Everything is relative and everything is interrelated, and at the moment there's a lot of change happening in our world. Dad has gone into full time residential care because mother simply could not cope with either the physical or mental demands put on her by caring for him. That's hardly surprising, he is 79 and she is 76. So now I find myself in the position where I have to run their affairs as well as those of my own family.
Except it doesn't stop there. We have a very similar problem with Sue's parents. Her dad has gone down hill rapidly over the last few months and was taken into hospital Monday this week after blacking out and not coming round for some time. Fortunately there was a "nurse" in attendance at the time, she called for paramedic assistance, and they called the ambulance. Some hours of waiting around in A&E saw him into the MAU, from there he was transferred to a ward in another local hospital (I suppose that was where there was a bed available). He's been kept in and is likely to be there some weeks for assessment of his and Sue's mother's condition and capabilities, but it looks very likely that he will be sent into full time care.
And all this takes time, our time, to resolve their situations, to get on top of their affairs and take command of their financials. Working out what their income is - because the care homes have to be paid for out of their income and the mothers (who are remaining at home) have to manage on a much reduced income, and that means cancelling the luxuries like Sky TV, milk and papers delivered to the house, direct debits to charitable organisations and loads more besides. Then there's the ferrying of the mothers to see their spouses, which has to fit into visiting hours and around our full time jobs...
And so it goes on. I suppose it will eventually settle down, but right now, it doesn't look or feel like it.
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