Common Ground

The comments to my "Too Many Cooks" post are mild compared to some of the emails, personal "talks" and phone calls I have received. Did I hit a sore spot here? Apparently so.

What I have discovered is that there are a lot of people who have gone through a similar situation where a loved one is in need of medical care (and medications) and the nuclear caregiver family members (plus extended family and caring friends) are in some disagreement about how the care should be done. This, coupled with an already stressed family group, various disfunctions of communication and relating and problem solving, etc., has led, in many cases, to personal pain and relationship strains.

Thank you to those who have shared some of your painful experiences with me, as well as your concerns and insights. My post was not a clarion call of distress. Actually, I read the post to both of my daughters prior to posting it. Do they agree with everything I said? No. Will they ever agree completely with me? No. Do they know that I love them and that I am proud of them both? I'm pretty sure they do. I tell that to them often and it's one of the things I say that they do agree with as reasonable on my part. Is everything hunky-dory? Not yet, but that's o.k.

Was my post intended as a public trashing of those who disagree with me? Not at all. It was intended as an honest yet somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at a real situation we faced --which apparently is similar to situations some of you have faced as well. Did I own my own shortcomings? Well, some I did. This is, after all, my blog.

By the way, we (Sue, Jessica and I) did consult the local oncology doctor this morning and she has prescribed a significant cut-back of medications. Now where did I put my own pain and sleep meds? Ciao.