Reason to Stop Smoking
My dad managed to smoke until he died at 83 with just the usual old-age issues, a hacking cough and a stroke right before the end that I’m not all that sure wasn’t due to the drinking problem rather than the smoking. But with my mom, it caused a long, lingering dehabilitation in her old age due to periferal vascular disease. It caused her to lose her mental abilities by her mid seventies, as well as the ability to walk. She eventually had both legs amputated.
Even though we were happy with the neighborhood group home she was in until she got really bad, looking back, I could have taken care of her myself with just a little family caregiver training. At the time, it seemed impossible what with 4 and 7 year-olds. But I really like that this kind of training is available now. There are so many more options than there used to be for keeping loved ones out of convalescent homes. You can even take a kind of companion homemaker training yourself if it’s your spouse that needs the specialized care
I imagine they even have this kind of training if, say, your child is born with Down’s Syndrome or spina bifida. Of course, in my mom’s case, her needs were so profound at the end because she just sucked up that smoke and ruined her circulatory system. I’m not sure I could have taken care of her myself regardless of what kind of training I had.
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