I know this may be an unusual question but I am looking for a way to come to terms with things that have happened in my life.
My grandmother became sick when I was 7. I was very close to her and my mom took care of her for many years (off and on for 15 years total). My grandmother had a lot of medical issues that required very painful surgeries and because she was from a small town with limited medical care and we lived three hours away in a larger city, she came to our home to recover after each surgery.
My grandfather helped a little when she would go home but they often did not get along. He was often a hateful man and I can't really blame her but she would never fully leave him.
My uncle lived 1 mile from my mom and he never helped. Nor did his wife or their children. Both my cousins were older than me. They always had excuses from social activities to the situation being "too depressing."
I spent tons of time in various hospitals growing up. Once, my grandmother was hospitalized for 3 months straight. I did my elementary school homework in hospital rooms, high school homework -- and yes, even college assignments. I sat in doctors offices for hours with my parents and grandmother.
I wanted to be there and I loved her, but as I got older I started noticing things I did not like. My mother was not in good health. She was severally visually impaired (glasses like coke bottles), had a ruptured disc, bouts of anemia from heavy periods, and later we discovered renal insufficiency. Her feet would swell like crazy. Yet, all I would ever hear from my grandparents is how they did not want to go into a nursing home.
My mom would ask my grandmother why her son (living just a mile away) would never come and pick her up to take her to his home? Why he couldn't stop in to say, "hello" and my grandmother would go into rages. She would scream and yell and I started wondering, "how can someone this 'sick' that needs all this care have such strength to throw these fits?
Once after a surgery, I helped my mom take care of her and never left the house for 2 weeks straight. It was during the summer, so there wasn't any school.
My mom once got up, cooked a meal and said all my grandmother had to do was warm it up but she was going to take me out shopping. My grandmother had a fit and ended up throwing herself on the floor. We went anyway.
If my mom was sick and didn't say hello soon enough, she had a fit.
She had moments where she was truly a loving, giving kind person but she was always looking for that miracle pill that would make her 16 again.
By the time I got to college, I had to take a leave from my job to help but was still carrying a full college load. I remember she was getting sicker and was in Intensive Care. I begged my mom to just let me stay home because I desperatly needed to study and she had a fit saying how could I not be there? I HAD been there at that time for the last 13 years. I was so mentally and emotionally exhausted that I broke down in the middle of a college class sobbing.
When my grandmother died, my mother had little to do with me or anyone for a year. I was once so mad that I asked her, "do you wish it was me that died instead so you could have your mother back?" She came close to hitting me.
I have told my mother over the years that it was not right what we were put through (my dad and myself were right there through it all and my dad would work a manual labor job and then come in to sit hours in a doctors office because my mom did not drive (eyes).
Mom has told me she has not one regret and would do it all over again. I find that bothersome after she knows how I feel. By the time my grandmother died, I was up to 3 ulcers. I also had health problems and was a nervous wreck.
My husband now is a caregiver for his father who still lives in his own home but has small help from a helper and hospice has been call in but does precious little. My husband is responsible for getting perscriptions, groceries, meals and does an hour commute daily with 3-4 visits to his house. Our 8 year old daughter says she rarely sees daddy. My father-in-law has always been hateful and resentful (wasn't real happy his granddaughter was born a girl and reminds us of such but says now it's okay). He throws food, curses at my husband, threatens him and the list could go on.
My husband says his dad educated him and fed him. I told him he would have had less debt with a long-term student loan. He feels he is "honoring" his father as is commanded in the Bible. My mom took the same approach.
This current situation is reminding me of my childhood and I find myself more angry and wondering, "why do these people even have families if they are going to worship their parents?"
How much do you feel should be taken into consideration when you caregive? Do you feel your spouse or child should endure it with you? If so, how much? Am I just a cold person? Is something wrong with me?
This is a huge problem in this country & will only gets worse. We have an aging population with limited resources & to make matters worse we have lot's of technology & drugs to keep us living way past our expiration dates, even if we are miserable the whole time. Every situation is different but people DO get old & sick & need care. Someone has to tend to their needs & it's usually a family member unless they are rich enough to afford paid care. There are people with no family, friends or money for caregivers, they often end up on the street, sometimes it's their own fault but often not. Either way, it's a problem we face as a nation that is not going away.
Your husband is doing what he feels in his bones is the right thing to do. You can schedule time for just the two of you. He may feel overwhelmed too. Do you have counseling at your church? You may want to try that. You can learn why you feel the way you do. I so hope you join with your husband and understand his sense of duty and love. I take care of my mom with dementia at my house and my husband helps. It was very hard at first, but a way of life now. We do not have any small children. You may want to include your daughter in these family talks. But you must talk to each other. A family has to support each other. Even if it is just sharing on this sight. I pray the best for you and your family.
A few thoughts. My own Dad was very, very strict and never home. He was an only child and felt the universe revolved around him. When we grew up, after an abusive situation with him, my brother committed to being the opposite of my Dad's example.
So, my brother is healthy (he will not be a burden on his own children), he is a loving father and an amazing husband. He is a great uncle, to a point. He believes we all are accountable for our own good health. While there are some medical conditions that are hereditary, there are MANY that are induced by too much fat, sugar and lack of exercise. How accountable are we for taking care of smokers and drinkers, etc?
My brother expects us all to take good care of ourselves and to treat our bodies like the temples they are ...
That's just my way of sharing one example of a person who grew up in an awful situation and determined that he would be different. He works every day to make good decisions, his wife helps my brother when he lapses back into behaviors of disrespect for others that he grew up watching from our Dad.
Make choices. Sit down with your husband and decide what kind of people you want to be and what you both believe and put yourselves and your own family first. Your children will be your family for many, many, many years after your parents are gone. Your parents made choices in their lives and cared for you... hopefully. Now it is your time to care for your young children... at least that is what I think.
For a few years, after my kids were grown, my elderly mom fell ill and I cared for her. It made me quite sick to dedicate my life to caring for her, but it was only a few years and I wanted to be a good daughter to her in the end and I was. I could do it without sacrificing my children. I lost my career for that time, but I am going to work to get it back.
I hope this is hopeful and helpful to you. You are not anything but a blessing. It is a miracle of life that we are all here and we should honor that miracle by being kind to each other.
It sounds to me like your mom's mom was quite selfish and unkind. That's sad, but it doesn't mean that you and your husband need to perpetuate things. I think our parents get very, very scared as they fall into ill health and get older, and nearer to death and that comes out in sometimes ugly ways. We need to understand that, but if we fall ill too... then there will be no one able to help anyone. You and your husband have to stay healthy for your kids.
Your children are in your lives and your home for only a few years over the course of you long life time... think about it... don't waste that time. The kids grow up and go very, very fast. Cherish that time. It goes fast!
I think this sentence you wrote, "He has to learn that he can't always get his way the minute he dictates an order," is such great advice for joycews. Hit the nail on the head! We're not ignoring these responsibilities that we have assumed; we're just managing them.
xo
-SS
Now with your husband, all I can say it is his relationship with his father, who clearly sounds like he has dementia or some kind and should be in a home. I say that because it mirrors my father's behavior before he went into a NH home, then he plateaued and is now there long term, not accepting of his fate.
I guess all I can tell you is to talk to your husband, tell him how much you see him suffering and see if you can get him to lighten up his load of caring for his dad. Hire a caregiver to come in one afternoon a week. Use that time to go out to dinner or a movie with each other, or just sit down to dinner at your own home and have a conversation. Sometimes it is the little things that can help people see the light and then they want more of their own life back.
I have been caring for both my parents who live down the road, (Dad now in NH), but I do all the laundry, the groceries, meds, haircuts, church, listening to all their complaining etc...My Dad has nasty angry dementia but now on the right meds, is calmer, (sometimes)! My Mom - she didn't care her parents as they aged, her sister did for 40 years!!! Can you believe that! My Mom led the life of a socialite and now she is excepting me to to do EVERYTHING for her. There's no magic bullet but my husband said to me about 6 months, "I want you back, honey. I don't want us to lose our 50's with you being so miserable and exhausted. I miss you...." he was right and I started making some changes in my schedule. I now put my own family first. It's still very hard but no where was it written that I had to give up my life (which is what you did and what your husband is doing now), because they fed us and educated us, so that our parents can ruin our adult lives. He your FIL doesn't get a lunch, tough. He'll live. See if you can convince your husband to go over just once a day, or hire someone to do it. I hope this has inspired you to change it up.
xoxoxo -
SS