Since I've had my mom I haven't been to a dentist or doctor.....again, exhausted because I make sure she goes to all her doctors which is time off from work; hence I don't take time off from work for me; there's much more just can't think of everything. I'm sitting here exhausted now but have to wait until 9 p.m. to get mom to bed because she has to sit up 2 hours after she eats. Thanks everyone.

Hi Bela,

Please see my response to your earlier post.

PLEASE CALL your doctor and dentist tomorrow and make appointments for a physical and a dental checkup!!! Your Mom would not want you to neglect your health and well-being.

Please let us know that you've taken the first steps to take care of yourself and place your Mom. I care and I don't want to see you neglect your own health and well-being because of this awful disease!!!

Bella, Be Kind To Yourself....Most important if you want to take care of your mother must take care of yourself. I have to admit to not doing such a good job there with and doc looked at me and said about 25% of caregivers die before the person they are caring for. Not what I wanted to hear but needed to. So make the appointments and take care of yourself if you plan to go the long haul....I am trying so you do same. we will check back on progress. lol
Sheryl

Bela,

If you don't take care of yourself your health will go down. Then who will take care of your mom. You MUST BE NUMBER ONE.....

Blessings!

I replied to your other post but I am going to add one more thing to this one. I too hadn't gone to my doctors in over two years. Finally went last month. Luckily I got a clean bill of health so far, still waiting to get my mammogram - THREE YEARS LATE!!!! Finally getting to my docs made me feel so much better. Don't put off taking care of yourself any longer - PLEASE!

Believe me, I have no time either. I've been taking days off from work here and there. I have to. No one is taking of me but me. If I can't count on me, then I'm ******!

I have a feeling there are many of us. I haven't been to a doctor or dentist in at least a decade. My psychiatrist now "meets" with me via phone so I can receive an anxiety med.

I've let my teeth go and that probably bothers me the most since I spent a fortune having them repaired as I did not receive dental care (except the occasional yanked tooth) until I could pay for it as an adult. I was rabid about my dental care and now they're shot to heck.

Ah well, so many casualties to the disease. It does strike me as ironic that my mom receives so much medical and hospital care so late in life when she would never have wanted to exist like this.

I've never had respite or been separated from my mother. She is violent and at this moment I'm healing from multiple bites and nearly lost the knuckle from a finger when she tried to bite off my finger and I wasn't quite fast enough. (My mistake being so persistent in coaxing her to wear her dentures again.) Another irony, finally she has time to sleep, read, watch a few shows, immerse herself into politics and current events and yak about it, yet she can do none of those things. She has about a five second attention span.

Good luck to you in finding a way to get some rest and care for yourself.

Bela, I just realized you had another thread regarding feeling guilty about placing your mother and that a bed has opened up in a NH ten minutes from you.

Please, take it! Holding down a job on top of caring for your mother and it will only get harder. To have her nearby where you can check on her often and take care of yourself--I hope this works out for you.