I find it strange in a not-so-funny way that we're now trying to convince a 91 year old who is continent to let go of one of the last vestiges of control and "pee in a diaper". All this for the sake of the caregiver's back which strains under the oft times dead weight of a sleepy elder who needs to urinate during the night. Elder will have none of it and wants to use the bathroom. Who knew that this insistent choice costs thousands of extra dollars a month to pay a second person to be on the ready to help make this transfer from bed to toilet safely? The care of our beloved elders is a challenge beyond my comprehension. There is always something new and often absurd coming our way.
How is it that we toil to "toilet train" our youngest and turn around to beg our continent elders to just let loose and pee in a diaper? How crazed is that?
I have no other words for this insanity.
This is one of those problems that would never occur to me. I think that wearing a diaper, whether for convenience sake or not, would be giving up the last bit of control one has over one's body. And I've been doing kagels to retain bladder control!
ReplyDeleteThere must be something in there about the cycle of life?
ReplyDeleteSounds incredibly stressful, that's for sure.
Is it impossible to use bedpans? Or catheters? I think it would be very hard for a person to overcome the ingrained reluctance to pee one's pants.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny for me to think about this, because as a child I confess to having bedwetting problems. So I know how deeply the "training" process is entrenched in us, mentally. How hard it would be to let go of a control that, for me, was quite hard won.
My own Mom, who's 83, is going to have hip replacement surgery this Thursday. I am not with her - she's in Chicago with my brothers and their families. But I hope this helps her.
Her arthritis pain is now eclipsing everything else in her life - she no longer has anything that she enjoys, all she talks about is her pain. So if this relieves it - what a blessing.
A true reflection of the cycle of life, with awareness as the major difference.
ReplyDelete