{"id":311,"date":"2009-11-10T18:49:01","date_gmt":"2009-11-10T18:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heartsathomeseniorcare.com\/?p=311"},"modified":"2019-10-15T14:22:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T14:22:55","slug":"caregiving-stages-stage-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/caregiving-stages-stage-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Caregiving Stages: Stage 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please enjoy this series showing the challenges facing caregivers at different stages in the caregiving process. The full credits for this article are at the bottom, thanks.<\/em><\/p>\n

Stage 5: The Transitioning Caregiver<\/strong><\/p>\n

My role is changing.<\/p>\n

Who are you?
\nYou\u2019ve been a caregiver over a period of several years and have recently made a decision about your role as caregiver. Or, your care recipient\u2019s condition has taken a turn for the worse and you know his time is very limited.<\/p>\n

As a result, you\u2019ve changed your role\u2013or are just about to.<\/p>\n

Your Keyword: Allow
\n\u2013Allow time to mourn and grieve;
\n\u2013Allow remembrances to remain;
\n\u2013Allow reflections of your experiences.<\/p>\n

Your Purpose:
\nTo walk with your care recipient during his last months and weeks, implementing his or her decisions about end-of-life care that you both discussed during Stage 1. This stage is about loving and feeling good about the shared journey. As you both feel the journey end, this is also a time to mourn and grieve. As you mourn, you might find yourself questioning what will be the next chapter in your life. You\u2019ve been a caregiver for so long, how can you possibly do anything else?<\/p>\n

As a \u201ctransitioning caregiver\u201d, what can you do?<\/p>\n

1. Allow yourself time to mourn and grief.<\/p>\n

A nursing home placement may have been as painful a loss as a death. Both experiences are tremendous losses\u2013and need to be respected with time to process, and then heal, the emotions.<\/p>\n

2. Remember your care recipient.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to give away clothes or remove pictures\u2013until you want to. When family and friends seem hesitant to talk about your care recipient (they worry they will upset you), assure them that sharing memories, laughs and stories brings you great comfort.<\/p>\n

3. Reflect back on your caregiving responsibilities and decisions with pride.<\/p>\n

Find comfort in knowing that you did the best you could. You did your best, which is the very best you can hope to do.<\/p>\n

4. Review your journal.<\/p>\n

How are you different today than you were on the day you first started writing in your journal? How will you use this experience to enhance your future relationships?<\/p>\n

Excerpted from www.caregiving.com: The Caregiving Years, Six Stages to a Meaningful Journey, a handbook for family caregivers by Denise M. Brown.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please enjoy this series showing the challenges facing caregivers at different stages in the caregiving process. The full credits for this article are at the bottom, thanks. Stage 5: The Transitioning Caregiver My role is changing. Who are you? You\u2019ve been a caregiver over a period of several years and have recently made a decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,31],"tags":[37],"class_list":{"0":"post-311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-general-topics","7":"category-home-care","8":"tag-the-stages-of-caregiving","9":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1563,"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions\/1563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsathome.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}