Tag Archive | caregiver support

When The Caregiver Gets Sick

On Tuesday, November 14, 2017, I heard the words “You have breast cancer.” I knew the words were coming. Somehow, I just knew. I had had a routine mammogram the week before..a week and a half after I had noticed a lump. A lump that my doctor had NOT noticed 3 weeks before. Within 2 days, I had a biopsy and I could tell by the atmosphere in the room that they thought it was suspicious. They’ve seen enough malignant lumps to know one when they see one. So, I wasn’t surprised, but I WAS shocked. How the hell is this happening to ME? Haven’t we been through enough? I’ve been taking care of a husband with a rare disease for 10 years, who 7 years ago had a motorcycle accident and broke 10 bones, in addition to raising 3 children, running a household, and working full time. In between the major crises, we had so many mini-crises that I’ve lost count…sepsis more than once, dead cars, financial crises, a daughter with a ruptured appendix, broken appliances, more car issues, and now my own cancer diagnosis. And did I mention my car just died last weekend?

I’ve seen a lot of statistics over the years about how caregiving can impact the health of the caregiver. Logically, it can have a huge impact on depression rates, but it can also impact the physical health of caregivers. We are told all the time to “take care of ourselves,” and “take time to pamper yourself.” As caregivers, I think we can all agree that is much easier said than done. I mean, when exactly are we supposed to do that? We go into auto-drive and we do what we have to do. We think about the people we take care of…the sick, our children, our jobs and responsibilities, and our finances. The last thing we think about is ourselves.

I’ve seen the statistics and I’ve always thought that it will never happen to me. I’ve always told myself “I’m strong, I do what I have to do, it’s just our life now, I take care of myself by eating pretty well, I won’t let this get me sick, etc.” I pride myself on having a positive attitude, a great (and frequently twisted) sense of humor, and my incredible resilience. I have handled everything that’s been thrown at me. I just put my head down and forge ahead and I do what has to be done. I think that’s the common thread with caregivers. Unfortunately, sometimes life catches up with you and says, “Hey, since you won’t give yourself a break, I’m going to force you to have one.” I certainly don’t think of this as getting a break, but I do have several weeks to recuperate from surgery so I get a little bit of a rest. The next treatment is up in the air at this point. Chemo may be in my future, maybe not. I do just look at my cancer as yet another bump in the road. It’s just one more hurdle to get over. I was lucky my cancer was found relatively early and my prognosis is great.

I’m not sure if I’m being super positive, if I’m in denial, or if I’ve finally lost what’s left of my marbles, but this isn’t going to get me down. I have too much to do in life and I have people relying on me. I’m going to kick cancer’s butt, and I’m going to look good doing it with my cute, perky new rack, and even a bald head if I have to. I just do what needs to be done, and I will always try to do it with a smile on my face.

For Now I Won’t Be A Loser

Mar1

I recently entered a “Biggest Loser” contest at work. The way it works is that the person who loses the highest percentage of weight by April 9th will win the title of Biggest Loser, as well as a monetary reward. I thought this would be good motivation because not only can I use the money, but a weekly weigh-in is required and I figured that if someone will be seeing my weight every week, I am going to make damn sure it goes down consistently. It is now 3 or 4 weeks later, and I haven’t lost a blessed pound. The only reason for this is that I haven’t even tried to lose weight. Well, I tried on some days and not on others. I didn’t really try to resist the temptation to eat something I wanted, but shouldn’t have. I finally realized that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to try to diet. It’s not that I don’t WANT to. It’s that I just can’t do it right now. So, I felt like kind of a jerk about it. I let the group down, and I let myself down. I want to be thin, and look great in my clothes, and have people look at me and see a 47 year old, thin, fit, and healthy woman. But I’m not ready to do the work yet. And after really thinking about it, I wondered why the hell I should be feeling guilty about it.

I am not in a place in life right now where I feel I can take on a personal goal and be successful at it. I have more on my plate than the average person. I have a sick husband who has failing kidneys, and is on so much medication, that he spends his days sleeping, or severely lacking the energy to do much of anything. My weekdays start at 6 a.m. when I get up to make sure my kids are up for school, and to get myself ready to go to work. I’m in work by 8:30 and spend my days with 5 year olds. I am home by 4, at which time I have to make any phone calls that need to be made (if I remember to make them), run any errands, shop for and/or make dinner, help with homework, make sure there is some clean laundry for the next day, straighten up any messes (usually half assedly because I am out of energy by dinner), run any errands that didn’t get done before dinner, have at least a little conversation with my kids, and get ready for the next day. That is all I do on a good day.

In addition to my full time job, I just took on a part time “small business” that I’m trying to get up and running so I can make some “extra” money. So my evenings also now involve answering emails and FB messages, learning about the company and the product, and promoting my business. Soon, there will be evenings that I will be out at parties, selling my product. Then there are the evenings that my kids have appointments or activities that I need to get them to. Friday nights are often spent taxiing kids to friends’ houses or to meet them at the movies or ice skating, or even at the occasional concert.

The weekends aren’t much quieter. They are spent trying to motivate myself to get up and clean the pig sty that is my home. After a full week of working and running around, it’s all I can do to dust, vacuum, clean the toilet, straighten the mess, and catch up on laundry. I never catch up on laundry. My house always feels dirty and messy, even if I clean. I feel guilty about that, too. I wonder what kind of wife and mother I am that I can’t keep a neat, clean home, have dinner on the table every night a la June Cleaver, and have everyone’s clothes cleaned, pressed and put away. I try to do it all. But my weekends are also spent carting my kids around, or out and about getting things for them for school, or things for the household for the following week. At some point, I have to get to the godforsaken grocery store…a place I’ve come to detest. I’m tired all the time. This isn’t how I want to spend my weekends.

Recently, I thought about all that I do. When I list everything like I did in this blog post, I realize I do A LOT. And I do it pretty much on my own. My husband and kids will help out a little, but the majority is all on me. Why is it that I always feel like I’m not doing enough? Why do I feel guilty that I’m not a perfect housekeeper, or a perfect cook, or a perfect wife and mother? Why do I never feel good enough? Why do I always feel like I should be doing more? I compare myself to other women who have neat, clean homes, or who go to the gym and look perfect in their jeans, or who cook a hot meal every single night rather than order take out. It’s not just me. I think A LOT of women feel the same way. Why do we do it to ourselves? I don’t know the answer to that question. But at this point, I’m allowing myself to be okay with not trying to lose weight. I just can’t put that on myself right now. I need to let something go for now, and so I’ve decided to let the guilt go of not trying to lose weight and being the perfect size 10. I’m going to be okay sitting in my dusty living room, eating my chocolate chip cookies. Just for now.

Signs

Aug3

A Prayer for the Caregiver
by Bruce McIntyre

Unknown and often unnoticed, you are a hero nonetheless.
For your love, sacrificial, is God at his best.
You walk by faith in the darkness of the great unknown,
And your courage, even in weakness, gives life to your beloved.
You hold shaking hands and provide the ultimate care:
Your presence, the knowing, that you are simply there.
You rise to face the giant of disease and despair,
It is your finest hour, though you may be unaware.
You are resilient, amazing, and beauty unexcelled,
You are the caregiver and you have done well!

Several years ago I was on vacation in North Carolina with my husband, kids, parents and my aunt and her boyfriend. One night after dinner we went around the table and asked each other the questions that James Lipton asks celebrities at the end of the TV show, Inside The Actor’s Studio. The last question he asks is, “If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?” My answer to that question was that I’d like to hear the words, “You did a good job.” I’ve always tried to do a good job, whether it was raising my kids, being productive at work, or just by being kind to everyone. I’ve always tried to be a good person and do the right thing.

I’m not a religious person. I’ve never had use for organized religion, but I definitely believe in God and consider myself a spiritual person. My relationship with God is personal, and I don’t feel a need to share it with other people. However, in my daily life when I’m struggling with a decision, or unkind feelings, or coping with stress, I frequently ask myself what God would want me to do. Daily life with a sick spouse can be filled with stress, frustration, anger, resentment, sadness, loneliness, isolation, and exhaustion. This is especially true when your day also includes raising children, managing a household, and working.

Over the past several months, it’s been a real struggle for me to deal with the resentment I have for my husband, our life together, and my life personally due to an illness we have no control over. I’ve watched my husband go from a man who was always extremely energetic, busy, and on the go from morning until night, become a man who has so little energy that even the shortest tasks exhaust him. I’ve watched him go from the life of the party to someone who stares into space, wanders around the house, and sleeps for long periods of time. It’s extremely hard not to feel resentful when I’m running around taking care of the daily needs of three kids, myself, my husband, a household, and be responsible to go to a job. I often feel like he is here physically, but his mind is tuned out.

I resent that everything is on my shoulders. My plate is overflowing. It makes me not want to do things for him. I do it anyway. It makes me want to run for the hills sometimes. I daydream about what it would be like to run away from it all. But I stay. It makes me fantasize about life after the illness, when he’s gone someday. That will be an awful day, but it will be liberating, too. All of these things make me feel guilty. It’s a daily struggle, a never ending cycle of resentment, fantasy, guilt. We aren’t even at the point that my husband needs personal care, but I’m overwhelmed. I had breakfast yesterday with my friend Yvonne. She is my dear friend of 41 years. I told her all of this and said, “I’m not even really his caregiver yet.” Her response was, “you still have the mental stress.” That acknowledgement was priceless for me.

I came home from breakfast and found the above poem. I believe that sometimes God sends signs. I believe that poem was a sign for me. “For your love, sacrificial, is God at his best.” That line changed my entire perspective. God works through us to help people who need it most. It made me remember that question that I hadn’t asked myself in a while…what would God want me to do? My husband is in need of someone to be here for him, not only to meet his physical needs, but emotional support, and to provide a home environment where it’s okay to feel lousy, and sleep, and just be sick. When the days get rough, and the stress gets high, I will read this poem to remind myself of the good I’m doing for my husband and the example I’m setting for my children. I’m sure there will be many days that are a challenge for me. I’m only human. Hopefully, there will be fewer days of resentment, and more days appreciating the time I have with my husband and making his years as comfortable as possible.

Abandonment

May26

As I’ve written about in previous blog posts, I have a chronically ill husband. It’s not a disease that will go away. It’s progressive and incurable at this point. It can be manageable, but it’s also unpredictable, and some days are good days and some days are bad days. Chronic illness affects families in many different ways. Patients and spouses go through many emotions at different times. An ongoing theme that I’ve noticed affects both my husband and I, and has a ripple effect on the people in our lives, is abandonment. We abandon and we feel abandoned. I can’t speak for my husband, but I can share what it’s like for me. I have always kept this stuff bottled up inside me for many reasons. I feel like I have to be strong and be able to handle everything. But I can’t. I don’t want people who leave me out, to know I feel abandoned because I don’t want them to feel bad. So, I feel bad instead. I feel guilty for having less than stellar emotions. I don’t know why. I’m human and entitled to be negative at times, and feel sadness, and feel upset with people. Mostly, I don’t want other people to worry about me, or have my hard times affect their happy lives. I know in my head that I shouldn’t feel this way, but since when does that matter? We feel what we feel. That is one of the reasons I write. It’s therapeutic for me, and I think it helps other people who are going through the same thing. Writing lets me get out my feelings without having to say them. It’s easier for me.

One of the hardest things that I have gone through over the past 6 ½ years, is the feeling of being abandoned. There are people who I have thought would be there for me who have not. I don’t think it’s necessarily intentional, but nothing hurts more than people you care about becoming scarce when you are left to hold together a family affected by illness. There have been many people who have stepped up and been great supports to us, and for that we will be forever grateful. But there are others who have not. My husband has told me that he feels left out of things, and he says it doesn’t bother him, but I think it does. I know it bothers the hell out of me when I feel left out. It happens frequently. We aren’t sure why. Maybe people think we can’t afford something, or he won’t be up to it, or maybe we just aren’t as fun because we can’t do everything everyone else does. We wish people would invite us to do things and leave it up to us to decide if we can or not. Sometimes we will be able to, and other times not. I need to get out and keep living my life and do fun things. He is still living and he should get out and do things, too.

Abandonment goes in both directions. I work, take care of a household, and I’m busy with three older children who have places to go and activities to do. I’m also looking for a better job. Thankfully, my husband is still at a point where he doesn’t need me to be a caretaker, but there are days he doesn’t feel well and I do take care of him. I spend a large part of my life doing for others, and there are those times when a crisis happens and suddenly there is a trip to the hospital. Out of necessity, I abandon those things that aren’t of vital importance. My house tends to be messy…who wants to spend a free day cleaning the stinkin house? I do whatever amount of laundry needs to be done in order to give us clean clothes for a couple of days. I’ve also abandoned certain dreams…buying a bigger, nicer house…spending my older years traveling with my husband…retiring, in general. There are those times, when I don’t feel like doing anything on the weekends, so I don’t seek people out to do things with. When you spend your weeks always doing, a day off to do nothing is a luxury. A day to myself, doing anything I want to do is almost unheard of. Because of this, I have done my share of abandoning some people. One of the people that I don’t spend nearly enough time with is my Mom. But she is the one person in my life who I know will NEVER abandon me, no matter what. It’s not fair to her. I am going to change that. The irony of all of this is that I feel abandoned, and the one person who has never abandoned me is the one I leave out. Sometimes, I just feel like I have nothing left to give. I’m tired. There are also times I feel like I’ve abandoned my husband, but again, sometimes I feel like I am depleted of whatever I have to give. I have also abandoned some of the people who have stopped bothering with us. That was hard to do, but necessary for my peace of mind. Sometimes, you just have to let people go.

All of these feelings lead to that old cycle of guilt and resentment. There are millions of people who are going through an illness with a family member. We have become a caretaking society…people take care of parents with Alzheimer’s, children with autism and other disabilities, cancer patients, chronically ill family members. It’s not an unusual thing to have someone in your life that needs to be taken care of. Someday, YOU may need to be taken care of. Or you may be taking care of someone. Take a moment to reach out to someone who is going through this. Please understand that a lot of times, the person may say no to an invitation. Keep asking anyway, because it makes a world of difference to know that someone thought of them and took the time to at least ask. It helps people to not feel abandoned and isolated, and that goes a long way.

The Abyss

Apr16

In November of 2007, the words “they found a tumor” altered the course of my husband’s life, my life, and my children’s lives. Those words started a two year journey to find a diagnosis, followed by several years of treatment attempts, horrible illness, multiple hospitalizations, incredible stress and strain on our family, more questions than answers, and ultimately, the realization that this wasn’t ever going away. In fact, it would only continue to get worse…his disease is progressive and incurable. The roller coaster of emotions never stops, but I have learned a lot about myself, the people in my life, and life with a chronically ill family member.

For myself, this isn’t an easy journey. People tell me all the time that I am an incredibly strong person. I am strong because I have no choice but to be strong. What would my alternative be? I can choose to give up and stop living, or I can choose to be strong, do what needs to be done for my family, and be here for my husband. I’m strong, but not infallible. I make a choice every day to laugh, enjoy my family, find a few things for myself that I enjoy, and try not to get sucked into the abyss of never ending illness. However, there are a lot of struggles that I endure every day that people who haven’t ever been in this situation would fail to grasp. People who haven’t lived this may even think less of me for feeling the way I sometimes feel. You just can’t fully understand it unless you’ve lived it.

There are two emotions that play a constant role in my life…guilt and resentment. I didn’t sign up for this. Who would? I have a lot of days that I resent what this illness has done to me, my husband and the life together that we will likely never have. We won’t spend our later years traveling together, or going out and doing things with friends, or staying up late having interesting discussions. Those things are few and far between for us already. I know this isn’t anyone’s fault, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept. I feel resentful of friends and family members who WILL get to do those things, or who can go on great vacations, or who express worries about money when they are making two or three times what we are struggling to live on. I am resentful when I see other couples out doing things together. I am resentful when I see other families with healthy Dads, actively engaging in activities with their children when my children’s Dad barely has enough energy to get through a quiet day at home.

The usual emotion followed by resentment is a big, healthy dose of guilt. I feel guilty for feeling resentful of the illness, and other people who have an easier life. I feel guilty for yearning for more from life. I would never wish this on anyone. I am happy for people who are happy with life. But sometimes I still resent it, which makes me feel guilty. I have a lot of things to be grateful for. I have a husband who loves me, three amazing children who I love more than life itself, some incredible friends, incredibly supportive parents, and many family members who have always been there for us. I get it. I have many good things in my life, too. But that doesn’t take away the resentment and the guilt for feeling resentful. It is what it is, but it doesn’t make it easier to accept. Again, for people not in my shoes, this may be hard to understand.

I tend to keep my feelings to myself, and withdraw from people during my darker times. I am an introspective person, and usually prefer to solve my own issues on my own, and in my own time. I’m sharing this not because I want anyone to solve this issue for me, or because I’m looking for sympathy. These are my issues that I deal with every day. They aren’t right or wrong…they just “are.” I’m sharing this so that people can maybe understand what it’s like to live this type of life. There are many people out there feeling isolated, misunderstood, resentful, guilty and hopeless.

People often ask what they can do to help a family or person dealing with illness. They usually mean by actively doing things…making a meal, or helping with a task. There are other ways you can help. You can help emotionally by letting them know that you are there if they need you. You can help by realizing that your every day issues are issues they would give anything to have, rather than the stress they are living with on a long term basis. You can help by including them in things so they don’t feel isolated. You can also help by being sincere in your interest in how someone is doing. Don’t ask if you don’t REALLY want to be a listening ear. It is noticed when you aren’t really paying attention to what someone is telling you. You can help by listening without trying to give advice. Advice is nice if it’s asked for, but mostly it’s just nice to be listened to and sympathized with. When I feel as if I’ve been really heard, it makes a world of difference. It makes the resentment and guilt go away for a little while. It gives me hope.