I know my lovely wife and I have posted something simular to this in the past on www.caregiving.com during one of the events Denise (wonderful friend) put on. This is a bit different, this day is filled with caregiving on all three sides of the spectrum, mom, Robert, my brother-in-law and my self, not just caring for Robert. So for those of you new to caregiving and those of you who are getting a bit down thinking, “HOW, How do I keep doing this?” Your just do, because if you are your caree’s caregiver the chances are the next step for them is a care facility. Keep up the great work, you can do it. With that, here’s my recent Wednesday.
4:30 am Wake Up, stretch, meds, etc.
4:35 am Spend a bit of time talking with my wife.
4:40 am Morning prep. (Shower, Shave, Dress, etc.).
5:00 am Start Feeding the dogs, making Robert’s lunch & making Trish
(wife) and I speciality coffee drinks.
5:25 am Then run upstairs to brush teeth.
5:30 am Head to mom’s and Starbucks for 8:30 am appointment with mom’s
cariologist and then her pulmologist.
6:00 – 7:50 am Pick up mom, drive down to Travis, AFB for her appointments.
In route we stop by Krispy Kreme to grab donuts for cardiologist
pumologist staff. 4 dozen (them) plus 4 for us. Yum
8:00 – 8:20 am Breakfast at the hospital cafe.
8:30 – 9:00 am Mom’s pulmologist appointment. Asks for a walk test and
prescribes three new inhalers which, she needs before she leaves
today. Also needs an undated INR level (Coumadin level) check,
and check x-ray, both today.
9:15 am Run into Coumadin Clinic and they have a 9:35 opening. We take it.
9:35 am Mom gets her INR checked and we visit with the head coumadin
doctor. Her levels are great 2.3 and she should be between 2-5.5.
9:45 am We run up to the pharmacy to get her scripts started.
9:55 am Next run is to the x-ray lab for the check x-ray.
10:00 am Coffee Break, with a muffin of course.
10:30 am Mom’s cardiologist appointment. Everythings good and don’t need to
come back unless he heart rate is above 110 bpm. Its currently
at 90-95 bpm, so not far to go.
11:20 – 11:50 am We have some time before mom’s scheduled walk test so we
hit the dreaded hospital cafe again for lunch.
11:55 am We can’t take the wait, so we heat back up to the heart and lung
department and pull out the Krispy Kreme card and they get us in
hour and a half early. Already called Trish to have her get home in
time to get Robert off the transport van if possible.
12:05 – 12:30 pm Mom does the walk test, why I work on my scheduling job,
which I have been doing all morning and will continue un 5pm.
1:00 pm We are done at Travis AFB, now just the hour and a half drive home.
1:00 – 2:30 pm Drive mom home, in route we stop and pick up and pick up
her new glasses which is only a mile from her home. Then I drive
myself home.
2:50 pm In route home I pick up Starbucks for Trish and I. I actually make it
home before Robert.
2:55 – 3:35 pm Spend this time stretching and complaining to myself how bad it
hurts (my back and right leg).
3:30 pm Robert’s home and we (Trish and I) start our caregiving afternoon
with him and the house duties such as the dishwasher needs to be
emptyied and laundry still needs to be done.
5:00 pm Dinner time, feed the dogs and set table while Trish is making dinner.
7:00 pm Robert into bet for the nightly word search, Jeopardy or Family Feud.
7:15 pm – on This is our wind down time and we use this to update out blog
post, Trish does work she brough home with her because I was
running late, play with dogs, etc.Then it’s sleep time and start it all
over tomorrow.
If I can be a tri-fecta caregiver with my chronic back pain then I truly believe believe that you can handle one, two maybe even three of your own. Remember this if you remember nothing else I’ve said here, “Your Not Alone.” Its’s all about scheduling, tracking, organizing and There are web communicating with others as well as with yourself, be truthful with yourself about how things are going. There are sites out there of other caregivers telling their story and are willing to hear your story. If you’re starting to feel over whelmed, reach out and touch someone, we’re just a key stroke away.
Namaste’
Richard K.
iCareTalk.net 