Caregiving Story

My story begins in July of 2011 with a very sweet lady whom i affectionately called Mom. Her name was Betty Price and out of anyone that i have enjoyed taking care of, it is her. Years ago she was what an OR nurse is called today back during the WW2 she was called a Scrub nurse and from what I gathered a very good one too. She had 2 wonderful sons Scott and Jack and their families who all loved her and took care of her. Betty before I met her had what is called Whipple Surgery and she had a feeding tube put in. I was assigned by my agency to take care of her. With the agency I was with I was able to do both agency and private duty. In most cases I was doing a lot of over-nights and sometimes I would stay to help out the family so Betty would not be alone. Anyway she had cancer and doctors thought they took it all out but it came back. When I had to do hospice care, it was the last 3 weeks of her life. I felt love for Betty from when I very first met her and from then on called her Mom. I used to read to her since she could not see anymore. I went over and above what I needed to do to take care of her. And many times as she was dying I would sit with her and talk to her. Betty really taught me as a human being how to really understand and treat the dying with a lot of love and respect. I learned from her what it means to be a nurse and I hope in the near future to go for my LPN license. Anyway I saw what care the family gave her and the best care that I could give her made me realize that this is my life long mission to help people like Betty who are dying. What I loved about Betty was the fact she was always up during the night and we could talk about anything and we came to love each other and I came to respect her more and more as a person and as part of my family. When the floods came and my husband and I lost everything Betty's family let us take a shower and do laundry there. And there were many times my husband helped me just move her up in bed. He started to call her Mom and she loved that. Betty made sure that she did not die in front of me but waited till the other aide and her family came in to go. When my term of duty was complete i took a week off til her funeral. This gave me time to reflect on my own life because I had someone wonderful to take care of. And in all this life is so fragile and fleeting. How can we not love one another. When I become a nurse i hope to become like Betty. I hope that can do my best to give the best care in the world to take care of people in there homes til they die. Anyway the moral of the story is that when you have someone like Betty to take care of realize what a wonderful person they really are and talk to them and get to understand them and love them for them. We caregivers whether it be family or professional we are all important and we are the window between the client or family member to the family or other family members. We are the rock for those who need us when nobody cares. We are the ones who are the front like for the nurses and doctors to take care of them. And we are the ones who bring sunshine to their day when all seems lost and lonely.