Carol and Mike grew up just a few houses down from each other. Mike said he knew from the moment he met Carol that he was going to marry her – never mind that he was only eight years old – he just knew.
Well 12 years later, they did just that and have been married for 32 years. They have three children; Megan 20, Ethan 17 and the baby, Little Maggie Magoo, who was the surprise of their life, just turned 12. Megan is in her Junior year of college majoring in political science – but don’t ask her dad what he thinks about that major. Ethan is a Senior in high school this year and is enjoying all of the local “celeb” status of being an all-state quarterback. Maggie, is finishing her first year in middle school – a place Carol, wasn’t sure she wanted to send her baby girl off to….so many things have changed since Megan was in middle school.
Carol, besides being a full time mom, cook, chauffeur, cheerleader, wife and housekeeper – also holds down a very respectable 50 hour plus a week job as the Director of the local Red Cross. On top of all of that, she is also the main caregiver for her aging parents, Robert and Betty. Carol is their only daughter and lives within a 15 minutes drive of them.
Carol struggles with wanting to provide the right amount of care for them – being careful
they don’t feel like she is trying to run their lives or take control. However, Betty has been taking care of Robert for the last five years since his stroke and it is becoming more challenging each day. Betty promised Robert that she would never take him to a nursing home, so, with that promised, it is up to Carol to ensure they get all of the appropriate care they need.
With all of this responsibility, Carol is worn out. She isn’t able to give 100% to anything because she is pulled in so many directions. Betty doesn’t drive and Robert can’t, so that leaves Carol to get them to and from doctors appointments – which is becoming at least once a week – plus grocery shopping, medication runs – not to mention trying to figure out how the Medicare Part D thing works.
Carol is completely overwhelmed and Mike’s advice is to just make Betty take Robert to a nursing home, but refuses – causing tension between her and Mike. Carol is frustrated, worn out and doesn’t know who to turn to for assistance. She has no idea what resources are out there to help her keep her mom’s promise to her dad.
Does the story sound a little too familiar?
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Angels Senior Home Solutions is a based-in-faith company that provides in-home healthcare and personal care services for seniors. Visit our website here or find us on Facebook or Twitter.