The Great Escape

Today is One Word Wednesday.  It is the day my friend, Lisa, has her children pick a word from the jar in which she put 52 ideas about care giving.  She tells us, her fellow caregivers (or just people who care) what the word is and we talk about whatever comes to mind.  Today's word is ESCAPE.

I am luckier than a lot of caregivers.  I have a lot of help.  I have a caregiver, who comes each weekday from 8:30-2:30 and visits with mom.....playing cards, watching tv, taking her for hair and nail appointments, taking her for rides and out to lunch.

I have wonderful siblings who take Mom at least one day each week and one weekend each month, and one who lives in California and takes Mom for two or three months each winter.

Sometimes that still isn't enough....I don't know how those who have no help are able to do it....They are much stronger than I.

Mom at Dawn's last night so that I could have an ESCAPE.

But when I think of  ESCAPE, it is not my escape that comes to mind.  What comes to mind, right away, is the fear that Mom might escape.  She is always getting up, heading towards the door and saying that she is going to walk home.  Regardless of where she is, even in California, she thinks home is just "down the street" or a "stones throw away".  Most of the times it is easy to distract her for a second and then she forgets that she needs to go home.  But I always worry that she will awaken in the middle of the night and decide to "walk home".  So we double lock all the doors when we go to bed at night and sleep lightly so that when she stirs we awaken and listen as she uses the bathroom (5 or 6 times a night) and returns to bed.  It is always with a sigh of relief that we hear her return to her bed and thank God that we dodged that bullet once again.