All of us in the care business know how much just a small amount of time to divert from the everyday duties can mean. It is becoming very clear to me as a person who has been caring for my husband for eleven years, that there is a need for our government to get more involved with this problem. I just got back from Mayo, Rochester. Our cancer doctor since 2006 thanked me for the role as a care giver. He said the doctors need to understand and appreciated the role we play in the progress and living longer that patients are experiencing now. As our loved ones are living longer with the new drugs on the market, there is another problem that will crop up and that is the one who does the care is worn out over time. There are times when I am totally exhausted and overwhelmed. We have six hours a week of outside help and have been fighting the nursing home possibility.

Somehow there needs to be more help provided to keep terminally ill people at home. Each year and each month, more and more duties are heaped on the care giver. We are not nurses and have not the skills to do what is expected of us. But, somehow we plug along and do the job. What really kills me is when a nurse or aid tells me that what I am doing in the way of taking care of his diabetes meds is all wrong, but you know what, he is still alive and doing quite well, he is in his third remission and the diabetes is somewhat controlled. We need more support out here from the medical community. We do not bug the doctors unless there is something that is a serious threat. What we need is the day to day help with doing the mundane duties that are literally wearing us out. Yes it is hard to have people invading our private space but the help is so needed and I have two people in my life now that I would not have had the privilege of knowing otherwise. The people that do care giving as a profession are a god send and I love them for their devotion. I think about what life would be without hubby and that can be freeing but yet not a good deal either, I would really miss his sense of humor which he regularly uses on some of his more than stern nurses. That can be a hoot so there are the good things that go along with this long term care situation we find ourselves in at the present
moment. Sorry for the rambling but it is good to do once in a while. Hang in there caregivers!!!!