Veteran Caregiver for Multiple Elders Tells It Like It Is

When I first started sharing my stories and looking for others who had similar tales to tell, people tended to be reticent about speaking up. Now, sharing caregiver "in the trenches" stories has become a major part of caregiver self-care and even survival. Because of my long Internet history, I'm often interviewed in print and on radio. A recent radio interview on a show called "Doing What Works," hosted by Maureen Anderson, touched on many topics that I've written about for Healthcentral.com over time, so I'm sharing links to those stories here for those who want to dig deeper. The first question Maureen asked is how my caregiving career evolved. For me, it started with Joe. My elderly neighbor, Joe, had suddenly lost his wife to a stroke. His only child lived hundreds of miles away. Joe, who was in his 80s, was 100 percent deaf and for all practical purposes alone. How could I not help? My children were then young, and we basically adopted Joe as part of our lives until his death five years later. From Joe, my caregiving went on to include my childless aunt and uncle, my in-law, and eventually my parents. It wasn't all as neatly arranged as that, but in all, seven beloved elders developed health issues complex enough that they needed significant care while I juggled their needs with the needs of my core family. The next question from Maureen is one hot topic these days. How do people take care of parents who were once abusive to us when we were defenseless children? Ev...
Source: Minding Our Elders - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Source Type: blogs