Journal Topic and Instruction:
My nursing assistant online class teacher gave us this assignment to write for our journaling activity. . .
Write 100-200 words about any caregiving experience you have had. Perhaps you have worked as a personal care worker, or have cared for a family member or friend who had an illness or disability. Maybe you have had childcare experience.
Describe your experience and how you felt about it. What were your emotional reactions to caregiving.
If you have not had any caregiving experience, please talk what you imagine it would be like for you to care for someone who was very ill or very helpless.
Journal Entry Caregiving Experience: Handicaps and My Husband
Several years ago, we lived in Janesville, Wisconsin. Our Church Pastor and his wife had taken care of 5 disabled gentlemen at their home.
Every time when our Pastor and his wife had to travel out of town we took care of their guys. My husband and I had to stay at our Pastor’s house.
Every morning we were so busy to get the guys ready for their work.
One of them had a speech impairment. We really had a hard time of understanding him. But with the help of the other guys we were able to understand what he wanted. But at times he got so frustrated because none of us could understand him. We tried to make a lot of guesses but we still failed to find out what he really wanted. When this happened he would get some pictures and show them to us.
In the evening we planned together what food they would want to eat for the next night’s supper. We really had fun planning together and talked about the food that they like. They always wanted ice cream.
Two years ago my husband was diagnosed with tongue cancer. A week before he died he was taken care of by the Beloit hospice.
He couldn’t eat by mouth so he was being tube fed. On his last week of life I didn’t have enough sleep because he needed to get his lungs cleared often. It was a very hard experience for me. I hoped that instead it could have happened in the Philippines where I could get support from my brother and sister. Fortunately, my mother-in-law did come every day to help me, so I could get some sleep. A support at this time was really much needed.
It is my goal to become a nurse assistant and be able to help those who are disabled and sick and offer support to their families.
