Dear @llthomson

Sure. I nominally pay $350 per day to the caregiver and pay an additional $20 fee to the agency for the back up. That comes to $11,100 per month. I have long term care insurance that reimburses $117 per day, so that drops my effective cost to $253 per day , or $7,590 per month.

So, without the LTC insurance, I am in the range of a memory care facility, but the level of care for my husband is so much higher, and I get so much flexibility. Of course, his emotional peace and the ability to live out our relationship together in our home through all these stages are the big wins

About what they do. They handle all the Activities of Daily Living. I pitch in on things that may need a bit of persuasion (e.g, showers for a time) and things that I am picky about (e.g., a good shave every three days, while they do an electric razon pass the other days). They prepare breakfast and lunch. (I set the menu of choices and provided cooking instruction when needed: “Hmmm… yes, plain canned tuna on dry lettuce could be called ‘tuna salad’, but we like it like this….) I generally cook dinner because I like to cook good food. They do all the kitchen clean up (yay!). Take out the garbage (yay!) I do some of the laundry (once again, picky) and they do the straightforward laundry and all the folding.

The benefits are great at all stages. When we were still very active, it was such a godsend to go places and have a caregiver with us to take him to the bathroom, help him eat in a restaurant or friend's home, help him in and out of the car, stay with him while I got the car, and simply provide more conversation and stimulation on each excursion. I’m getting nostalgic just writing this. We all really had such a great time in those days.

Hope this helps!