5 Things We All Hate About Caregiving

צוות iSavta | 13.11.2019

Caregiving is not a walk in the park. Most part of it is being enclosed in a box with nothing but your old sick patient and the four corners of her bedroom. Quite depressing right? Although there are some aspects of caregiving that we love, we cannot just sweep away under the carpets those things that we actually hate about this job.

1. 24 Hours on Call. Yes, as a live in caregiver, you are expected to monitor your patient 24 hours a day. Except of course during your day off which, another caregiver will take your job. It is totally a pain especially if your patient is having trouble sleeping at night.

2. Routine. Just like your music playlist, your workload is on repeat. 6AM breakfast, 8AM shower, 10AM walk in the park, 12 Noon Lunch, 2PM nap, 4PM snacks, 7PM dinner, 9PM sleep. This is EVERY SINGLE DAY. Isn’t it outrageously boring? And mind you, some are doing this for 6-10 years! Only the strong can survive.

3. Never ending Questions. Because of old age, these elderly patients usually suffer from short term memory lose. Questions about where to find their things, what medicines to take, what to eat for dinner, what, who, where, when, how. These questions are on repeat too. And you have no choice but to answer these questions even if you knew you’ve been answering the same questions for days.

4. The Unexpected Toilet Accidents. No matter how good you are in timing and predicting your patient’s gogo of the day, there will be days that you need to wear your gloves and mask to clean up their slops. And believe me, this is not the most fulfilling part of being a caregiver. But yes, responsibility. Can we have a can of beer after please? We deserve it.

5. It’s Draining. Honestly, it suck life out of you. Sometimes, the only time that remain for the day is just enough for you to crawl back to bed and snore like a bear. You won’t even have time to put on some lipstick and comb your hair.

Caregiving is not for the meek and weak. It is for those who has passion for it. It’s not the most desirable job in the world. But, in the world where compassion and love for elderly is important, it is these superheroes who roll up their sleeves, took that diaper off and get the job done.