Can I take care of my Mom at home as well as a nursing home?
mother is staying in the bed most of the time now do to dizzy spells, she is also a dialyis paient. they want to put her in a nursing home but she dose not want to go. I have no idea how to care for her but Im willing to try.
I don't mean to be cruel, but hard facts must influence your decision. What is your Mom's life expectancy? Will she go off dialysis, and enter hospice? What are your financial resources to hire help, if she stays on dialysis?
If the life expectancy is less than 6 months, you could do it with at the very least an 4 hour a day paid caregiver so you can get sleep and do errands, or a family member helping. Caregiver burnout will be a huge problem. This can be managed.
One of the signs you are entering the dying stage is staying in bed all day. Call your Mom's Dr and get a referral to hospice. See what they advise.
Know you will be going through the grief process, the whole time. You will cycle through all 5 stages many times, can you handle that and still give care? Many people can't. There is no shame in acknowledging your limits.
I take care of my 93 year old Dad who has Parkinson's. It has been the most frustrating, rewarding, physical and mentaly challenging job I have ever done being a 24/7/365. The truth is as tired, as isolated, and as sad as I am; I feel like I am doing God's work, and I am not even religious. I have grown in compassion, intelligence, and strength, hell i know I can achieve anything now. I am happy, and Dad has a life.
I say do it, take care of her at home, but have the hard talk with your Mom as to how she wants to die. You will be a team, she must sacrifice too. If you try and can't do it, then you will know in your heart you gave it your all. If she is placed in a nursing home, have no shame, guilt, or regrets. Know that in some ways you will have a harder job as a nursing home caregiver. You will be dealing with many people to get your Mom good care, and many runs to the emergency room with all the grief and panic that instills. The more informed you are, the easier your job. Good luck we are here for you.
No one wants to go into a nursing home but sometimes it's necessary.
How do you get your mom up and to dialysis?
Taking care of someone who is bed bound is next to impossible. And someone who has to live their life in bed is vulnerable to many health issues like pneumonia, skin breakdown, and an exacerbation of whatever other health issues she already has.
If you keep your mom at home you're going to have to learn how to change her while she's in bed. YouTube has tutorials on how to do this. You will also have to learn how to change her bedding while she's in bed. It's a pain in the neck but it's doable.
You'll have to get a hospital bed so she can sit up to eat and drink and that has rails in case she gets it into her mind to get up one night to use the bathroom.
These are just a few issues you'll face trying to take care of your bed bound mom. You are liable to burn out quickly so it might not be a bad idea to have some options for when you get to the point where you just can't do it anymore. Tour a few facilities, have some connections to people who can help you place her if/when it comes to that.
If a patient is bed-bound, I'd say a nursing home provides better/safer care. Sans that, it's whatever a patient wants -- and whatever a caretaker is willing to do.
For the last week or ten days of her life, mom was bed-bound. I can tell you that this strong, scrappy 5'8" gal was at the end of her rope by the time she passed. Mom weighed 100 pounds. I was just about ready to throw in the towel when I realized "this was it" -- she was dying.
In just a week, her heels hurt her from being in bed just THAT long. Pulling the sheets/diapers out from under her (until I got better at it) ran the risk of ripping her parchment-like skin open. Taking care of seniors at home isn't for sissies, I'll tell you THAT much.
Bed-bound and long-term? I'd say it's darned near impossible.
Next time you go to a nursing home, look around. Not one of those people "wants to be there" -- nobody does. But sometimes? It's the best and safest thing we can do for the person we love.
No, you cannot care for someone on dialysis at home. It requires expensive equipment. Being on dialysis is a very demanding routine, and requires medical knowledge which you do not indicate you have. Put her in a nursing home where professionals can care for her and you can visit. This would be in HER best interests.
I tried caring for my mother at home with nurses through out the day after her stroke. We did this for 3 months. Unfortunately it did not work out well. She is in a nursing home now and she seems much happier. She was very isolated at home. She only saw people when they came to visit and she was very angry, anxious and even paranoid at home. The nursing home got her on meds which has helped alot with these emotions and she has alot of friends and loves the activities and the activity staff. It was the hardest decision for me to make this choice for her but I feel that this was the best solution for her safety as well as my sanity. Good luck with your decision .
kathyedale, you asked "Can I take care of my Mom at home as well as a nursing home?"
You would need to clone yourself twice as you would be doing the work of 3 Caregivers each and every day. And you would need to set up your home as though it was a nursing home. If you are doing this alone, then everything you need, like groceries, household goods, meds, will need to be home delivered.
In a nursing home, the Caregiver works one 8 hour shift and goes home, gets rested, and is ready for the next day. Plus they get vacation days and sick days. They know CPR, they know how to take blood pressure readings, they know all the tricks on how to get a patient out of bed to use the rest room or how to use a bed pan.... they know all the tricks for getting a patient to eat or to take their pills. And these are "young" Caregivers, who have the patience and the energy.
So I stress, think this all the way through, and read some other forums on this website about caring for one at home. Recently one of our regular writers here had a heart attack, she is doing ok now but the stress become overwhelming, even thought she thought she could handle everything.
Hearing you say that you have no idea how to care for her, tells me a lot. Personally, it sounds cruel not to let your mom have the care that a NH can give. What will you do in an emergency? What happens if you get pneumonia or stomach flu? What is your mom outlives you? My mother is 95 and thriving under NH care. My MIL is 91 and is in ass't living. Things aren't perfect, but I am 60. I could not take care of two 90 YOs.
i think kathy1 said it best . even whats best for your mothers health isnt as important as doing what she wants , imo . my mom passed away a year ago and she did it entirely on her terms and at her home . she remained in control of her environment until we had to start the morphine the last few hours of her life . aunt edna is in nh and medically better cared for but has no control over anything . i think if you and your mother want to try in your home care you should do it . you can educate yourself online as you go . if mom becomes impossible to care for at home just explain to her that nh is the form of hospitalization that the us govt affords and she needs hospitalization . in hindsight my biggest accomplishment in caring for mom was not letting ANYONE take control away from her . she wasnt a child , she was a genius with dementia and several medical complications related to old age / disease .
If she is dizzy, her docs need to know- "taking to bed" is a harbringer of dying for all the reasons everyone else has posted. Plan a visit to the dcotor where you can go with her - if she can go, she might just say "Oh, I'm fine." It may well be she needs something treated, or at least some change to amounts of fluid or electrolytes in dialysis, and then a push to get herself up and out of bed. Actually just staying in bed too much can cause you to lose the ability to tolerate being upright; it's called orthostatic hypotension.
You might do as well or better than a nursing home - you might not be able to do it for long if Mom is difficult and demanding - a lot of things go into deciding whether to try home care versus starting to look for a good facility, either temporary as a sub-acute rehab stay, or long term.
Nope kiddo, don't do it. You won't last a week. Just the way you ask, you are not sure. You have to be sure, determined, unwavering and unafraid of the unknown.
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If the life expectancy is less than 6 months, you could do it with at the very least an 4 hour a day paid caregiver so you can get sleep and do errands, or a family member helping. Caregiver burnout will be a huge problem. This can be managed.
One of the signs you are entering the dying stage is staying in bed all day. Call your Mom's Dr and get a referral to hospice. See what they advise.
Know you will be going through the grief process, the whole time. You will cycle through all 5 stages many times, can you handle that and still give care? Many people can't. There is no shame in acknowledging your limits.
I take care of my 93 year old Dad who has Parkinson's. It has been the most frustrating, rewarding, physical and mentaly challenging job I have ever done being a 24/7/365. The truth is as tired, as isolated, and as sad as I am; I feel like I am doing God's work, and I am not even religious. I have grown in compassion, intelligence, and strength, hell i know I can achieve anything now. I am happy, and Dad has a life.
I say do it, take care of her at home, but have the hard talk with your Mom as to how she wants to die. You will be a team, she must sacrifice too. If you try and can't do it, then you will know in your heart you gave it your all. If she is placed in a nursing home, have no shame, guilt, or regrets. Know that in some ways you will have a harder job as a nursing home caregiver. You will be dealing with many people to get your Mom good care, and many runs to the emergency room with all the grief and panic that instills. The more informed you are, the easier your job. Good luck we are here for you.
How do you get your mom up and to dialysis?
Taking care of someone who is bed bound is next to impossible. And someone who has to live their life in bed is vulnerable to many health issues like pneumonia, skin breakdown, and an exacerbation of whatever other health issues she already has.
If you keep your mom at home you're going to have to learn how to change her while she's in bed. YouTube has tutorials on how to do this. You will also have to learn how to change her bedding while she's in bed. It's a pain in the neck but it's doable.
You'll have to get a hospital bed so she can sit up to eat and drink and that has rails in case she gets it into her mind to get up one night to use the bathroom.
These are just a few issues you'll face trying to take care of your bed bound mom. You are liable to burn out quickly so it might not be a bad idea to have some options for when you get to the point where you just can't do it anymore. Tour a few facilities, have some connections to people who can help you place her if/when it comes to that.
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For the last week or ten days of her life, mom was bed-bound. I can tell you that this strong, scrappy 5'8" gal was at the end of her rope by the time she passed. Mom weighed 100 pounds. I was just about ready to throw in the towel when I realized "this was it" -- she was dying.
In just a week, her heels hurt her from being in bed just THAT long. Pulling the sheets/diapers out from under her (until I got better at it) ran the risk of ripping her parchment-like skin open. Taking care of seniors at home isn't for sissies, I'll tell you THAT much.
Bed-bound and long-term? I'd say it's darned near impossible.
Next time you go to a nursing home, look around. Not one of those people "wants to be there" -- nobody does. But sometimes? It's the best and safest thing we can do for the person we love.
You would need to clone yourself twice as you would be doing the work of 3 Caregivers each and every day. And you would need to set up your home as though it was a nursing home. If you are doing this alone, then everything you need, like groceries, household goods, meds, will need to be home delivered.
In a nursing home, the Caregiver works one 8 hour shift and goes home, gets rested, and is ready for the next day. Plus they get vacation days and sick days. They know CPR, they know how to take blood pressure readings, they know all the tricks on how to get a patient out of bed to use the rest room or how to use a bed pan.... they know all the tricks for getting a patient to eat or to take their pills. And these are "young" Caregivers, who have the patience and the energy.
So I stress, think this all the way through, and read some other forums on this website about caring for one at home. Recently one of our regular writers here had a heart attack, she is doing ok now but the stress become overwhelming, even thought she thought she could handle everything.
even whats best for your mothers health isnt as important as doing what she wants , imo . my mom passed away a year ago and she did it entirely on her terms and at her home . she remained in control of her environment until we had to start the morphine the last few hours of her life .
aunt edna is in nh and medically better cared for but has no control over anything . i think if you and your mother want to try in your home care you should do it . you can educate yourself online as you go . if mom becomes impossible to care for at home just explain to her that nh is the form of hospitalization that the us govt affords and she needs hospitalization .
in hindsight my biggest accomplishment in caring for mom was not letting ANYONE take control away from her . she wasnt a child , she was a genius with dementia and several medical complications related to old age / disease .
You might do as well or better than a nursing home - you might not be able to do it for long if Mom is difficult and demanding - a lot of things go into deciding whether to try home care versus starting to look for a good facility, either temporary as a sub-acute rehab stay, or long term.
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