Our house is no longer pristine as it was before (I’m not sure it was pristine before, but it definitely is not now.) When you have frail elderly in your home, they need special attention and, as the caregiver, you have to change your way of living and modify your living patterns. You can no longer live as you used to.
The house/home and living patterns change:
1. Stairs become problematic and so you have to think about single floor living.
2. Floors need to be treated so that the elder can walk on them better without falling.
3. Smells associated with the elder (harder to bathe or go to bathroom, illness-caused odors) have to be accepted.
4. “Accidents” happen more often. But because we love them, we patiently clean the mess up and tell them, as they look embarrassingly at us, that it’s okay.
5. More medicine bottles clutter up the kitchen window sill.
Yes, Stafani, our special pit bull mix, is now 16 and has become the frail elder among us.
This is Stafani’s position 80% of the time.
Our house is on a hill. Years ago, we used to let her run down the stairs and down the backyard hill to go to the bathroom. Now we have to let her out the front door, so she can trudge just a few steps out to do her business. Of course, we have to ever be there every time to clean it up.
Carpet strips laid everywhere to give Stafani some “grip.”
Stafani has severe hip dysplasia, so our once nice wood floors in all the rooms are now covered with carpet strips and rubber mats, so she can walk. Otherwise her legs would slip out under her and she would crash to the ground.
Medicine bottles line the kitchen window sill, and every dinner time we would have to make sure we dispense the medication she needs. Several lipoma bumps cover parts of her body, and while not life-threatening, makes Stafani uncomfortable. Tumor problems, dysplasia problems, loss of hearing problems: all this requires medicine for treatment. And of course, veterinarian bills accompany all those meds.
But our dogs, being sentient beings capable of love and affection and loyalty, deserve our loyal care in their old age. Yes, life doesn’t play out in the nice manner we would have wanted: a nice presentable “Good Housekeeping” home, a relaxed easy going schedule, enough money saved for ambiance-rich red-wine dinners. Caring for the elderly usurps our time and our wealth. The way Stafani is going now, she may not last through this year or at most, the next. In this period of life, we do try to give Stafani the best life possible in her comfortable surroundings. For she is one of us.
Thank goodness there’s no doggie old-folks home.
2 comments
Thuan, I feel with you. Our Kelly is (only) 12, but she is beginning to exhibit some of the symptoms Stafani has – less stable, arthritis, slowing down significantly, some hearing loss. But our pets become part of our families and as you say, deserve our love ’til the end. All the best with yours, my friend.
Author
Thanks, Carol. They are a lot of work, but that’s what we’re here for as we all get older. Best with yours as well.