My father is 89 and his ability to care for himself is rapidly deteriorating. I will not burden you with the details of his problems, suffice to say they are typical of the elderly and leave it at that!
I love my father but I am not particularly close to him, we live some distance apart and if I was honest I have not always been as attentive as perhaps I should have. My sister has been far more regular a visitor than I and her relationship with him is better.
We have come to the almost inevitable stage, where a decision has to be made, for how his remaining years are taken care of in a dignified manner with a quality of life that is right.
I am struggling with this decision, not because I cannot make it or don't know the options but the approach needed to inform him with compassion, as his son, is possibly one of the scariest things I have ever undertaken. I speak as one who fears little, is assertive, confident and used to making decisions but this is my father and it is very hard to make a decision for a man who is fiercely independent, stubborn and somewhat cantankerous. We know whats best for him (do we ?) and that care and the company of others could well rejuvenate him, however getting him to understand, is a task of a Herculean nature and not one to be envied!
With my wife and his grandchildren on holiday in Norfolk some years ago, his hair was still mainly dark!!!
www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care
https://www.alliedhealthcare.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment