One Caregiver – One Income

There is tremendous pressure, anxiety and worry placed on the shoulders of a caregiver, especially when the caregiver brings in the sole income to support the family. Living with any chronic long term illness, the tension never lets up not knowing what to expect, and when the next episode or unplanned emergency hospital visit will occur.

As we sat patiently waiting in the Emergency Room, my husband quickly phoned some clients, wrote a few e-mails and cancelled appointments, moving around his entire schedule, all because of me. This is a familiar scenario for us, and I always feel so guilty, knowing I am the cause of further stress to the wonderful man who looks after me. Although he has the flexibility of doing this at a moment’s notice, which is one of the plusses of being self-employed, repeated incidents over the years, take their toll on the family’s finances, for today should have been a working day, yet he received no salary.

A caregiver who is fully employed must find themselves often in great difficulty, for there is only so far a company will be understanding and willing to keep someone on, in spite of frequently having to miss a day’s work. However much a company may sympathize with such a situation, at the end of the day, their number one concern is to make money and not fund a family in difficulties, no matter how much they like you.

I can assure you that spending the best part of a day in the Emergency Room is not my choice, and most definitely not that of my husband, but after ten days with little improvement and no sleep last night, the relentless pain left me with no choice. So it was with great regret, that as my sweetheart opened his eyes, I had to tell him we needed to go straight to the ER. This is not what anyone wants to hear upon waking up first thing in the morning.

So for those of you wondering why I didn’t write an article last week for The Huffington Post, now you will understand I’ve had a particularly difficult time recently, and my latest article “Herniated (Slipped) Disc” will explain why; a very common problem most can relate to.