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Any help for caring for husband w/Leukemia & Parkinson’s?
Caregivers | Last Active: Feb 5 7:45am | Replies (26)Comment receiving replies
Thank you! I have been talking to his team, both initial BMT & also the LTFU (long term follow up) team. The thing that frustrates me is that they….talk on the side of caution, I understand that they need the patient to have a positive attitude…what makes it hard for us as caregivers to have a sudden bomb dropped on us….I’ve learned this through the situation with my husband…I feel that there will be another bomb dropped suddenly (in my gut) 😣
Continuing my journey:
So…we moved into our new home, two young teenagers, my dad & us. I still had to take the kids to school, go to work & pick them up…Doable! My dad was still able to drive, he met a “lady friend “ so life was ok. Still taught the kids to drive, they went to college etc…
Fast forward to 2012.
Son got married & the day after their wedding my dad was at his lady friends house, helping her in the yard & he collapsed. She called me, told me what happened & I drove out to them (25min?) she also called 911 & paramedics were there when I got there & they highly recommended he be taken to the ER….
Bomb drop, my dad needed a quadruple bypass!
This does help me, writing this all out 🙏
Right now I need to attend to our son’s dog that’s 14 yrs old, partially blind, mostly deaf & has an inoperable tumor in her abdomen while he’s out of town. His wife is a school teacher (2nd grade) & they have two other full size Aussie’s. I can’t take care of all of them & my husband…wish I could. So the 14 yr old mini Aussie that basically grew up here is in my care for a week. She has to be taken out every 3-4 hrs 24/7. Talk about getting sleep deprived…but I do what is helpful for the ones I love. Now I need to put eye drops in his eyes again & figure out what to throw together for dinner…..hmmmm.
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I’ve had a tough few days. It’s therapeutic for me to share/rehashing the last 22yrs. It’s challenging & helpful but hard…
I left off saying my dad collapsed the day after our son got married & ended up needing a full bypass but they ended up only being able to pull off a triple bypass. He suffered a stroke that affected his frontal lobe during surgery. We were able to bring him home which is where the REAL caregiving came into play.
I look at this rehashing of the last 22 yrs & have realized how beneficial expressing oneself can be.
I/we took care of my dad for the next 3-4 yrs where it became obvious that this wasn’t going to work. We live in a GREAT neighborhood even though we all have property 2+acres. Everyone looks out for each other.
It really showed when we started getting calls letting us know that my dad was walking down the middle of the main road before the entrance of our street talking on the phone. He wanted to pull weeds around the house but he decided to take a walk & then would just wander off. Even when we moved him upstairs from the Mother-In-Law apt downstairs.
Anyway, after a few years of that we came to realize that it would be safer for him to be in a controlled facility. That worked for about a year but he found ways to wander off even with an ankle bracelet on. Unfortunately we had to put him in a more secure facility (Brookdale). He lasted a few more years & then passed.
Life went on a few more years before my hubby was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I need to stop again because it’s time to get eye drops in 3 different times & give him his evening meds. 😔