Caregivers Eat Cold Chicken

Posted by schmidty1212 @schmidty1212, 2 days ago

I always thought if I ever became a writer, a good first book would be about my experiences as a caregiver and the title would be, "Caregivers Eat Cold Chicken." I thought of it when one of my friends commented, "I can't imagine what you must go through " and it just so happened that we had just finished dinner. While one can never truly explain with words, I thought that was the perfect metaphor. I said, "Well, you Eat a lot of Cold chicken." My friend laughed and said, "Huh? What do you mean?" I said, "Well, I'll give you an example. Just tonight, I went to the grocery store, picked up a rotisserie chicken, and we ate the chicken, corn-on-the-cob, and salad. I made my mother-in-law a plate, then my wife. She had some swelling in her feet and calves and was very uncomfortable so she asked me to rub her legs and feet with lotion as it provides some small relief for her. Then I went to grab her medicine, top off her water, help my mother in law put her show on TV because the remote is difficult for her, and so on. So, by the time I get to my plate I'm eating cold chicken. So, that's what it's like to be a caregiver. Caregivers eat cold chicken. " That's sort of been my way of explaining to people. I like it because it's a way of explaining in a way that makes people laugh instead of in a "woah is me" type of way because you have to keep laughing in order to gt through it.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Caregivers Support Group.

Suppiskey2surv | @suppiskey2surv | 1 day ago

A sense of humor . . . yep . . . that should be in all of our toolkits! Without it, I would have totally lost my mind before now. Things like refusing to leave a partner's/spouse's hospital bedside at night, trying to sleep on the floor because one of those stupid recliners that tend never to recline . . . then, magically, are rolled into the room because someone finally "gets it". Or, perhaps watching the person you love turn 50 shades of gray while having chemo drugs trickle into their IV, or watching them start shaking uncontrollably because that "drip" is running too fast until you find the courage to "dare" ask them to check on the dose . . . . while they're looking at you like you have 3 heads or something . . . . Or . . . . Or . . . . . we probably have a ton of those same stories. One friend of mine, too, once told me that he was trying, desperately, to help his father up a flight of stairs (a larger man than he), when his father suddenly started slipping backwards, knocking him to the bottom of the staircase, landing squarely on top of him . . . all amusing images now, of course, but tragic at the time we've lived through them.

Hey . . . have any of you ever heard of a National Organization for us caregivers? One that has conventions with speakers, lectures, etc., maybe once a year or so? Wouldn't that be of interest to most of us? I, personally, would find that helpful. I think we all have plenty of tips and suggestions and stories to offer each other that could offer us all more support. What do you think?