Loving Care for Retarded Woman

I wasn't able to update my blog for the past weeks, the reason; I was confined to give a loving care for a retarded woman, Ellen, a 41 years old, the youngest sister of my husband. Also the only girl in 7 brood. This will be my longest time to pitch in the work of a care giver while the contracted care giver was out for vacation with her own family. It was December, 2008 when I was asked by my in-laws to do the job. At first, I was hesitant but after realizing that I'm the most eligible and available to do it, I gave in to their request.

My mother in-law, the only living parent of my husband is being treated of cancer that means she would not be capable to give her full support for Ellen. God may have a purpose for this unfortunate things

As I learned about caring for retarded person there were no common methods of caring. In the case of Ellen, the cause of her retardation was a neurological disorder which is classified as profound mental retardation. She was detected of having a post meningitis during her 11 months old after succumbing to high fever for almost a week. The profound mentally retarded person needs a pervasive support which calls for daily supervision and hands on support for most adaptive areas, like spoon-feeding, personal hygiene and nursing for her waste elimination.

With well-pampered life under the care of my mother-in-law, she has grown into a full-sized woman, too heavy to carry herself giving problem to her care giver in guiding her walk. She used to stumble every time she step backward during her tantrums. So her space has to be cleared from hard furniture and sharp objects. She sleeps in a wide soft bed and provided with low soft couch. Her toys and stuff were all made of plastic and cotton. Her sort of pastime is listening to radio and watching television program. She cries and shouts in reaction to the scene of drama or violence in the tv program. Then follows the tantrums which usually hard to stop. So I have to cajole her by making funny faces so she could switch mood.

Also as an after effect of meningitis she has a long life of epilepsy disease, which causes a seizure attack most of the time. So she is given a daily dose of dilantin to prevent her from the said attack. She has a speech impairment. She can only utter single word. She has a weak right hand and feet thus she has difficulty lifting her feet and holding a thing. She is not capable of wearing any flat slippers. So the flooring is covered with vinyl to prevent her feet from touching the cold cemented ground.

I was advised to limit her intake of carbohydrate by the family doctor to prevent the rise of her blood pressure and also to minimize the seizure attack. Caring for her requires a sacrifice for all of us. It was not an easy task. I was just fortunate to be a part of a family that utilize a concerted effort, when every sibling shares for the good of everyone.