What has two thumbs, and is totally exhausted right now?

Answer: THIS GIRL. (You would only get the punch line if you watch The Office..)



WOW. I am barely able to blog due to my lack of sleep and all of my 'caregiving' I did last week. I forgot to mention that I did get a job, thank goodness, but holy cow.. I didn't expect it to be like this. I'll give you a detailed description of what my duties are, and examples of my days..

Job Description: I care for an old man with Alzheimers Disease, by cooking him meals, providing transportation, getting him ready for the day/bed, and basically following him everywhere.
Examples of a typical 24 hour shift: Yes, you read right. I work 24 hour shifts, and on every other weekend it's 48 hour shifts. But I drive 35 minutes or so just to get to Evan's house. (Evan is the man that I 'babysit'). My shift starts at 9 am, so I'm usually here a little before that to review with the other care giver what Evan has been doing, and what needs to be done today. Normally he's still in his pajamas so I'll have to FORCE him to change. He feels he doesn't need to take showers or change his clothes. Getting him into the shower is usually a 2 hour process, he is so stubborn. Once he's all cleaned up, I'll take him to a retirement home and go eat lunch with him. It's a very nice 3-course meal, so I'll try every day to get him to go there. About 20 minutes into lunch, he'll complain that there's things that need to be done, and he'll freak out if he doesn't get home right then to go pull some weeds. He used to be a farmer, and is used to HARD work. Rarely will you see him relax and sit to watch a movie/tv, which sucks. I'm chasing him all around the farm, because I can't let him wander and get lost. He'll be outside for hours on end, and I'll call him in for dinner. After dinner is the part that I have a hard time handeling. Like I said, he is so stubborn. He doesn't like to change clothes, my first night he actually wore his overalls to bed because I couldn't get him to change. It takes about an hour to get him into pajamas, then I'll try to get him to bed. Once he's all settled and in bed, he'll wake up about 3-4 hours later, wander around for 2 hours, go back to sleep for 30 minutes, wake up and wander around for another 2 hours, go back to sleep for another 30 minutes, wake up, go back to sleep, etc. 7:00 is when he'll wake up for the day. (Keep in mind, everytime he's up, I have to follow him to make sure he won't go wander outside.) As you can tell, I get no sleep. The other caregiver comes at 9 the next morning and releives me of my shift, and I get to come back the next day!

Ahhh, I have worked 96 hours last week, and I am dying! I'll talk to the lady in charge of schedules and tell her that's just a little too much for me to handle right now.
But I need a nap, I'll blog later..