For $125 per hour, we may as well all benefit!

[Guest guest]

I went to get my meds changed and they thought with all I have going on

I might benefit from some counseling.

The therapist wanted to know why I had organized my life to work full-

time and then caregive all the other hours in the day.

Now, she acted like I was crazy for doing this, and why did I think I

should do it?

I told her that if I see something that needs done and I don't do it,

what kind of a person would I be, anyway? I don't think I have two

heads, but this seemed like a foreign concept to her.

Did we all self-appoint ourselves to this?

I told her about when my dad was in the hospital that i gave him his

baths when poo ruled and they couldn't cover him at all because of the

yeast irritation from massive anti-biotics. She thought I was crazy

for not calling the nursing staff to change his sheets every time they

were soiled.

She told me caregivers don't realize the risks physically, emotionally,

and something else, we take by giving so much of ourselves. She feels

all caregivers are in danger.

I paid real money for that conversation.

Really, who would I want bathing me and taking care of me if I were in

Millie's shoes? (We take her shoes off when we bathe her, really!)

How do I teach my children what they may need to do should I be in

similar shape?

For most of us, the why is because no one else would, but why do we

think it is us, and why are we doing this?

This woman worked for Hospice for 5 years. I would think she would

have had more of a clue about caregivers.

So, why do we do this?

What issues inside of you, made you appoint yourself to chief caregiver

rather than putting your LO in a nursing home?

So, if you would like to help me articulate our collective thoughts

here, I would be grateful. She made me feel ratherdefensive about being

a caregiver.

It's my dime, if you want in here!

Carol