Hi Caregivers and supporters of Caregivers. Thank you for reading this blog and joining me on my 9th day of Thanksgiving.
I am grateful for my daughter who drew this picture: STEPS.
Caregiving is like these steps, step by step.
S: Slowly we walk up the step. Step by step. Though we know not of when a sudden decline or health crisis may occur, let us enjoy this step by step.
As we walk the steps, let us not lose the view of the green grass along side it. Let us enjoy it.
Quoting Ms Lim from this article , she says she is here today only because of the support from other PWDs and their families.
She adds: “Let’s continue to show the world who we really are and help the world understand us and dementia. Let’s have fun.”
Caring for a person living with dementia need not be burdensome.
Remember this acronym STEP
T: Thriving, Training. Caregiving is like a marathon. Thriving means prosperous in it, flourishing. It is also training our character.
E:Empathy is one of the character trait that I am learning more and more. My mother is very excited to meet her granddaughter. She longs for her. I empathise with her and creates opportunity for my mother to meet her granddaughter more often. As you provide caregiving, you begin to understand her unspoken wishes, many of which she is unable to communicate due to the progression of the dementia.
P:patience is also another character trait I am learning as well. With the empathy I gained, understanding the frustration that she has when she spend hours looking for lost keys, a pair of socks, I have grown more patient and more aware to assist her when I found her lost or searching frantically for things in her room.
S: Support: I am grateful for my daughter, my family who are the pillar of my support. When I am down and have to take time out for myself, they fill the gap and are on the watch over Grandma whom they call "Wai po"
What about you today? What picture are you reminded of today?
Even if the day is difficult, is there one thing that you are still grateful? That we are alive to do caregiving?
Let us continue to be thriving caregivers.
Comments