SubscribeDealing with nursing home angst
The surgery coming up will be the second for my mother in less than six months. Afterward, she’ll be spending a couple weeks in a rehabilitation center. Most folks call them nursing homes. I can hardly make myself say the words.
Along with other health challenges, Mom is suffering with knee problems and the surgery will be the first of two to help relieve pain and improve her walking. She’ll spend many hours a day in intensive physical therapy.
It’s unsettling to have to send my nearly 80-year-old mother to a nursing home, even if only for 14 days or so. As our parents age, it’s as if nursing homes take on the persona of the Big, Bad Wolf, lurking in our minds as the dreaded enemy, waiting for age and infirmity to send another prize. I understand, intellectually, that nursing homes are necessary; most of us with elderly parents who have health problems recognize their place in our society. These days, many of the facilities offer not only quality care, but comfort and ambience. Still, that’s not enough to ease the angst.
The idea of my mother ‘s upcoming short-term stay- and one later this year- in a nursing home has stirred up the emotional turmoil surrounding the possibility that such a facility could be required for long-term care. Meanwhile, there has been a search for a high-quality place to take Mom for a little while, shopping for new lounging clothes and arrangements for my sisters and I to visit often.
My mother and the doctors are optimistic that she’ll soon be moving around with greater ease, at home, enjoying the springtime flowers. I’m ignoring the Big, Bad Wolf.
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I am a member of the Sandwich Generation, a Baby Boomer raising a teenage daughter and dealing with the needs of an aging mother. I am a veteran journalist, having worked for more than three decades as a reporter and editor. Mostly recently, I was an editor with the Metro section of The Washington Post.
