Parents Taking Care of Parents

My father has been in and out of the hospital since the last week of February. Of those four months, he has spent approximately 90 days in the hospital. And not the same hospital either. He has been a patient of four different hospitals. During this time, myself and my siblings have pitched in to help in his care. Frustrated with the level of care he was receiving from the many doctors who handled his case, we even contacted a well known physician who has experience working with patients suffereing from various ailments who were also well known. This type of specialized care is not covered fully by insurance, so the four of us chip in to pay the quarterly balance. This is all to ensure our dad receives the proper care he deserves. And you know what, now he does. It is sad to say that the new physician is finally on the right track to making my dad better because the new physician obviously is quite expensive. But I have heard it before, and in this case I see it first hand, you get what you pay for.


This blog was not supposed to be written about physicians, it was meant to speak about those of us who are now assisting in the care of the very people who used to wipe our noses and change our diapers...the people who gave us life, our parents. If someone had told me that I would be in this position in which my dad would be needing special care in which he is dependant upon us to take him wherever he needs to go...doctors appointments, grocery shopping (although he can't actually walk, he tells us what to get and we go get it), DMV, etc. I don't mind, I love my father and would do anything for him. I just never dreamed that at the age of 40 I would be helping take care of my 60 year old father...he , to me, is just too young for this to be happening.

There are a lot of days when I wish I could just put him in a bubble and place him on my mantle so I can protect him from anymore pain, suffering, or harm. I know that this is not possible, but again, I just wish I could do more. I wish the same thing for my children...to protect them from everything so that they will not feel any hurt feelings, suffering, or harm in any way. How ironic that I have now placed my parents in the same bubble as my children. For them all, I just wish I could shield them from all of the badness, sickness, and hatefulness that exists in this world.