Struggling caring for dad

im struggling so much to care for dad. He wants to die at home and he is (we have a hospital bed in the front room) he is an amputee but has lost upper body strength due to the brain tumour he has so he needs placing on a bedpan and he needs someone to actually place his penis into a cardboard ursine bottle. My brother has done this up to now but tonight I’m on my own with him and I’m so stressed. I cared for my mother with no problem but just find with dad I feel differently over the toilet thing.  Physically I’m struggling as I have a bad back (I’m 60) and I’m just struggling so much. I feel so guilty too that I can’t just get on with it. I just want to cry. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

  • I’m a 33 year old naieve girl and my dad is 87 and very independent. He’s dying of bowel cancer that has spread to his liver and lungs at the moment he is very frail but not in the end stages quite yet... anyway I’m exactly like you, I hate touching or doing anything with my dad in that respect, unfortunately we just have to get on and do it and I know that sounds unhelpful but my dad said to me when his dad was dying of Parkinson’s disease he had to do the same for his dad hold his penis for him while he went to the toilet.

     

    i have a weak stomach and that sort of thing makes me nauseous but I try to put it out of my mind and think my dad probably feels more embarrassed than I do, he never wanted it to come to this and especially for me a girl and so young... 

    I try to talk to him whilst we are in the process and make a joke out of it so it takes his mind off it, I also find it helps me if I just try to get it done but also think I love my dad and if this is the last thing I can do for him to make him comfortable then is it worth being a bit nauseous and embarrassed? 

     

    Hope this helps to calm your stress down just relax and think of your dad not as a man who needs a wee or his bed pan emptying, but as your dad asking you for help with something that is probably incredibly embarrassing for him...

     

    all the best my at my love and prayers for you...