"Just Take Care of Yourself"

Ricksmom of Beneath the Wings has been busy.  Ricki's in the hospital.  G-d willing she'll recover from her pneumonia, as she did last year, but it's still a very stressful time for the family.  Her latest post describes what she's going through and how she tries to cope, physically and emotionally.

I've been there, done that, when my sons were each hospitalized for long periods of time when they were very little.  My youngest was two weeks old, meaning that I was just two weeks post-childbirth.  In those days, and when my elder son was hospitalized after an accident, food wasn't available most of the day and all of the night for those of us who needed to eat.  It made life more complicated.

It's so important to take care of yourself when you're caring for a hospitalized loved one.  You must drink, eat and rest.  And whenever possible, accept help.  If you fall apart, physically, emotionally or both, you won't do anyone any good.  An aunt of mine had a total emotional/physical breakdown when her husband had been hospitalized.  That was decades ago, and she never fully recovered; davka, her husband did and had to take care of her and outlived her.

I'm sure we've all heard of too many stories of couples in which the healthy one, the caregiver suddenly dies leaving the sick/handicapped of the two on his/her own. 

Take care of yourself!

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