Posted on 02/06/2018 4:33:58 AM PST by spintreebob
as long as people pay for their own care, I say let them live forever...
for every dollar spent on the elderly in this country, ONE measly dollar is spent on children...
that is not right...
it will come down to cost, sadly, but realistically....
most people can not afford assisted living...let alone a nursing home...
point is, we do spend way too much money on people that NATURE has determined are at the end of their lives...feeding tubes,IV nutrition, endless mri/cat scans to only find arthritis, endless medications, catheters,etc etc...
we do not have enough money in this country to keep 90yrs alive who can't eat nor swallow and need oxygen and constant care...
nor do we have enough people willing to work for measly wages to take care of these people...and yes, they make horrible wages..
so here is the question people should ask themselves...
are you willing to be on duty 24/7 to change adult diapers, to do one on one feeding, to wipe noses, suction throats,apply creams, change dressings, etc etc. for your loved one?...no days off...no breaks...no vacation?...
and are you willing to spend every penny you have to keep that person alive?...
more power to you if you can commit to that...
And as for are you willing to be on duty 24/7 to change adult diapers, to do one on one feeding, to wipe noses, suction throats,apply creams, change dressings, etc etc. for your loved one?...no days off...no breaks...no vacation?...
That is exactly what I am doing as my wife is slowly dying from Alzheimer's and is barely in her 60s. So yes, I will be on duty 24/7 to change her when she is soiled, to feed her, to wipe her nose, to apply creams and change dressings because I married her for better or worse until death do we part and God willing I'll be there to care for her until I can deliver her to Him. The only breaks I anticipate is when someone from my church relieves me so I can go to the store to pick up things that we need. And if God calls me before her we have the money to pay for her care w/o some judgmental person getting their nose involved in her care and where the money comes from.
So please don't lecture me about healthcare and medical economics as I've been in it for over 3 decades caring for people and looking at the data for people who've been cared for.
Maybe I should be grateful our doctors don’t spend more time with us in the examining room...Hello - goodbye - in and out - and gone until the next appointment. Each time it’s “what medications are you on” as he sits reading his computer screen - barely looking up! I feel like saying, “What planet are you on?”
I see a big difference in every aspect of doctor visits today compared to 10 years ago AND Outpatient tests etc. Wonder why!!! HA! All the employees seem grumpy and incapable of treating the patients as human beings. Truly, they don’t even consider their rudeness shameful!
Had a run in with a technician doing an Echocardiogram on my husband today at Outpatient. I had all I could do to keep a civil tongue in my head. He may have known what I was thinking tho’.
I still don’t know if I want to pursue it with upper management or if I’d just be letting myself in for more stress than I can handle at this point.
After we had words he told me I couldn’t stay in the room as I would “trouble” him... I DID stay in the room - my husband needs help with clothes/oxygen etc., and tho’ they said he would have plenty of help getting ready for the test, it sure wasn’t visible to me.. No one but the nasty tech!
He kept telling me to push my husband in the wheelchair provided by Outpatient to/from the rooms and I kept telling him, “I cannot push that wheelchair” and I couldn’t. He did it grudgingly! He did push it out to the lobby when it was over while I went to get the car and seemed more docile but I couldn’t even thank him after his displays of temper. I felt guilty but why should I?
If I froth enough about it and the longer I think about it, I probably will complain for all the good it will do.
“”most people can not afford assisted living...let alone a nursing home”
A very dear friend and I have been discussing this which is a concern to both of us. We’re 3000 miles apart and we spend hours on the phone.. I ran across “adult daycare” costs that I told her about and we hashed that over a week ago. I’ve never heard of such a thing. A person gets to live in their own home but every day goes somewhere else to be taken care of!! I couldn’t believe it! The costs involved with that kind of care are horrendous. Why on earth would anyone choose that over paying someone to care for them (or a loved one) in their own home?
My friend directed me to Consumer Reports from October 2017 regarding assisted living etc. - “Who’s going to care for you?” or some title similar about what to watch for -glitzy promo literature doesn’t equate to quality etc.
I could find some of it online but she said it was a very long article and quite informative..
Oh! You have my prayers for you and your wife. I can only imagine what you are going through. Bless you both.
My mother was taken care of by my oldest sister in her home for 5 years before she passed away. She had just had her 95th birthday then and didn’t know a soul; didn’t talk, didn’t walk. My big sister had lots of help tho’ with her two unmarried daughters (some of my mother’s granddaughters) living at home, my sister’s sons wives, and other grandchildren to step in. I was living 3000 miles away in another part of the country but I understood that it was still a big job for everyone. Just yourself involved with your wife’s care is unimaginable...
Your life is something we all contemplate and dread if we’re being honest without ourselves. I can see it coming in my family...
God bless you and your wife...
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