Elderly Care in Plano, TX – When You Don’t Know How You’ll Handle it All, Home Care Services Can Help
Written by Alan S., a son providing elderly care for his ailing father.
I am a construction engineer and have been doing this work for 15 years. I have more than 30 men working for me and a significant amount of responsibility. My father lives just a few houses down from me and since my mother passed away, he has seemed to be lost and confused. It had become clear that he needs some type of elderly care, but at the time I didn’t know what options were available.
I just assumed that I would be the one taking care of him at some point in his life. After all, he had done a lot to support me through the years. Even though we had our differences, had our arguments, and even went through a few issues through the years, I always figured that I would be the one to provide elderly care for him if and when the time arrived that he needed it.
The only problem was I felt that I was caught between work and an even tougher place.
My father had a heart attack and at the hospital, his doctor told me that he needed elder care services when he was released. I knew he was going to need assistance that I couldn’t provide, but I figured that hiring a visiting nurse once a week was going to be more than enough. I was wrong.
The more I worked with my father, the more help he seemed to need. It didn’t help that I had no clue what I was doing for him. He was trying to recover from a heart attack and I didn’t know the first thing about proper care with regard to these issues. I did what I could, but the more help he needed, it seemed the less time I had. Work was ramping up with a new construction project and it was demanding more and more hours from me.
I finally had to sit down with my father and explain the situation. We both agreed that he needed something more than I could provide. We ended up hiring professional elder care services for him that included a visiting nurse, a physical therapist, and a number of different home care aides throughout the week to assist him.
Sometimes, even though your best intention is to be there for your loved one, you may have to make the tough choice, which turned out to be not so tough considering the fact that all of those elderly care providers have been excellent to him. The difficult part of caring for my father and my own family and responsibilities was actually something I had brought on myself – trying to do it all. Elder care services can lighten that load for you, allowing you the quality time to spend with your elderly parent, rather than spending your time under pressure and stress.