catcaniac
Distinguished member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2010
- Messages
- 189
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 12/2010
- Country
- US
- State
- North Carolina
- City
- Sneads Ferry
Well, the great news is that I have nursing care for my husband 12 hours a day. The even better news is that I am going to start getting 24 hour care on August 1st because I am going back to work on August 17th. Most of you burned out caregivers would think that I would be well rested and excited. I am neither. Nurses, I have come to believe are nothing more than spoiled, stuck up, know it all's who really know not much of anything. Tonight, I wish that I did not have to go back to work and that I could go back to the physically exhausting days of caring for my husband all by my lonesome. Because, although I was physically exhausted, I wasn't so mentally exhausted or getting broke for that matter. My first company couldn't ever find nurses, so I might have one, or I might not, which was usually 4 days a week. So I changed companies. The new company always sends nurses. Great right? No, they come....they give me orders...they complain....they throw things away that I have purchased out of my own pocket. They call my husband's doctor almost every day over stupid things like more water or how much Tylenol to give (really, read the bottle you idiot) so he is just about sick of us and doesn't respond most of the time. Every time I try to lay down to get some rest, they come get me and say...."I can't figure out what he wants so he asked for you." There went the nap. They seriously ask me about things like fever and infection. Hmmmm? I have had a whole 6 mos. of OJT in nursing. They ask me things like, "How often should we change the trach?" "Do you think I should give him more water because he has a fever?" "Can you really handle a bowel movement with him with just one person?" They don't even notice things like his heart rate increasing and think to take his temperature. I have totally rearranged the entire room and spent many dollars to accommodate them because they complain. Tonight, the nurse explained to me that she couldn't see her paperwork well enough and said, that I needed to get her a chair and a lamp. So off I go to get the chair and a lamp. She goes over, gets in the chair, and says, "Oh, I thought it would be a comfortable chair. I don't know if I can sit in this one or not." Then, tonight, I went to get the prescription for the patch so I could post the name for someone on the forum, only to realize that she has cleaned up and thrown away the meds so I don't even have the RX number to reorder his patches. I liked taking care of my PALS all by myself because at least then people somewhat understood why I was tired and I knew that he was being cared for by someone who would respond to whatever his needs where. Now people just say, "Wow, you have lots of help." No, I have someone in my home at all hours with almost as many needs as my PALS. And then I feel sorry for my PALS because they don't cater to him or seem to respond to the little cues that he is struggling so I stay with him anyways. So if you think you want help, be careful what you wish for. I love my job and a small part of me is excited to go back to work. But I am very worried about my PALS emotional and physical well being when I will not be here to stay on top of things. I do not wish to be a control freak but when I come in and he is in distress with a darn RN right next to him eating her sunflower seeds, it just stresses me to the max.