Sunday, March 6, 2011

If you could do it all over again, would you change anything?

In 1996 I received a call that my mother suffered a stroke and she was in hospital. I was next to her bed until she was discharged. The stroke hit her left side, she lost speech and was left a bit confused. When she was discharged I brought her to my house to stay with us. Because I am working I hired a nurse to look after her. From the start I was not happy with how this lady was taking care of her and when I pointed out what I don't like, she decided not to come back, so did others after her. My quiries were ranging from her not being given medicine, not being properly fed etc. After sharing my problem with a lot of people I decided to look for a home that will take care of her in a professional and caring manner. My aunt was not happy with this decision, so were other family members. The funny part is that no one was volunteering to assist in taking care of her. This also made me feel bad as in our culture we take care of our parents, it felt like I will be abandoning her at the old age home. I prayed so much asking God for guidance, finally I made my decision. I found a home that had in-house doctors, nurses around the clock, the place was expensive but their service was excellent. I made sure that I visited her as frequently as I could and took her home during weekend and holidays. She peacefully passed away in 1998 still staying at the home. When I see other families taking care of their elderly parents, making turns to do that, I wish I had siblings maybe I would'nt have had to take her to old age home. In our culture old age homes are associated with lederly people abandoned by their children. But for me I think I made a wise decision as my goal was for her to be comfortable up to the last hours of her life. If I could do it  all over again, I would not change anything I did. By the way I'm back in that situation with my aunt and I have hired someone to help her. For my aunt it is better because she can still be incharge of the person looking after her. Will I take her to an old age home when that time comes? the answer is yes, I just hope she understands my position, which is, I can't leave work to look after her, financially, I will never be able to do that.   LONG! I KNOW, SORRY GUYS.

2 comments:

  1. This is very touching, however, please paragraph your articles. I don't know what i would do with my mom if i was in the same situation. In my personal opinion though, i really dont like old age homes. I think the elderley are treated very unfairly and are not really taken care of. If it were up to me, i would take care of her till the end.

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  2. For me was a popular decision as you want best for your mother. Well written dear.

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