Caring for a Parent

Children are raised by their parents and at some point those children will become the caregiver for their parents, it's like switching roles... the child playing the parent role.  For the past 5 years I have been taking care of my mom.  Handling all of her medical needs, medications, and doctor visits while taking care of my family as well...  and it is HARD!!

The last few months my mom has been having issues (more than usual) with pain & fluid retention.  It became difficult for her to sleep in her bed because she found herself in more pain afterwards.  So, she began sleeping in her recliner.  This may have prevented more pain, but she wasn't moving around as much and started getting stiff... which led to her becoming very weak and with the extra fluid, made it difficult for her to walk more than a few steps without sitting.  All of this led to a trip to the ER and physical therapy coming to the house.  Although it was better than nothing, but 5-10 minutes isn't doing very much!!

I knew that she had gained a bunch of fluid, but I truly had no idea how much.  After a visit to the doctor I was shocked to know she had 32 pounds of fluid she had retained!  WOW!  Her doctor decided to admit her to the hospital and try to get this fluid off.  3 weeks later she has lost 55 lbs after being in the hospital for a week and then rehab.  I'm happy to see her getting back to herself, moving around, and being able to do more for herself; and looking forward to coming back home next week (hopefully).

It's been a challenge having to still take care of all of her stuff and mine, and running to visit a few times a week.. BUT I'm thankful I still am able to do these things for her.

Caring for a parent is hard!  We try to respect them and take care of them at the same time.  This can be challenging because telling them what is best for them isn't always what they want to hear; sorta like them telling us when we were teenagers and thought we knew it all!  I see it now because I just want whats best for her as she did for me in those days.