Your elderly family member might have had some very specific goals and wishes for this stage of her life and some may be achievable still. Others may need to shift to accommodate what’s actually happening with her health at this point. Making these plans can feel difficult for everyone involved, especially you.
Make Sure You’re Informed
To make any plans, you need to be able to do so from as informed a position as possible. That means talking to your senior’s medical team, including any specialists, and you also need to keep her wishes in mind. If she’s able to talk with you about what she wants, then make sure you have that conversation. It’s better to talk about these things now if you can than not at all
Put Together the Best Plan that You Can
While you’re gathering information, you need to do what you can to put the best plan together as possible. There’s a lot that you won’t be able to plan for, but if you know what your senior wanted from this stage of her life, it’s going to be easier to try to meet those wishes. You also need to factor in the types of care that she needs. Keeping your senior as safe and as comfortable as possible is likely very high on your list.
Find Some Extra Help
This is the time to think about bringing in extra help, especially if that’s something you’ve avoided in the past. You don’t have to go through this alone and it’s possible your senior needs specialized help. End-of-life care providers can offer your senior hands-on assistance and they can help you to find other types of help you might need.
Rest When You Need to Rest
When your elderly family member is nearing the end of her life, there’s so very much that you’re trying to handle and to hang onto. But you also need to be resting when you can and honoring how you’re feeling. If you don’t, you’re going to run into trouble at some point. It’s not easy to deal with all of the various expectations and demands unless you’re also taking care of yourself.
This is a special time for you and the rest of your family. It’s vital that you’re able to offer your senior the best care that you can and having the right types of help makes that easier.
If you are or a loved one is considering end-of-life care in Dunwoody, GA, please call the caring staff at Arcturus Hospice and Palliative Care today. Call 678-383-9973 today to speak to our care team.
Kate Gorinshteyn is the director of marketing at Arcturus Health Care. Arcturus is a fast-growing Hospice striving to provide the highest level of quality care to patients faced with life-limiting illnesses. Our goal is to make each patient as pain-free as possible and give physiological, emotional and spiritual support to both the patient and family. We understand that the decision change from curative to comfort care is difficult, and our team is trained to help you every step of the way!
We are proud to make a difference in the lives of those we serve.
