Why can't advanced seniors see the real picture??
I remember some seven yrs or so ago, before mom died, we all had had a family discussion about how hard it was to get my grandmother to realize she needed help. Both mom and dad said then that they promised not to be that way with us kids, that if the three of us agreed they needed help they would listen us, knowing we had their backs and were acting out of love. Now my dad, age 84, is refusing the help he needs, although all three of us are in agreement that he should no longer be living alone and needs to go live with my brother or, at least needs some kind of home health care (which he can well afford).
What is it that turns advanced seniors into turncoats when it's their turn to give up the independence when they knew this time was coming and when they felt completely different when they were young enough, or healthy enough, not to need the help?
Wouldn't you think the trouble they had with their elderly parents would have taught them a thing or two. Are our troubles going to teach us or are we going to be just like them in 20 or so years from now?
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That put it all into perspective for me and I was able to move forward from there. Not saying it's easy but demented could also be defined as 'nuts' and that tells you that nothing is going to make sense.
Hope this helps a little.
lovbob
I have said to my father, "Do you want to go to the hospital, or do you want to lie here and bleed to death?" At first, he chose bleeding to death, and I said, "OK." He did change his mind later that night. I think the fact that I didn't fight him made it easier for him to back down.
It might help to back off, and ask him how he wants to handle various possible situations like falling, becoming unable to cook, losing his good vision. How would he handle it if he were still on his own? Start a conversation to learn why he doesn't want to leave his home. Listen to what he says, and agree with his reasons. Really understand where he is coming from, and appreciate his position.
Only then, maybe on a different day, give him your reasons for wanting him to move. Tell him that you worry he will lie on the floor for hours, that you love him and want him to be safe, that it's hard to drive all those miles, that you will be so ashamed if something happens to him and you allowed him to be alone. Tell him something could happen that would FORCE him into a NH.
Then suggest ways that he can hold onto his independence while relieving you of worry. Mention every way that he will still be independent. Every piece of furniture he can keep. Every hour he can be on his own after the caregiver has left for the day. Let him think about it. Don't fight or argue. Let him slowly change his mind.
As if that'll work! Good luck with a hard problem.
I guess all we can hope for to help our children not have to shoulder the burdens of our advanced age is to keep our judgement intact until we die. So I, for one, am going to do just that, as soon as I figure out how.
We have thought about the future and have set up our daughter (we've only the one child) as signatory on our bank accounts so she'll at least have access to money to help us, or to hire help for us when the time comes, at least as long as the money lasts.
Drives us crazy!
I don't want my daughter and granddaughter to remember me in a bad light because I caused them no end of grief in my old age. A lifetime of good memories can easily be overshadowed by years of being a real burden to family because of poor or selfish choices (no savings, no life insurance, not planning for the inevitable, etc.) made before old age made it impossible to correct the problems.
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