Caregiving For An Elderly Parent

Caregiving,
or the act of giving care, as in my case to my mother of 86 years, an extremely strongwilled woman, who has suffered from different medical ailments throughout her life. Although the most difficult one, probably, which has recurred, are chronic leg ulcer(s) due to varicose veins. This
particular ailment has hounded her for over 30 years. The ulcer would
close due to treatments given, unfortunately, every time the ulcer closed, the following time it opened, would be more severe then the previous occurrence. Her last bout was four years ago, which I simply state, was
bloody torture. In December 2003, the reappearence came to light (causing our family not to be able to attend the wedding of nephew/godson - although, at that date my other parent/my father had
undergone a triple bypass, which was the primary reason our family did
not travel) and for the next several months her condition worsened, till
a dangerous point was reached (the ulcer had increased in size and was
terribly infected) leading her doctor at the time to admit her to the hospital, where she stayed for two weeks, to get rid of the infection by way of a wound vac (very effective, but in mother's case, as stated before - bloody torture) and then putting a skin graft over the ulcer.

Well four years have past, and unfortunately, the saga continues, this time, it is multiple smaller ulcers both along the area where the skin graft was placed, as well as, the ouside of her ankle. The only good thing that can be said, is hopefully we caught this in time before the condition worsens to the previous extent.

My position as my mother's caregiver has been a longtime role, practically the same amount of time she has been dealing with the leg ulcer(s). I am 44 years old now.

My hope with writing this article is to give hope, understanding, compassion, to any individual, who ever has and still gives care, in particular to an elderly parent, but not only the elderly - since there are many peoples of all ages who are ill and need our care.

So until next time, I say Take Care and do not despair, for it is in those most darkest moments that faith must win out and carry you through.

Maravick