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[–]linda_senora 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (22 children)

For the last couple of months I have been taking care of my mother.

She needed a partial colectomy due to perforated diverticulitis. I have had to take care of her incision and her colostomy.

I am surprised at how adept I am at it.

Two months down, three more to go.

[–]MBMayfair 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Caretaking is such hard work. You are a really great person to be helping her...❤

[–]Elvira95Viva la figa 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Her mother took her of her for years, seem like the minimum to take care of your mother

[–]linda_senora 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thank you.

I seriously don't think it is that big of a deal. Bodily functions do not bother me.

[–]PatsyStoneMaverique 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

I had to take care of an immobile relative for a while, I vastly underestimated how much work caretaking actually is. Kudos to you, hope you're taking good care of yourself as well.

[–]linda_senora 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

Sometimes it can be more work than one expects.

I did have to deal with leaks a couple of times. Those are of no consequence, except, the stoma is located 1 inch from the incision and a leak might have caused an infection.

It has gotten pretty easy, tbh.

[–]PatsyStoneMaverique 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

I admire your nerves of steel. Your mother's lucky. Did y'all do anything for Mother's Day?

[–]linda_senora 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Well, I don't know about nerves of steel.

It can get pretty odorous depending on what she eats. Not to say anything about its consistency.

One of my younger brothers sent her ingredients for a mother's day meal and my sister cooked the meal and now is whipping up an apple coffee cake.

My older brother paid her a visit on Saturday and gifted her a pair of pajamas.

How about you?

[–]PatsyStoneMaverique 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

My mom's out of town on a big trip to celebrate being vaccinated, so I called her yesterday. I've been at work all day. We weren't as busy as we thought, although it is graduation weekend in addition to being mother's day. I live in Texas and the state has been completely reopened for a couple of months now.

[–]linda_senora 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Good for her!

Do you work in the service industry?

What do you think about the state being completely reopened? I'll bet is better for business. Are people taking precautions?

[–]PatsyStoneMaverique 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Haha yes I do. I worked through the entire pandemic, I'm very cynical about a lot of it.

I think people should take whatever precautions make them feel comfortable, and that businesses should offer accomodations for people who have serious risk of illness (such as curbside pick-up, special hours, etc.) I try to live and let live.

Have y'all opened up where you are?

[–]linda_senora 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

That is the way it shold be: live and let live.

Personally, I am getting tired of wearing a mask and every time I have to accompany my mom to the hospital, I have to wear one or two.

My country is a bit of a mess. Every so often the President claims the situation is getting worse and mandates that those who can telecommute should do so. That means people who work at supermarkets, markets, bakeries, hospitals, etc. have to go to their place of work.

My older brother has a business and he goes to work the way he usually does, my sister has worked from home ever since the pandemic started (I think she has been back to her office 6 or 8 weeks total since April 2020).

Schools are closed. Students have had to deal with online classes since April or May 2020.

[–]PatsyStoneMaverique 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Oops, I asked you about Mother's Day and you don't live in the U.S. Sorry. If someone uses America spelling I have a tendency to just assume they're American.

We were under basically all of the same conditions for the past year. Our state governor makes those decisions here and he would waffle back and forth periodically. Politicians are mostly scumbags, I think the power does that to you.

[–]RedEyedWarriorGay | Male | 🇮🇪 Irish 🇮🇪 | Antineoliberal | Cocks are Compulsory 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

My mother broke her leg and she was confined to our house for three months. It was hard because I was in college at the time, so I was home only during the weekends. A few weeks in and I got used to helping her out. I learned how to use the washing machine, the dryer, the dishwasher and other stuff. My main concern was how my mother felt about the situation. Six months later she was back to normal.

[–]linda_senora 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Good to hear!

You learned valuable skills and she recovered quickly.

Edit: if your mom is anthing like mine, she was probably concerned about being a burden to you. Mine keeps apologizing to me.

[–]RedEyedWarriorGay | Male | 🇮🇪 Irish 🇮🇪 | Antineoliberal | Cocks are Compulsory 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

My mother felt like that as well, though she never vocalised it. She didn’t need to anyway, because it wasn’t her fault. Admittedly, at the start I was worried about how it would affect me for the first day, but by the evening when my dad and I had to help her get to bed, all I could think of was how this was affecting her. When she was recovering, I took the train coming home every Friday and walked home so I could keep her company until Sunday night.

I probably should have used her injury as an opportunity to learn how to cook. Oh well.

[–]linda_senora 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Well, your dad was of help.

Mine is useless. My sister and I are the ones bearing the brunt of her care. She is trying to take each day as it comes, and she can stand up and walk on her own.

The surgeons actually told her she should resume her routine as soon as possible.

You did as much as you could and I am sure she appreciates the time you spent with her.

[–]RedEyedWarriorGay | Male | 🇮🇪 Irish 🇮🇪 | Antineoliberal | Cocks are Compulsory 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

My dad had to go to work a lot, but he would bring home cooked food from the shop on the way home because he’s not a good cook and he wasn’t going to let my mother cook until she was ready to stand for extended periods of time. His free time was spent on her. Sorry to hear about your dad.

[–]linda_senora 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Your dad took the initiative.

My father cannot cook, but he can drive her to her doctors appointments.

I don't know if he is careful enough to deal with my mom's colostomy, but I am sure she would rather have me do it.

He is just old, hispanic men of his generation were taught their only responsibility was to bring home the bacon.

[–]RedEyedWarriorGay | Male | 🇮🇪 Irish 🇮🇪 | Antineoliberal | Cocks are Compulsory 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Oh, okay.