Caring

Since I was a little girl, I have been giving care to others. It started when I was nine years old. My grandmother, who was a heavy smoker, developed cancer and became very sick.. It got to the point where she received home hospice care because nothing more could be done for her in the hospitals.

“Hospice is a specialized type of medical care for people who have advanced or life-limiting illness. This care is provided by a team of individuals who care for patients and families in their homes” (1).

It basically provides the patient with care in the comfort of their home. A hospital bed was set up in our home where she spent her last days. She was hooked up to an I.V. where she would receive daily doses of morphine, a strong drug ment to ease the pain of the terminally ill. I would check on her frequently, and even learned how to program the machine that released her morphine.

Soon after my grandmother died, my mom started getting sick. When she was born, she was born with a heart condition. Her heart had a “hole” in it and it was positioned wrong in her chest. In fact, it was said by doctors that because of her abnormal heart condition, she wouldn’t live past the age of six. She was also partially blind in her left eye, which restricted her from driving. As she got older and older, her heart grew weaker and weaker. At the age of 35 years old, she had a pacemaker surgically implanted in her chest. A pacemaker is a battery-powered case that assists the heart in beating. An incision is made and a pocket is formed in the area overlying the muscle on the outside of the chest wall.

“Most are placed to prevent the heart from going to slow. This happens because there is no cell in the heart that will beat fast enough to maintain proper function or because the electrical pathway, which allows impulses to spread to the necessary parts of the heart muscle is damaged.”(2).

Eventually, even the pacemaker didn’t help. Her heart couldn’t handle the aging process, and it became more and more difficult for her to do simple, everyday activities. Even walking became a chore. I would do my part by helping out at home with the daily chores and push her around in her wheelchair whenever we went places.