Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Suzanne talks about her Caregiving experiences

Suzanne talks about not having to do much for her father

I don't really consider myself a Caregiver for my father. He lived into his early 100's and was in good health. He lived in a retirement community and not in a nursing home. The only Caregiving I did was in his later life, in his 90's I would take him to the doctor because he didn't drive anymore.

He was a Caregiver for my mother who had dementia for almost 10 years of her life.

Suzanne talks about medical issues that came up while caring for her husband

I did wake up every morning for the last 30 years and the first thing I would ask my husband was “How do you feel?”. This started after his kidney problems. They destroyed his kidney looking for a stone that they had trouble finding. He was on dialysis for a relatively short while, and that was scary for me. He went on to have 2 kidney transplants. That's when I became more involved. Before that he would go to his appointments alone.

He had been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when he was in the service in Korea. He always had that and it wasn't an issue for me as his Caregiver.

During the last 5 months of my husband's life I took on a much larger role as Caregiver. My daughter and I were giving him intravenous treatments 3 times a day at home. There were other general nursing things we did for him during this same time.

Suzanne talks about her future

In terms of the future I don't think that I'll ever get married again. That's how I honestly feel right now. I do feel that it's different now that I have to make all my own decisions for better or worse. The down side is that I don't have anyone to celebrate with when things go well.

I do like to drive so sometimes I get in the car and just go. I might take a ride just to get out of the house. I know it's the right thing for me. Many of my friends stay home and don't like to go out. I enjoy knowing that I have expanded the possibilities for my future by getting out of the house and exploring new places.


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