Comfort Care and Quality of Life
What does Quality of Life mean for you? For a 98 year old, nearly blind, and unable to pee without a ‘stent’ in place, it’s being comfortably positioned in the warmth of her garden, with tissues and a cup of tea within reach. A proud woman, she doesn’t like calling her health aids ‘caregivers’ because it makes her sound needy. Instead, they’re companions and a chauffeur.
What does ‘Comfort’ mean to you? Sometimes comfort comes of small pleasures: a loving touch, soothing music. For the 80-year old wheelchair bound man, it’s stroking his cat and getting his feet massaged.
Comfort can take on a different meaning as life winds down: shortness of breath, skincare, dry mouth, constipation along with pain and anxiety. Ensuring these needs are known, and are met, can make the difference to both patient and caregiver.
My big brother, John, had the best possible end
My bro died at home, on Palliative/Hospice Care Although we did not know it at the time, my brother's 'end' started November 2018, with a brain tumour diagnosis. Surgery before Christmas that year was deemed 'successful' and John was in such good physical shape that...
Ricky’s mother had a ‘good death’
Of the three siblings, Ricky – the sole daughter – was closest to her mother, Anna. “When my marriage ended, my kids and I lived with my mother. We all adored her.” In the last three years of her life Anna- who died at age 91 – was beset by Dementia. “It was more than memory loss – it was her wonderful personality that vanished.” In spite of the pain of her beloved mother disappearing, Ricky took care of her until the end.
A beautiful death
“My mother was ‘dying’ for about 10 years – with her sickness, she seemed often on the brink of death, and then she’d rally. We’d all said our goodbyes a number of times. But on the day she actually died, my father was in her bed, his arm around her, holding on to...
Personal Support Worker (PSW): caring at life’s end
Dealing with grief and End of Life as a Personal Support Worker Guest Post by Natrice Rese It's something that you are prepared for as a student. It is understood that as a caregiver, a PSW, you will maintain a distance, a separation, a formal kind of relationship...
