includes Trinity Stables and Hazel and Frank's for learning about horses and riding- and Tai Chi also helps with riding well- I am lucky enough to have many friends and family that help add to my life.

I was recently thinking about popular culture links to our every day life. I like to collect old radio programs as mp3's, and enjoy even the commercials from the 1930's and 1940's when radio was the Internet of its day for communication. The Shadow was an influence with Zorro for the Batman, Sherlock Holmes was an influence for every detective that came afterwards, and many a scientific concept came from Issac Asimov, Sir Arther Clarke, EE Doc Smith, Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Heinlin etc. into popular culture even in the history of some words. Issac Asimov for example added the Three Laws of Robotics used in even other media. Just because something is of popular culture also does not mean it is not culture. Even Charles Dickens was a popular culture in his day with crowds reported at the dock waiting for the ship to arrive with the latest edition of the magazine publishing installments of his stories with the cry, "What of Little Nell?" Now that is success in popular media that still now is studied in school, and I have in a card game called Authors!

Live long and prosper and may all your cultural moments be popular and uplifting.

Caring for the elderly

I have been taking care of my Mom since March 4th, 2009, in Regional Medical Hospital with Dr. Harralson, and Dr. Wood, three floors of nurses now, the emergency room staff, and Dr. Fellows all involved in a team effort to make her better. Mom is the widow of a retired Methodist minister and lived alone until the ice storm evacuation. There Diana and I found she needed more help daily and had more health care issues. I ended up calling Wound center on some pressure sores and with Betty's help and Dr. Larson got them treated. We found out she had only 82 on oxygen and that lead us to the emergency room, Dr. Harralson a fine young man, and being admitted. She went from third floor, to 4th floor after surgery, to 6th floor transitory care under medicare rules. The surgery was to remove a ping pong sized stage II tumor out of her urinary bladder that has been making her anemic for days and since that was her 12th cancer surgery in her life at age 92, that was a lot for her to go through. The nurses have been good to her and physical therapy has worked with her to get her up to the hallway, to sit in a chair out of the bed, and to move around with even exercies in bed for range of motion. Movement like breath is life and she is still on oxygen. Working to have roles reverse, getting the care for quality of life the best I can, and trying to handle all of mom's business including the destruction of her meter, the yard trees, and fence damage while dealing with three insurance claim adjusters while Mom needed care has been hectic. I have learned the role of care giver includes having good days, bad days, and sometimes painful days of worry where you go in the room as sunshine no matter how much your mind whirls when you leave that room. I have used the time while she was in care to get feed her at meal time to encourage her to eat while working on getting projects here done. I have worked hard to get her direct deposit control, get her projects maintained, keep her home safe while getting my home prepped to have the front bedroom become her room near the guest bathroom facing the front for a view. I may need to center a hospital bed on an air mattress plugged in backing up the house with a generator, where I can help turn her on a turning sheet and prop her off the pressure wounds even in that mattress. Elderly care I am trying to learn how quickly. Thankfully I have family and friends that care about me and that helps make a difference. It is really a blessing.

Peyton