Caregiving requires a tireless effort filled with scrapes and bruises (physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually). Don’t forget: scrapes and bruises are temporary and heal.

Lives depend on the tireless efforts of the healthy and wounded Caregiver. (The singular term “Caregiver” is here being used in a composite sense to encompass all who regularly care and/or support sick or disabled persons.)

Many Caregivers are women and some are children…(For further context on Child Caregivers: Please, check out: World Mental Health Day: When the Caregiver is a Child.) …Seemingly soft and vulnerable ones in the hard, chaotic trenches of time consuming pain, agony, work. Caregivers require a special brand of resiliency to press onward!

In a sense, Caregiving is a privilege of compassion. As with all privileges, there comes a measure of added responsiblity and added work which takes added effort. Take COURAGE DEAR CAREGIVER & NEVER GIVE UP!:)

Here’s a THANK YOU! for all the times YOU deserved to hear one, but didn’t get one!:) YOU are making a positive difference! Don’t Stop being a Compassionate Caregiver!

65.7 million caregivers make up 29% of the U.S. adult population providing care to someone who is ill, disabled or aged. [The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP (2009), Caregiving in the U.S. National Alliance for Caregiving. Washington, DC.] – Updated: November 2012

More women than men are caregivers: an estimated 66% of caregivers are female. One-third (34%) take care of two or more people, and the average age of a female caregiver is 48.0. [The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP (2009), Caregiving in the U.S. National Alliance for Caregiving. Washington, DC.] – Updated: November 2012

The Home Alone study―a study of family caregivers who provide complex chronic care―found that nearly half of the caregivers surveyed (46% or 777) performed medical & nursing tasks. More than 96% (747) also provided activities of daily living (ADL’s) supports (e.g., personal hygiene, dressing/undressing, or getting in and out of bed) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL’s) (e.g., taking prescribed medications, shopping …

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February 14th. What does that date mean to you? A day of love, flowers, chocolates and cupid??

“Cupid (Lat[in] cupido, desire, love). The Roman god of love, identified with the Greek Eros. He is usually represented as a beautiful winged boy, blindfolded, and carrying a bow and arrows.” ~Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

The World Book Encyclopedia: “Valentine’s Day comes on the feast day of two different Christian martyrs named Valentine. But the customs connected with the day . . . probably come from an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia which took place every February 15. The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage, and Pan, the god of nature.”—(1973), Vol. 20, p. 204.

Don’t get yourself in a “panic” IF you don’t get any flowers, chocolates or arrows today…

“The roots of what is now called Valentine Day can be traced back to ancient Greece, where worship of Pan flourished. This mythical half-man-half-goat fertility god had a wild, unpredictable nature that struck terror into humans. Aptly the English word “panic” literally means “of Pan.”

“Pan was supposed to watch the flocks while playing his pipes. However, he was easily distracted. Pan had many love affairs with nymphs and goddesses. One sculpture shows Pan making advances to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Eros, the god of love, hovers above them flapping his wings—much like the Cupid found on valentines today.”

“In Rome many worshiped a similar god named Faunus. He too was depicted as half man and half goat. Worship of Faunus was prominent at Lupercalia, an orgiastic festival that was observed each year on February 15. During this festival scantily clad men raced around a hill, brandishing goatskin whips. Women who wanted to bear children stood near the path of these runners. Striking a woman with a whip, the Romans believed, would ensure her fertility.“

No thanks, I don’t worship Faunus…and i’d rather NOT be struck by any whip -lol:) As a married mother of 4, i can honestly attest to the fact that Juno, Pan (and/or a goatskin whip) had nothing whatsoever to do with my fertility! …

Most don’t know that child caregivers exist! A 2005 report by the National Alliance for Caregiving (PDF), “estimated that there were at least 1.3 million between the ages of 8 and 18 –(caregivers) most caring for a parent or grandparent, some looking after a sibling.”

According to the Report:

A child caregiver was defined as anyone aged 8-18 who provides unpaid help or care to any person who has an ongoing health problem or chronic-illness, or is elderly, frail, disabled, or mentally ill. In addition, to qualify as caregiver, a parent had to report that the child helps the care receiver with one or more of the following tasks:

• Household Chores or Meal Preparation
• Dressing or Feeding
• Taking Medicine or Talking to Doctors or Nurses
• Keeping Him/Her Company/Providing Emotional Support
• Shopping
• Paperwork, Bills or Arranging Outside Services
• Moving around the house, or Getting around the Community
• Bathing or Using the Bathroom

“Nearly all caregivers help with at least one instrumental activity of daily living.” “The ADL performed by the largest proportion of child caregivers is helping the receiver get in and out of beds and chairs.”

My four kids are learning about the caregiving role (and not only because they help encourage their Father, Chato Stewart,who is living with Bipolar Disorder.) I am learning about the care receiver role. I severely sprained my left ankle since my last post.

This is not a woe is me…Cannot complain, I’ve been very healthy my whole life and pretty much injury-free. This is my very first sprain that I can recall. It’s mostly an inconvenience. It interrupts my organization.

Have you sprained anything lately?! Elevating my foot as I write, hoping the swelling will go down. This sprain and swelling can serve as a *meta “phor”  something…(hopefully, it will come to me by the end of this post-lol:)

I’m learning “new” skills like how to hobble around on crutches and the value of stuffing my pockets to transport things. As a person who lives an extremely active life-style, who’s use to doing …