Necessity is the Mother of Invention – Daddy's Home

Caring for an elderly parent can be pure delight. You have sweet moments of conversation, jokes, smiles and a lot of “I love you’s.” It can also be a tad demanding. While understanding you have a busy schedule, they do want what they want when they want it. But life easily tires them out and they sleep for hours giving you a breather from all responsibilities.

So far, the most challenging struggle for me has not been the fact my that house is a mess from the caregiver's paraphernalia: blood pressure device, gauze, Band-Aids, ointments, pills – a million pills, wipes, and diapers, diapers, and more diapers, or the fact that I’m constantly cleaning up to retain some semblance of order. It’s those damn changes of his private parts in the middle of the night that are my undoing.

But being the resourceful woman I am (after all, I somehow managed to get four kids through that stage and out the door), when in doubt, I create a new plan. Like they say, “necessity is the mother of invention.”

Yesterday, before the caregiver left for the evening, I told her I wanted to try to change my father while she watched. If I was doing something drastically wrong she could walk me through the procedure. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough. She’d already done it.

Having his bottom cleaned is an ordeal for my poor father to go through. His dead weight needs a lot of pushing, pulling, and lifting to get that plastic, white sucker in place. By the time he’s fresh and dry, he’s exhausted and needs to sleep – again.

To illustrate the maneuver, flopping his tired body first to the left, then the right, she took a new diaper and laid it underneath his current clean one. In that instant, I had an overwhelming sensation that God was giving me the biggest sign (and a gift) ever.

“Don’t touch it! Leave it right there.” I screamed.

I’ve no problem ripping the old ones off. It’s the new one that throws me into a tizzy. With this layered effect, I could remove the soiled diaper and be ready and raring to go for a new change. Once my dad is in his prone position, he doesn’t move. Therefore, they would wouldn’t either.

Last night worked like a dream. From now on my father will sleep like the Prince and Pea. I will stack several diapers underneath him so I can be at his service at any given notice. Life can be so simple if we allow it.