I have been caring for my mum as her live-in-caregiver for exactly a year now. I own my own condo which I locked up when I moved in with my mum. One of the thoughts that I think about the most is .. who will look after me when I need care? I am almost 53, single and have no children. It scares me a bit knowing I don't really have anyone to watch out for me or my care when I am old, yet still living at home. Does anyone else have these worries?
Being a "caregiver" does not necessarily mean that the person has to live under your same roof. I lived 3 states away from my elderly father with dementia and realized it would be less traumatic to put him in assisted living in the region where he grew up, in his own state. However, I had to single-handedly take care of everything - his finances, his medical coordination, his legal papers, his house sale, give away his possessions, etc. Because he already had some dementia when my mother suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack, I also had to take care of all of HER stuff in addition. It was, in some ways, actually MORE work to do all of that than it would have been to just move dad to where I was living. So, I was most certainly a "caregiver" even though dad was not under my roof - and it occupied a lot of my life for the last 3 years of HIS life.
My health is so-so, and I think I worry more about not outlasting my Mom.
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