Supporting your elderly mother can be stressful. She may have been hospitalized relatively recently. Whatever the reason for the hospitalization — pneumonia, stroke, injuries, major surgery, or whatever — there is likely going to be a long recovery associated with it.
The older your mother is, the more health and mobility challenges she had before the hospitalization, and the more challenging that recovery process will likely become.
There’s a reason why so many people turn to experienced in-home care agencies to help aging loved ones recover following a major medical emergency. These men and women understand how important recovery is and they certainly don’t want to see their loved one back in the hospital anytime soon.
Yet, stress is going to hit you at some point, especially if you’re the primary family caregiver supporting this loved one. It will likely affect your interpersonal relationships, maybe your career or work life, and perhaps your health, too.
If you want to overcome stress while supporting an aging parent, spouse, or other loved one during the recovery process following their hospitalization, keep a few important tips in mind.
1. Understand what to expect.
If you are going to be the primary person caring for this loved one, you need to know what to expect. You should be talking to their doctor, or at least in the room while the doctor’s explaining everything to that individual.
If you expect to get a clear picture from just the senior, think again. It has nothing to do with age or health issues, but human nature. Most of the time our memory — our short-term memory — is woefully limited because of our overreliance on information that is constantly at our fingertips through the Internet.
Add on the stress of health issues, and prescription medications that might be impacting memory, and you have the perfect recipe for forgetfulness. So, be clear on what to expect directly from the source.
2. Talk about her plans.
When you’re helping your elderly mother, you don’t want to push her to do things she has no interest in doing. You want to understand her perspective, her expectations, and how things will look for her in the future.
You don’t have to agree with her, you should certainly empower her to understand what her plans happen to be. If she has no interest in exercising or doing things her doctor said, explain the risk of going back to the hospital and spending significant time there if she doesn’t.
3. Find support.
Find support for you and her. There are local support groups for people like you going through a variety of challenges. Find them. Talk to them. And find support for your mother.
You can do a lot to help her, but if you have no prior experience doing this type of work, it’s going to be that much more difficult for you and her. An in-home care agency can do wonders to help her during the recovery process, especially when it comes to following doctor’s recommendations and avoiding missing opportunities that can make a world of difference for her.
If you or an aging loved one are considering In-Home Care in Leesburg, VA, please contact the caring staff at Access Home Care Inc today! Call (703) 765-9350
Access Home Care provider in Arlington, Alexandria, Leesburg, Reston, Herndon, Manassas, Ashburn, Falls Church, McLean, Lorton, Springfield, Woodbridge, Fairfax, Virginia and the surrounding communities.
“My desire to enter into nursing started when one of my older sisters died of kidney disease due to lack of care. At age 15, I decided to enter into nursing so that I could provide quality care to patients.Upon arrival in United States at 21 years of age, I enrolled in T.C Willliams School of Practical Nursing while working as a nursing assistant at a nursing home. I also worked as a part-time home health aide to take of the elderly. After completion of my practical nurse education, I worked in geriatric psychiatry unit at Dominion Hospital and Arlington Correctional facility mental health unit.
I completed Marymount University in 2001 and entered into Home Care as a field case manager.
I held that position for 2 years and as an Administrator, and for another 2 years until Access Home Care was found in 2004."
Today, Access Home Care has over 300 employees and 286 clients.
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