My 72 year old mom has been having issues for the past year. It started with a broken ankle that required surgery, then a kidney infection, then another ankle surgery, then a back issue that required surgery, then more digestive issues, gallbladder removal, cardiac arterial blockage that required two stents, more vomiting and kidney issues, and now likely a procedure requiring a stent in her celiac artery to hopefully address the recurring gastric issues.
She also is the primary caregiver for her 77 YO husband who has Lewy body dementia. I live in another state, my younger brother lives two hours from her and does not have a car (he lives in the city), and my older brother lives 30 minutes from mom. Older brother refuses to talk to any of us, much less assist mom with anything. When things first started happening, he was somewhat helpful, but now he has completely refused to even communicate.
Mom has pretty much refused to communicate plans for the future or put anything in place for her husband, which creates a great deal of anxiety for everyone every time something happens. Funny, she told me Sat that she was going to talk to their financial advisor to discuss options this week, but…now she is back in the hospital.
I am struggling with worry over what will happen to her, and yet I also know that I am not cut out to move her in with me, which I suspect is what she has in mind. I haven’t been able to have that conversation with her because every time I get things started, another crisis comes up. My MIL has told me “you can’t expect your brothers to do anything. You’re the daughter. It’s your job.”
I feel guilty and scared and overwhelmed because things never seem to get better. Mom doesn’t get along with her husband’s kids, and they don’t like to talk to her so they try to go through me to get her to do things. Mom is worried about older brother but doesn’t talk to him, so she tries to go through me.
I’m trying to get my own affairs in order and have been working with a financial planner, but my SO refuses to do this with me, so I am on my own with that as well.
I truly worry that I am going to be expected to figure all of this out for her, and I do not know what I am doing. I believe she is going to make me her POA and I have no idea what that means. I am not knowledgeable with financial matters or legal things. I feel guilty that I cannot seem to do this and I feel like I am failing.
My younger brother is not very financially stable, so I worry about him as well. I wake up every day with a pit in my stomach and I am sad pretty much all the time. My job is great but very demanding, and I’m having a difficult time trying to coordinate things from out of state for my mom while working full time. Also trying to maintain a 30 year relationship that is feeling the strain of this and take care of my own health. I miss being happy, and that makes me feel guilty for being selfish in wanting to be happy.
Does it ever get any better? It doesn’t seem to.
Try and focus on what you CAN control, and let go of things that you can’t (ie: your younger brother - he’s an adult). I’m not really sure about all of these things either, and nobody is when this gets started. We’re all in the same boat, so you’re not alone in feeling lost and confused.
It’s all about educating yourself. As to where to start, I personally would begin by contacting your own financial advisor, and let them know that you’re going to be made your mom’s POA, and what will that require of you.
As for your mom’s health, it’s good that you know your limitations, and that living together is not a healthy option. Make sure you voice that with your mother in as gently a way as possible, while remaining steadfast to your decision. While she is of sound mind and body, she can go ahead and make whatever plans she has. You need to learn to let people make their mistakes. give advice should they ask for it, but you shoulder too much burden by worrying on their decisions.
Take care.
If you do not get mom to sit down now with a lawyer to identify assets, make financial beneficiaries, and establish POAs you will regret it later.
I asked this question here a month ago and deleted it after the first response nastily asked me what I'd "been doing for the past year." (Umm...working 7 days a week, traveling 6 hours round trip to see her once a week, screaming at Verizon, DMV, investment companies cause they're all a racket...) Thanks!
First, the comment your MIL made made me shake my head. Why is all of this solely your responsibility "because you're the daughter". Nope. However, you can't make other family members participate and that will make it your responsibility, unfortunately.
Second, let your mom know it is absolutely critical that plans are made for her and your step dad. A general and medical POA will allow you to handle financial matters for her as well as medical decisions, if she becomes unable to do so. If they have a family attorney or Elder Care attorney, you should start there, right away. Otherwise, this could be a debacle you don't want to add to your list of responsibilities.
Third, If they are financially able, look into a facility where they have care 24/7. If they aren't in a financial position to private pay, talk to the attorney about Medicaid.
Fourth, Don't ever have guilt over wanting to be happy. There's plenty of other things that make us feel guilty, being happy shouldn't be one of them.
Know that you are doing the best you can from far away, with no help from anyone else. You have to take care of you too and your SO. There are so many of us out here, doing the same thing you are, every day. It's hard not to feel alone, until you're on a site like this and you realize, you're not.
Be well...........
had much of a life the past 6 years but perhaps this is part of the cycle of life .
You need to talk with mom and see what her thoughts are before You start worrying about it. She might not be thinking about you at all and you're worrying about it for nothing.
Google POA and see what it's about. It really isn't that big a deal.
I am POA for my 97 yr old Dad and have been for years.
I sat all Dad's Bills to be automatically paid from his checking account and had him add my name to all his Bank Accounts.
The biggest issue was just hiring 24 7 Care for him which is expensive costing like $12 an hour with the Caregiver doing 12 hr shifts.
If your mom has the money then she might could just stay where she is for now and have help.
Dexpending on how much help she needs, she might just hire either all night shift or all day shift.
HIrish help for her husband will take a load off her and keep her from running down in health.
If she's deciding to put Dad in a Nursing Home, she might can move in to an Assisted Living in the same place so she can visit her husband every day.
There's always the option of them moving close to you where you can visit.
There is help out there, you only have to ask.
My presence and what I think would be best and happiest and safest is to stay in my own home and have Caregivers or a Live In.
My mom's knee replacement surgery keeps getting canceled, I fear she is developing dementia, and she has become incredibly dependant on me. She is very narcissistic, and has pretty much ruined her relationship with my brothers. Now they want nothing to do with her and it is I, the daughter (and only sibling with a moral compass, apparently) who has to figure everything out going forward. I am 36 and my mom is 80. I live 2 hours away and one of my brothers lives 5 minutes from her. Yet I'm the one taking time off work to drive her to doctors appointments. I'm the one in constant communication with her doctors. My mom does not have a practical bone in her body and is going to "die before she ever leaves her house"... even though she has a hard time taking care of it and herself and will need assisted living at some point. That is going to be a horrible mess and I'm filled with dread over what I will need to do in the future. I also am not good at complicated financial or legal things and will have to learn as I go.
So, all of that probably isn't very helpful to you, but sometimes it feels good to know you're not alone in your difficult situation.
when relatives come to you to be the go-between them and your mother you simply have to remember one word: No
”NO” is a complete sentence.
Re-read that!! Let it sink in.
Do not explain yourself, don’t give them a chance to come back at you should you feel the need to tell them WHY you are saying “no”….. just keep saying no, without guilt or shame. You are not responsible for their lack of communication.
I was once told that “no one can argue with a “no”.
once I started saying no, they all got the hint; they cannot use me anymore.
Once you and your mom have the POA conversation, tell her, no! You don’t feel qualified or you can go with the “ I simply do not want that responsibility”. If your other siblings don’t take on that burden of being a POA, then have a well check done on her. If no one steps up to be her POS, then she will become a ward of the state and be assigned someone to handle all her money.
Do not let anyone, including your mom, guilt you into taking on this responsibility. I am DPOA for my MIL and she lives with me! You’re in another state!
whichever you choose, I wish you luck and a good night’s sleep
NO. No no no. Don’t buy into that!
Good for you to know right now that you are not going to move in to take care of your parents.
If no one will step up to help your parents, you might contact Social Services in their area, communicate with their medical team(s), etc, but by no means think you need to take over hands-on care or that you need to act as POA. If no relatives will take on the supervision of their affairs, they will have to arrange a POA or Conservatorship through an attorney.
You may want to go visit an Elder Care attorney for advice; financial advice about selling their house to finance their lives in a nursing home, and how to facilitate doing that. You may have to take time off from work under FMLA to get all this accomplished, because you obviously can't do it all long distance. Not getting help from your brothers isn't making your life any easier, either. But someone has to step up and figure out what to do with mom and step dad, and maybe that involves his children too, I don't know.
As far as POA goes, someone has to take it on so your mother will have an advocate for her healthcare decisions and financial decisions as well. If you don't want to take that role on, again, ask the EC attorney what your options are. I am an only child so I had no other choice but to take on the POA role for both of my parents. I would never be able to do hands on caregiving, but I've been able to get them into Assisted Living and now Memory Care for my mother; dad died in 2015 but I was able to make the health care decisions for him up until he died.
If you are going to worry and feel dread and guilt anyway, decide what you're willing to do and then set about doing it. There's no easy way with elderly and sick parents. We'd like to run away but we can't. They need someone to help them out, and if your brothers are flaking out, then that leaves you to decide what you will and will not step up to do. This does not mean you must provide hands on care; quite the opposite. Speak to the social worker at the hospital, too, like Taarna suggested b/c they're familiar with situations exactly like this and can guide you accordingly.
I feel your pain and can empathize with your situation 100%. I moved my folks out to my state in 2011 b/c dad had to stop driving and they had nobody else to help them. It's been a very, very long 10+ years for me and I'm extremely exhausted and burned out. But mom is in managed care and I can handle all of her affairs from my desk, for the most part, which is better than doing hands on care which I'm not cut out for.
Wishing you good luck and Godspeed with all of this.
Let's just say, I am COMPLETELY suffocating from the magnitude and sheer volume of not only anxiety, guilt, perceived loss, actial loss of well, everything. The ongoing drama and attacks from and by judgmental family members who do nothing but make my life more miserable than I already am, and the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional exhaustion that results from not only the actual drama, but the persistent expectations of it, because no matter HOW or what I do, it's coming. As well as the ongoing implied and outright accusations of anything and everything.
And then there's the ACTUAL 24/7 work of giving the care, all those emotions and the neverending cycle of it. The lack of my own needs being met those of my spouse, son, even my dog! I have 1 friend left. And I'm making an assumption there. I have no time for my life. And there is little room for anything else but what HAS to be done.
And all this while going through menopause, starting a new business (cant really be a nurse while caring for a high risk person! All while not knowing WTH I'm supposed to be doing, why I cant seem to get ANYTHING done that I start, while navigating an emotional minefield as planted my so called family, during a pandemic.
My point is (and I DO have one! LOL!) that no matter ehat you do- you're going to feel guilt, and that you're failing at everything and failing everyone.
But... It's not you. It's just an unwinnable situation, therefore, the ONLY advice I can give- do whatever YOU need. It's not selfish to take care of YOURSELF. Do what you can for your Mom, but she also has other children. You cannot be her sole source, nor should you have to be, or be made to feel guilty for not wanting to, nor doing so.
So pick what's best for you.
If you DIDN'T feel like you do, I would be more concerned.
The next option is you become POA, but that just makes you responsible if it's a durable POA to deal with financial and medical decisions for your mother. If your mother is in good mental health, you won't have any responsiblities till her mental capacity has gone South. Most children who find their mother's ability to handle financial responsibilities jump in at this point, because, the hounds and blood sniffers pounce on the parents and try to steal every last dime. Parents are very vunerable, and the blood thirsty are sitting in the dark waiting for it to happen. Could be the stepfather's children, a neighbor, friend, healthcare worker, your brothers, family members, it could be anyone who is aware of the situation going on with your mother. Your mother asking you to become POA is not a curse, it's a blessing, it's a protective measure against those who would gladly take advantage of the situation, and steal what she has worked for in order to pass onto you, her children. So, again, meet with the financial advisor, who will tell you what you need to do, give you information as to who to contact. Good luck
You can refuse to be appointed her POA. Failure to plan on her part is not a reason for you to give up your life to fix everything. Contact an organization that provides, for a fee, a geriatric care manager and let them take care of things.
And your SIL's statement that it's a daughters job to take care of the parents while the sons just sit back is #$&@^!!!!!!!
Now, inhale and relax. Since your SO is not willing to be of any support I hope you have your own affairs in order. Flash forward 20 years and who will be taking care of YOU?
She can appoint you, but you also have the freedom to decline/refuse.
Being POA does NOT mean you provide her care. It is a legal means for managing her affairs, such as finances, paying bills, signing legal documents, etc. A medical POA would merely allow you to have access to her medical records and care and have input to her care.
Since you have your own financial issues, it would be best to decline. The best method is to do this in writing (send it to the atty who drew up the paperwork, at a minimum.)
You are not responsible for caring for your mother or her husband. If she goes to a decent EC attorney office, they can discuss what she would need to do and what to set up, how to appoint someone (other than family, if none of you are willing) to manage for her. She SHOULD be getting all legal issues worked out, given her own medical issues AND having a husband with dementia. Who cares for him when she is hospitalized? Does he have any adult children? If so, do they play any role in his care?
If you get a call or letter regarding the POA assignment, contact the attorney office to decline (follow up with a letter) and suggest they discuss with her the need to make plans for the future, for her and her husband. Then you can step back, knowing you've done what's best for you and at least set the ball rolling to her court.
Next, where is the best care for your mother?
If you are POA, you do not need anyone else’s approval. It is unfortunate that many times second marriages bring complications of their own. However, your mother is your responsibility, because you had the compassion and love to look for help. Mom’s husband is not your responsibility; his kids will have to figure that out, you have enough to do, and not being direct family makes it harder.
I also suggest finding a local support group for aging patents. You can gain understanding and possibly local help for your mental, emotional well being.
You have a right to know their plans that involve you, as much as you have the absolute right to refuse them.
I'm just super overwhelmed for you. Like some of my situation overlaps with some of yours, except mine is more cancer support rather than elderly,but like having all these expectations and responsibilities thrust on you that absolutely are not yours to bear. And trying to push back against it and keep your sanity.
I grew up in parentification and spouseification, (I highly suspect you did,too?) and was thrust back into it when I started supporting my dad in his cancer journey. It's been 2 years and I'm just destroyed.
In my own situation, I've read Boundaries by John Townsend, and I try to put that setting boundaries thing into practice but I always feel horrible from either guilt trips or self inflicted false guilt.
I'm only 30 and am like a shell,either empty or full of anxiety depression. Starting to have physical health problems,too.
My parents have always treated me like I'm their parent and I can't handle it. And much like yours, are not prepared for anything and expect me to figure it out, while my older brother does nothing,except I've refused their financial and household stuff,one of my only victories that will probably end in disaster that which I'll be then expected to fix.
I can't ever recharge. I just want to live my own life with my husband. The cancer progressed and it's just treatment until it doesn't work anymore,and my dad has had a lot of other issues come up that have ruined his mobility and life quality and no one here will offer the surgery because of his cancer, and I've just come to terms with this is how life is going to be. It's no longer a cure and recover situation.
So I've really taken steps to try to rebalance my life and improve my mental and emotional health so I'm not doing everything, and there all the time,so I don't give all of me to them but take care of myself and my husband instead,my life first.
But like for example, I unplanned am nocturnal this week and I told my dad I'm too tired to go to his routine appointment,so instead of accepting it and going alone or asking my mom or brother, he says how he feels better when I'm there and I should just push through.
And I'm literally so burnt out, it's just like, I don't even want to exist anymore (not in a suicidal way,just I literally want a break from it all so bad I want to drop off the planet kind of way.)
I feel there isn't hope in caregiving situations with unhealthy dynamics,blurred boundaries, and an uneven workload. It doesn't last long before the burnout sets in. This is definitely why 3rd party services exist. Of course, affording it... and/or getting the parent to accept it... u___u. Sigh...