How to handle administrative things?

I just noticed another inconsistency, in the OP's last post:

"I’m 21 years old and have been taking care of my grandfather for one month"

and later in the post:

"My experience in caretaking is limited to a few times I have supported my grandmother."

The holes in this story are big enough for an Asian catfish to swim through.

It's been decades and I didn't finish college b/c I ran out of money, but my best recollection was that as an Econ Honors major a thesis would have been required. I do recall doing some research on a potential topic.

I know in the US, a thesis is part of a Master's degree, but many other countries expect a defended thesis at the baccalaureate level. Interesting.

When did they start doing bachelor theses? Must be in a different country. I did read you're studying overseas, taking care of your granddad for a month now while your parents are back home taking care of the same granddad that you assisted with for a day or two. Why are you doing this? Surely it can't be fun.

I'm confused. Theses used to be in one's major, which in your case would apparently be a dual major in IT and Econ.

Your concern about caregiving is laudable, but it seems you're more interested in the day-to-day activities experienced by caregivers rather than the economic effects.

If you are so inclined, I think a thesis on the economic effects to society, to caregivers, and to families would be an excellent way to link your potential caregiving responsibilities to your academic interests. You might also want to expand it to review existing governmental supports, such as they are, and how to either help or discourage family caregiving efforts.

And if you want to encourage answers, it's better to use just one screen name instead of two. There has been an uptick in troll traffic here, so you could easily be mistaken for one and boycotted.

Ok, sorry for the confusion. Yes I’m doing research and yes I’m also a caregiver.
My background is as following: I’m studying (IT/Economics) but currently I’m working abroad while my parents are taking care of my grandfather who is paralyzed (He cannot walk, talk or move his right hand). I’m 21 years old and have been taking care of my grandfather for one month. Before that my grandmother was taking care of him which is not an option any more. After I finish my work I will be writing my bachelorthesis until my graduation in September. During this time I’ll be at mostly at home and taking care of my grandfather. The reason why I’m asking this broad questions is that I’m very new to this, I don’t know what I’ll need in the future (As I graduate in September I might move for another job) and the fact that I’m doing research for my bachelorthesis: I have realized through my own experience that family care takers go through a hard time (especially in the beginning) and my bachelorthesis aims at finding out what problems do caregivers have and if there is any way the IT can help this. Originally I wanted to talk to caretakers one in one to find out what their problems are (Which is unfortunately not an easy task) so I decided to think of things that have been giving me a hard time and ask around.

That’s the reason why my questions are so broad and why there are so many of them.

I once again want to apologize highly for the confusion I created.


My experience in caretaking is limited to a few times I have supported my grandmother.

Thank you all once again.

If you are doing research, RobertK21, I congratulate you on creative thinking about finding people with experience to talk to! It would be helpful to know the perspective you are coming from, though. Are you a caregiver? Planning to be one? Studying something related to aging?

In any case I'll share my experience:

Administrative aspects of caregiving are the absolute pits. I spent a whole year after my husband developed dementia dealing with insurance, applications, medical forms, lawyers, ad infinitum. I HATED every moment of it. After the first year it got less frequent but there was still need to fax POA documents and deal with corporate bureaucracy. Give it to a professional? Such as? My husband could not possibly handle any administrative tasks himself. I was it. Awful, terrible, and not good. And very time-consuming.

My mother began needing help at the same time. I told my family I'd advise them on things I had learned but that I could not take on that role myself. Two of my sisters split the tasks. It drove them nuts, too. And what professional could they have turned this over to?

Yes, legal considerations are important when handling someone else's financial affairs. That's why "lawyer" was on my list of people to deal with.

I think Jessie's question on another thread is relevant here as well. Are you doing research? Your questions are much too broad to be reflective of someone in a caregiving position, especially since you don't share any specific experiences of your own.

If you are a caregiver though, please tell us about the person for whom you're caring, his/her age, your age, your background & experience, whether you have a DPOA.