One of the more difficult things about in-home care is seeing your loved one’s health deteriorate right before your eyes. This is, unfortunately, a fact of life. We all age, and many of us will need some sort of senior care later on in life. It’s a difficult thing to deal with, but it is a natural part of life and one that is best handled by being prepared for it.
What’s even harder than watching the aging process in person is to not see your elderly parent or grandparent for a few weeks, and then see how rapid their decline has been since you last saw them. A few nights ago, I went to visit my grandma. She’s been at a nursing home for the past year due to a broken hip and recently had spent time in the hospital for breaking her other hip. The two injuries, when combined with the time she’s been in the nursing home, and how miserable she is there, has made the last year age her much more than 52 weeks. It’s been difficult to see, and I know that she would age quickly anywhere (she’s almost 90), but I would much rather she was going through this stage of life someplace where she was happy. She lived with my mom for 20 years before getting hurt, and the change in her mood over this time has been extremely painful to see.
It’s a difficult situation for any family member to be in. My grandma could very well be miserable anywhere. But she’s not. She’s miserable in a place she doesn’t want to be–even though it’s a place she currently needs to be. Her first injury was sudden and unexpected and changed her instantly from a pretty active woman to being completely bedridden for a while. She is now able to sit up in a chair, but can no longer walk. The nursing home is the best place for her because of her medical conditions and new disabilities, but that doesn’t make it any easier on her family.
For most, the nursing home should only be used as a last resort. In-home care covers most people’s needs, and the nursing home tends to be overkill. My grandma was using an in-home care service for a few hours per week before her accident while my mom was at work and it was more than enough to make sure that all of her needs were met. And it’s very likely that if you have a loved one that you are thinking about finding senior care for, their needs will be met by in-home care, too. Above and beyond all of this, though, is the fact that in-home care maximizes happiness for many people. Nursing homes are not places that people long for when they get older, but the comfort of their family’s home is. If it is within your ability to get the best care possible for your loved one AND make them happy in the process, why would you not do this for them?
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