Caregiving Challenges Quotes

I sometimes think, Mary, that it is a mistake to have a dog for a nurse.

I play an 89-year-old man whose wife has Alzheimer's in a movie called 'Still.' I play a World War II veteran, I acted with my son and it's called 'Memorial Day.'

Can I remember exactly when I 'lost' my husband? Was it the moment when I had to start tying his shoelaces for him? Or when we stopped being able to laugh with each other? Looking back, that turning point is impossible to pinpoint. But then, that's the nature of dementia.

I do know people and there are people in my family who have had Alzheimer's and dementia, and I appreciate the importance of communication and having contact with them. Communicating is an interesting thing with a condition like that. Sometimes it's difficult to communicate. If the brain becomes atrophied or certain channels of the brain become atrophied, then contact is what becomes really important.

Both my parents developed dementia in their old age. Everyone I know whose parents had dementia feel that they didn't deal with it very well.

Alzheimer's is a family disease...It requires countless hours of care, which are typically provided by family caregivers...Wi thout professional help, it can be impossible to juggle providing that care with jobs, raising kids or just time for yourself.

I know it was harder for me taking care of my dad during his cancer than it was going through my own. You feel more helpless as a caregiver.

Being a caregiver requires infinite patience, physical and emotional strength, health care navigation skills, and a sense of humor - which can be hard to come by after sleepless nights and demanding days.

As a carer for my disabled son, I understand just how hard caring is, at the best of times. I know how important it is for families to get the support they need.

Even under the best of circumstances - in twenty-first century America at least - caring for elderly parents ain't no place for sissies.

It's incredible how nature sets females up to take care of people, and yet it is tricky for them to take care of themselves.

As caretakers, we feel drained when caring for another, and in order to take care of someone else, we need to take care of ourselves at the same time.

The reason child care is such a loaded issue is that when we talk about it, we are always tacitly talking about motherhood. And when we're talking about motherhood we're always tacitly assuming that child care must be a very dim second to full-time mother care.

Looking after a disabled child pushes you to the limits of what you can cope with... physically, emotionally. It's because there's this baby, this child that you love more than you can possibly imagine, in some way more than a normal child because you worry about them 24 hours a day. But at the same time you are so, so proud of them.

Sometimes who is going to be taking care of all of my kids on any given day is more complicated than any trade agreement.

Being Stephen's carer was such a struggle, and it's a lonely job looking after a disabled person. Thinking back, I honestly wonder how I got through it.

The carer of the disabled person is always in the background. People don't want to hear about the sleaze and the nitty-gritty and the hardship.

As a widow and a caregiver and a single mother, I'm living the experience that New Mexicans are.

I don't think you can underestimate how much carers need some support.

If you're the person living closest to the parent who's going to need help, and you take on the whole role of primary caregiver, you can be pretty sure your sibling who lives farthest away is going to call you and say, 'You don't know what you're doing.' Because they're not on the spot, and they probably feel guilty.

it isn't mere love and good-will that is needed in a sick-room; it needs knowledge and experience.

Caregivers are the selfless people who provide unpaid care for loved ones who are ill or have serious medical conditions. This is among the most challenging work there is.

I've had people ask me if it would have been easier to take care of your parents if you had siblings, and I think it's 50/50. I know people who have siblings, and there is a lot of acrimony because somebody always feels that they are doing more than the other person.