{"id":11574,"date":"2019-07-08T16:56:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T16:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=11574"},"modified":"2019-07-08T16:56:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T16:56:12","slug":"what-do-caregivers-worry-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/08\/what-do-caregivers-worry-about\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do Caregivers Worry About?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shawna Wasko \u2013 <\/span>CSI Office on Aging<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

As a caregiver to my parents, I worry about a lot of things. Recently, I Googled the question of caregiver worry and hit on an ALS site. The site used an excerpt from a book by James R. Sherman, Ph.D., called, \u201cCoping with Caregiver Worries.\u201d Sherman\u2019s book was written in 1998, and in my mind, he nailed the top six things I worry about. Sherman\u2019s list included:<\/p>\n

1. I worry about running out of money.<\/p>\n

Caregiving is expensive. I make my parents\u2019 dinner often, or buy them dinner. I see things they need at the grocery store and buy them things. I leave work to take them to the doctor. I worry about the fact that I can\u2019t afford to quit my job to take care of them. It goes on and on.<\/p>\n

2. I worry about losing my care receiver.<\/p>\n

Anticipatory grief is hard. I lose my mother a little every day as her memories fade with Alzheimer\u2019s disease. With Alzheimer\u2019s disease, we lose them before we lose them.<\/p>\n

3. I worry about making a critical caregiving mistake.<\/p>\n

Medications are complicated. I worry that I will get something wrong with my parents\u2019 medications. Making these mistakes can be life-threatening. Scary stuff.<\/p>\n

4. I worry about the effect caregiving is having on my life.<\/p>\n

I worry about my mental and physical health. I gain weight, can\u2019t concentrate, feel on edge, and my blood pressure goes up every time my phone rings after 6 at night. I have no time for friends. The house is a mess. Will I even resemble the person I was before when this is over?<\/p>\n

5. I worry about criticism from siblings or other family members.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t worry too much about what my siblings think. They never help, so I figure they don\u2019t get an opinion. I do worry about my parents\u2019 needs rising. They need more help, and sometimes are critical if I can\u2019t spend the amount of time they think I should spend with them.<\/p>\n

6. I worry about being able to provide the care my care receiver really needs.<\/p>\n

I worry about the day their needs become so excessive, the only solution will be full-term care in a facility, and they refuse to go.<\/p>\n

The first Tuesday of each month, we have a caregivers support group here at the Senior Connection. We know it is sometimes hard to find alternative care, so we are providing free care on-site here at the center. We also encourage you to be our guests for lunch afterward. Please call us with any questions (208) 788-3468.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shawna Wasko \u2013 CSI Office on Aging As a caregiver to my parents, I worry about a lot of things. Recently, I Googled the question of caregiver worry and hit on an ALS site. The site used an excerpt from a book by James R. Sherman, Ph.D., called, \u201cCoping with Caregiver Worries.\u201d Sherman\u2019s book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,45],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sponsored","7":"category-the-connection"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}