Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Bet Me
Mom's and my TV news feed tonight included CBS Evening News. It usually doesn't, because at that time we're usually watching Jim Lehrer on PBS. But, for some reason, tonight, we started channel news surfing between 1800 - 1830 and stopped on this CBS Evening News story about the types of traumatic injury characterizing the Iraq war. We landed on it as Dozier was explaining that this war is featuring a higher rate of survival from traumatic injury than previous wars. I already knew this and my finger was poised to surf on, but Mom said, "Hold it. I want to see this." So we watched. At the end of the segment, Couric and Dozier "teased" that tomorrow (I think) would feature an episode on the caregivers to the injured of the Iraq war and the extraordinary conditions these "pros" (apparently they're only going to talk about the caregivers who are paid, not the family caregivers who probably do hard core caregiving) are experiencing...ominously mentioning "Burnout".
I burst out laughing. "Well, what do you know," I said, "caregiver burnout is finally making the news! Bless the Iraq war for that!"
My Mom was smiling obliquely. "I think I know why you're laughing," she said.
Polishing off another chuckle, I challenged her, "Okay, Mom, you tell me, why am I laughing?"
"Because you burned out a long time ago but you're still doing the job well."
That surprised me. I didn't think she was aware of caregiver burnout, let alone my own periods of burnout. Maybe I've spoken the word aloud in her presence, but I can't remember when. I was also surprised that she had an opinion about my own burnout episodes and the effect they have on our shared lives.
We muted the TV and talked about caregiver burnout, from her view as a parent and caregiver to both Dad and her mother and from my view as her caregiver. Nothing was said that I haven't written about here before, really, except when she asked me, "What would you suggest [as a remedy for caregiver burnout]?" This wasn't a facetious question. She was really curious.
"Well," I said, "truth is, I don't know what to suggest, other than changing society and our attitude toward caring for others."
She nodded as I said this.
"But, just for fun, I'll bet I can predict what tomorrow's segment is going to suggest."
"I'll bet you a million," Mom said.
"How about making it two, since I've got two predictions?"
"Okay, two million. You can take it out of my hide if you win."
"Deal. I'm not sure which will come first, but I'll bet the first two prescriptions, not necessarily in order, will be, 'Take care of yourself,' and 'Take more time off.' I'll further refine this and say that a third prescription will have to do with taking drugs, either for depression, anxiety, sleepnesses or all three."
"Any more predictions?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'll bet I know what at least some of the problems will be: Low pay, long hours, high turnover and not enough qualified staff available to allow for saner scheduling."
"Write all that down," she said, keen to ensure that we'd both remember the details of our bet.
So, here it is, I'm writing it down. I hope we remember to watch CBS Evening News tomorrow night.
Later.
And, yet again later, I watched the second segment mentioned above; here's where I write about it. Thought I'd better add the link because Caregiving at the Crossroads, an intriguing blog about caregiving that I just discovered this morning (6/15/07; 0139) while I was checking out urls from which visitors have been referred, mentioned this post in one of her posts but was clearly talking about the Words Matter post, so I thought I'd add the link for those of you that are visiting from Caregiving at the Crossroads.
I burst out laughing. "Well, what do you know," I said, "caregiver burnout is finally making the news! Bless the Iraq war for that!"
My Mom was smiling obliquely. "I think I know why you're laughing," she said.
Polishing off another chuckle, I challenged her, "Okay, Mom, you tell me, why am I laughing?"
"Because you burned out a long time ago but you're still doing the job well."
That surprised me. I didn't think she was aware of caregiver burnout, let alone my own periods of burnout. Maybe I've spoken the word aloud in her presence, but I can't remember when. I was also surprised that she had an opinion about my own burnout episodes and the effect they have on our shared lives.
We muted the TV and talked about caregiver burnout, from her view as a parent and caregiver to both Dad and her mother and from my view as her caregiver. Nothing was said that I haven't written about here before, really, except when she asked me, "What would you suggest [as a remedy for caregiver burnout]?" This wasn't a facetious question. She was really curious.
"Well," I said, "truth is, I don't know what to suggest, other than changing society and our attitude toward caring for others."
She nodded as I said this.
"But, just for fun, I'll bet I can predict what tomorrow's segment is going to suggest."
"I'll bet you a million," Mom said.
"How about making it two, since I've got two predictions?"
"Okay, two million. You can take it out of my hide if you win."
"Deal. I'm not sure which will come first, but I'll bet the first two prescriptions, not necessarily in order, will be, 'Take care of yourself,' and 'Take more time off.' I'll further refine this and say that a third prescription will have to do with taking drugs, either for depression, anxiety, sleepnesses or all three."
"Any more predictions?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'll bet I know what at least some of the problems will be: Low pay, long hours, high turnover and not enough qualified staff available to allow for saner scheduling."
"Write all that down," she said, keen to ensure that we'd both remember the details of our bet.
So, here it is, I'm writing it down. I hope we remember to watch CBS Evening News tomorrow night.
Later.
And, yet again later, I watched the second segment mentioned above; here's where I write about it. Thought I'd better add the link because Caregiving at the Crossroads, an intriguing blog about caregiving that I just discovered this morning (6/15/07; 0139) while I was checking out urls from which visitors have been referred, mentioned this post in one of her posts but was clearly talking about the Words Matter post, so I thought I'd add the link for those of you that are visiting from Caregiving at the Crossroads.
