God Speaks

There are days as a full time elder care giver, when you just feel like you don't know how much more you can take.
Two days before Christmas this year my father in law had a T.I.A. (a small stroke).
We called for an ambulance and he was taken to the hospital where they admitted him and he remained until a couple of days after Christmas.
Usually the T.I.A's only last 15 minutes to an hour or so. This one lasted around four days.
He has come back to us a bit less himself. He is having a harder time understanding things and his incontinence has increased. He sleeps most of the day now, and his motor skills are not as sharp as they were before this incident.
He has become weaker and my husband has to bear most of his weight when raising and lowering him in and out of his bed to the wheelchair.
Eric's knees and back are beginning to hurt him after 3 years of doing this job. My husband will be 59 this month and I am concerned for his health and well being.

Having said all that, I am still glad we chose to take care of dad ourselves. He is happy in his own home and there are things he looks at each day that I know give him a lot of comfort.
The cost of elder care within a full time care facility is astronomical, and lets face it...when you get old who would you rather have there to care for you? Someone you love and you know loves you and has your best interest in their heart? Or a stranger who is being paid?
What would you give to know that your adult child wants to care for you?
I believe we are giving dad everything a person of his age, condition and circumstance could ever possibly hope to have on this earth.
We should all be so blessed.
It would be difficult if not impossible for most people to do this job the way we do, but because we have been self employed and work at home we can now be here for
dad. However it is a struggle to try to take care of him and all his medical needs, as well as run a household and two businesses. But God blesses us and we manage to make it month by month.

I find great peace and deep feelings of warmth and security in the simplest of things. Like the sun shining through our window, lighting up the vase of flowers my son gave me for my birthday.

God speaks...you just have to pay attention.

Hang on to your joy wherever you find it.
Suzanne.