Well, it’s been a while since
I’ve written here! Sometimes life interferes with everything—and that’s what
happened to me. I decided to put what I learned about caregiving into this
blog, in the hope that it could be useful to someone else. I’ll put up one new entry
each day for the next week and a half. If you’d like all eleven parts together
in one place, an e-book and small paperback version will be available on Amazon
in early August 2020.
Thanks, as always, for reading
the blog and for visiting the website.
The
Reluctant Caregiver’s Guide to Broken Hip Recovery—
or
how not to kill your husband before he gets well
Part One
Welcome
to Hell.
Your
loved one is going through a trauma and consequently, so are you! Neither of
you asked for this, but here you are in uncharted territory, signing
permissions and dealing with medical stuff you never wanted to know. I’m not
going to sugarcoat this and tell you things will go great if you keep an upbeat
attitude or some other platitude. Caregiving under these circumstances is just
plain hard. Not impossible, but hard.
You’re
going to feel that nobody cares about what you, the caregiver, are going
through. That’s pretty true, actually. Everyone concentrates on the injured
one. You’re close to invisible.
Still,
you’re vital to the recovery. It actually can’t happen without you. So copy and enlarge the crown drawing
below. Tape it on your bathroom mirror so that it hits you like a princess’
tiara when you stand just right. You deserve a crown, so by golly, here it is.
And, as
Winston Churchill famously said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going!”
This guide is written from my experience with my husband’s recovery from a
broken hip. The surgeon told us it would take 6-12 months. With my husband’s
additional complication of Parkinson’s, it was definitely on the longer end.
I should
say, when he broke his first hip—he fell again during the Coronavirus pandemic
and broke his other hip! So I’ve been through this twice.
Thank
goodness he only has two hips!
And I’ll
be referring to the injured party as a husband, but it can apply to anyone you
care about. I hope it gives you some insight, commiseration, and guidance.
Most
importantly, I survived, and so will
you.
Trust me.
