This is what you missed out while caring for your loved one!
When it comes to caring for your loved one, you know the best. After all, you are the one who is privy to their deep pain and challenges. You somehow intuitively know what they precisely need and so you want to jump right in to ensure that no aspect of their treatment is neglected. You love them and you try to do your best, but is your best the best for them? Could you inadvertently be thwarting their recovery process?
Let’s find out.
If you are noticing these 5 signs while caring for your ailing loved one at home, then you probably need to rethink your care module.
1)Frequent accidents at home – Does your loved one slip or fall often? You try to be with them all the time, but there are other chores you need to attend to as well. It could simply mean answering the phone or the door. And as Murphy’s law always has it, these accidents happen exactly at those times within a fraction of a minute or even a second. The result-additional complications, more pain and challenges.
2)Delayed recovery – Recuperation after surgery or an acute illness is equally important. It intrinsically means the continuation of the treatment protocol prescribed by the primary physician. You may just have the medication schedule in place, but how do you manage the critical care(catheter care, tube feeding, injections) physiotherapy sessions, timely hospital visits, nutritional diet, the constant moral support your loved needs and god forbid any emergency that pops up? A tiny lapse in any of the above could translate into severe trauma for your loved one as well as you and delay their recovery process considerably.
3)Deteriorating chronic condition – Conditions like Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, kidney disorders, some heart diseases or cancers are progressive and can worsen the condition of the patient over time. No matter what you do and how dedicatedly you do it, you need to accept that you are a human at the end of the day. Certain aspects of care are beyond you. And there will be more and more moments when you will be helplessly watching your loved one deteriorate, unable to do anything. The question here is are you going to allow that to happen and let your loved one suffer more? More importantly, are you willing to live under the constant guilt of not being able to contribute in any way?
4)Your loved one is sad and withdrawn – Apart from medicine and strict care, your loved one needs you and your time. Conversations and laughter mean a lot to them. Feeling isolated and lonely can have far-reaching effects on their health than you realise… It could hamper their entire recovery cycle. Though you want to give them more of your time and attention, they are rare commodities given all your responsibilities. You end up being torn apart and the sad and withdrawn look in their eyes grows day by day.
5)You are getting crankier – Have you noticed a change in your temperament? Are you getting cranky? It could be the constant emotional and physical exhaustion, trying to deal with the difficult situation. You may be constantly struggling between your loved one’s illness, your work or your family and could very well require a break. Of course, you can keep going for the sake of your loved one, but in all probability, you will crumble sooner or later under the pressure and may not be able to care for your loved one at all.
These are the warning signs you shouldn’t ignore if you don’t want the situation at hand to escalate further. And if you are wondering that there is nothing you can do about it, here is what you missed.
You can hire well-trained nurses and caregivers to take care of the medical and personal grooming needs of your ailing loved one while you focus on the other tasks at hand. These nurses and caregivers are specifically trained not only to provide specialized care but also to be like companions to your loved one. However, if your loved one requires critical care there are facilities that offer doctor, nurse, caregiver, therapy, and dietary support all under one roof. This saves you and the patient the time, effort, and trauma to travel for doctor consultations, physiotherapy sessions, etc. Moreover, it provides a very pleasant and homely atmosphere for your loved one to recover well and comfortably.
Abroad this concept is very common and is called Continuum Care. It is the continuity of care post-hospital discharge either at a super speciality residential facility or at the home of the patient depending on the criticality of the care required. In India, selected healthcare organizations provide this continued care for optimum recovery of patients and Sukino Healthcare is one such provider with operations in Bangalore and Kochi.
They can be reached here.
The idea is not to separate your loved ones from you and place them in the remote care of people you don’t know very well, but to assist you in caring better for them so that they recover better and faster.
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BY: Sukino
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