Caregiving Story

Some time ago before my spouse and I got married, he had told me he had back problems which began while he was a mail carrier. His doctor told him that he would eventually have to have surgery. He was not interested in having the surgery and ignored his doctor’s advice. He dealt with minor discomforts by just taking aspirins when he needed them.
One day we went to the bank and on his way back to the car, he tripped and fell. He had a difficult time getting back up on his own. Thank God for a kind lady who witnessed the fall. She helped me get him back on his feet and into the car. I took him to his doctor and he was scheduled for surgery. He had no choice this time. During his healing process, he was assigned a nurse who came 2-3 times per week and a physical therapist once per week. Since I was the only one he had family-wise, I became his Caregiver and received the following care giving experience: assisted him getting in and out of bed; assisted turning him over from one side to another; changed bandages; assisted with taking showers and grooming; escorted him to doctors' appointments; and reminders to take medications.
For some reason, his healing process was taking longer than we were expecting. He was in severe pain day and night. As time went on, he was getting worse and we couldn't understand why. So, we made another appointment with his doctor to find out what was going on. He was in so much agony, could barely walk and sleep at nights for both of us was slim-to-none. His appointment didn’t come around fast enough. After his doctor saw his X-Rays, I was advised to take him immediately to the hospital. He needed to undergo surgery as soon as possible because the hardware in his back had become loose. Also while examining him, his doctor discovered that the pain he suffered was not from his back only; he needed to a hip replacement as well. It turned out that when he fell at the bank, he had shattered his right hip. Thankfully, both surgeries were successful. And of course, I was back in the care giving business again. Today, my spouse is doing very well walking on his own, driving wherever he sees fit and sometimes even working in his vegetable garden now and then. God is good!