SEC17 WK:#5: “Caring for aged and dependent relatives in the family”
Steem greetings all the way from the motherland-Cameroon to all friends of the steem kids and parents community. It is yet another week of the engagement challenge and I’m privileged to share ideas on the topic “caring for aged and dependent relatives in the family”. My ideas will be based on personal experience and I hope you all find pleasure reading through my content.
Do I have dependent relatives in My family.
In each family, we got those ageing family members whom for one reason or the other need special care or attention. Growing up as a kid, I had just my maternal grandmother whom was still very active until she got sick and my mom had to take all her time to care for her because we were still kids and could not handle her situation.
Unfortunately, when I was a grownup, both maternal and paternal grandparents were all death. So, there was no aging person to care for.
I only got the opportunity to cater for an ageing person when I got married and my husband’s grandmother was living with us. She was over 100 years old but very active. She could bath herself but I had to warm water and placed it well in the bath and help her to wash her back.
How your family has been caring for them.
As I earlier said, I only got to care for an ageing person when I got married. I had to ensure she eats on time before taking her medications. She was strictly on diet and it was so difficult as she never wanted to repeat a meal a day.
I had to warm water and helped her to wash her back and her feet. She always asked that you go while she is bathing until when she needs help that she will call my attention to assist.
Unfortunately, I did not do that for long and one sad night she slept and never wake up again.
Was I doing that out of joy or forced.
It is difficult for me to say I was doing it with joy but initially I was doing it with joy until it became frustrating. Like she will at times do things deliberately which made me so annoyed.
With all the stress from work and you managed to cook in the evening to serve you the stress in the morning. When you served her the food and she will be like “…is it not the same food they cooked in the night”. At times you served her lunch and by dinner time she wants you to cook a completely new dish.
At one point I felt like taking care of her joyfully because I never had done that before in my life and wanted to get that experience. Notwithstanding, at one point I felt forced to do it because I was living with her and had no choice.
What makes them dependent? Age or circumstances?
I’m my case I can say it was both age and circumstance. Circumstance because she was a patient. She was having high blood pressure, gained too much weight which was affecting her. She become dependent due to her poor health issues.
She also become dependent due to her age. Imagine a sick person aged over 100 years. She was more vulnerable and needed special care. She died at the age of 108 years old.
The joys you derive from caring for them. Tell us your own story.
There was joy at times caring for her but not in its entirety. The joyful moments caring for her was when she knows you are angry because of her actions. She will try as much as possible to make you feel happy again. She will sing all types of songs just to put a smile on your face to continue taking good care of her.
At some points, she was compassionate and shows sympathy when necessary. This kind of make me be around her because she knew how to pamper and console you to cheer up. Her stories were so good that makes you to always be around her caring for her and she will tell you all the untold stories.
In summary, we all have dependent persons in our families either persons with disabilities who need special care or ageing person. For me I was lucky that we had no person with special need until when I got married that I had the experience to care for my husband’s grand mother. At times it is joyful taking care of them but at some point it is also frustrating when things are not moving well but stressful. In either ways, it is still obligatory for us to care for them.
I have come to the end of my discussion and will invite @majerius, @saxopedia and @missyleo to share their thoughts about the topic.
Taking care of aged people is never an easy task. Speaking from experience, my Grandmother was ill at an old age, she had stroke and she couldn't walk. We took care of her for 5 years before she died. We made sure that she had the best in Life and she didn't regret being with us because we made her last days on earth a happy one.
You have made a great post in the contest. And what you did for your Mother-in-law shows humanity and love. Kudos in the contest.
It is never an easy tasks my dear especially when they are naughty and frustrate any single effort you put in to take care of them. But ei get as ei be sha, we still have to show them the love and care. Thank you for the support.
Thank you, friend!
I'm @steem.history, who is steem witness.
Thank you for witnessvoting for me.
please click it!
(Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses and type fbslo at the bottom of the page)
The weight is reduced because of the lack of Voting Power. If you vote for me as a witness, you can get my little vote.
Me alegra que a pesar de las circunstancias hicieras una buena labor con la abuela de tu marido y que hoy conserves buenos recuerdos de ella.
Saludos y bendiciones.
We need more than patience my dear because at times you can not withstand the frustration they give to you. As I said, despite the frustration, we are still obligated to take care of them. Thank you for the support.
Saludos amiga
Cuando tenemos a una persona mayor para cuidar, lo hacemos con todo el amor posible.practicamente son como niños, que necesitan de nuestro cuidado.
Te deseo éxito
Thank you for the support.
well said chant. Thanks for sharing this
Thank you for reading through.
El respeto, amor y cariño por nuestros ancianos se demuestra cuando cuidamos de ellos, cunado llegan a una edad o circunstancia en la cual no pueden valerse por sí mismos, entonces debemos ayudarlos con sus medicinas, su alimentación, su aseo.
Hay algo que muchos no han mencionado, pero el simple hecho de acompañarlos, de hablar con ellos, de escuchar sus historia, eso los hace sentirse vivos y felices, por lo que pasar tiempo de calidad con ellos es vital para hacerlos sentir bien.
Saludos y éxitos en el desafío.
Exactly my friend, sharing quality time with them and listening to their stories which we turn to benefit from because they are like our archives. Thank you for the support.
@chant
You talked about your Grandparents and I am very happy to see that you have an elderly person and you are serving him so much. He takes care of them and Masha Allah. You remember them well, give them warm water, wash their feet, make their backs and apart from them, you make food for them and seeing this makes me a lot more. I am happy that you are still taking care of her even after marriage and she is so active even at the age of 100 years as you are telling me. I was quite surprised to see that because sometimes some such people there are Wudu who are not very active at the age of 80 and stop walking and just lie on their bed. I am very happy to see that they can take care of themselves.She also sings to you and also tells you different stories and you see, I like it a lot. When I was little, my grandmother used to tell me a lot of stories and I liked them a lot. It was there.I hope that you will continue to take care of them and give them all the happiness.
Best Regards
@alisha-doll
There is much joy giving them those last moments of care though at times they turn to give us hard times. Thank you for the support and I wish you the best.
Definitely age and circumstance both are equal me make person difficult. Not financially but medical or health related dependency are more difficult for person how are on it. Thanks for sharing this beautiful thought with us, your story are motivating us to care vulnerable patient.