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I (19-year-old f) and my mom (46-year old) currently have my grandpa (mom’s dad) living in our apartment. For a background, we have a 2-bedroom apartment. Me, mom, little brother (6-years-old), and grandpa all live here. Grandpa has a bed in the living room. He has Parkinson’s disease and is at the age where he pees and poops himself every other day (refuses to wear diapers). He can barely walk by himself with a walker, he falls multiple times every other day, makes terrible decisions (sneaks out to walk to his truck and usually falls in the parking lot), etc. We had to take his keys because he actually snuck out and drove into a ditch. He tries to hitchhike down the road to his broken down house that is unlivable, but falls in the road instead. We have to provide full-time assistance to him every second of the day and it’s at the point where our lives are hell. No one in the family helps us, they just left him for us to manage. We can barely afford bills because of how much extra we have to spend on him. Our house constantly smells like diarrhea and urine because of him. My mom recently got a full-time job, working 9am-9pm almost every day. So it leaves everything up to me. I can’t properly care for him because of all the differences, I can’t pick him up when he falls, change him when he pees or poops himself; he just sits in it until a hospice nurse comes to bathe him once a week. He refuses to go to a nursing home, and my mom and I can’t afford to put him in one. My uncle has the POA over his finances and refuses to sign them over to a nursing home. We don’t know what to do anymore. Simply being in our own home is a burden. My mom and I are constantly stressed. What can we do?

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Taylor:
You are the one who wrote us. Not your Mom.
And your MOM is the only one who can address this and take action. She is the grownup. She and her brother are now in charge of your grandfather. And they are USING YOU and ABUSING your brother will all this nonsense.
You have given us a whole lot of answers (and thank you for being so participatory) as to why nothing we suggest here will work. That's because you aren't in charge, no one is listening to you, and no one is taking action; THAT IS ON THEM. Not you. You are not in charge and cannot take action here.

I so agree with Beatty, that the healthy chain reaction will occur when you leave this troubled household. This is when your mother will let the POA, her brother, know that she will not continue doing free care 24/7 of granddad. At that point she can take him to ANY ER with ANY STORY and walk out the door, letting them know he cannot return to her home where is is no longer safe for him. That she is NOT the POA and is no longer involved in his care.
At that point the ER will contact the POA. While he may not listen to any of YOU he will have to listen to the Hospital Social Workers and they will have to seek placement.

YOU are the one I care about as you are the one who wrote.
I caution you to leave this household and get on with your life.
If your mother has problems and concerns she should write us and is more than welcome here.
I wish you the best.
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taylor926 May 23, 2024
you are right alva, i know mom is the only one (along with poa) that PHYSICALLY can do ANYthing about this entire situation. its just gotten to the point where i want to do all i can do to help mom with advice and other peoples perspective. i want her and i to have our lives back, and also want to provide her with support like she does me.

and thank YOU for all of your advice and replies, im sure you along with many others can now see how we’re struggling because of the situation.

i have let mom know about what you and others have said, up until yesterday we had no idea we could take him to ems or call aps, though aps was a last option because we truly do care for grandpa emotionally. but as you know the meeting is tomorrow, and aps and ems suggestions are being taken way more considerable now!

thank you again for caring about my situation, your feedback has been greatly appreciated and looked into :) if for someee reason aps, ems, and the meeting go wrong, MY next option will be to leave
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I get you want to help, to take action. I commend you for caring.

I would however take pause with trying to be the rescue person here. You lack the necessary legal ability to change things.

I would also say pause on laying any blame onto your Grandfather. An old man with Parkinson's Disease. PD is a neurological disease. It causes brain changes. Do not expect him to understand his situation fully. Or to manage his finances. Certainly harder ever does an older person (often with past memories of relatives being sent to BAD old dark madhouses) ever say YES move me to a nursing home!

So. Some rephrasing.
GF is not the bad guy.
Mom is not a victim.
You don't need to save her.

What do do instead..
Talk to your Mother. Explain how this effects your life. Maybe offer your support as she talks to her brother/your Uncle (POA). She must stand up for HER houshold & talk the real talk to the POA. Alternative care needs to be found for GF asap.

If Mom dismisses you, is angry, denies, or fearful of Uncle/POA etc take the next step for YOU. See a school councellor & ask for Social Worker for your family. Getting an impartial person to explain what options are available to your Mother may help set the next path.

I am sorry you have this situatuon at such a young age. Yet you are an adult & this is a great learning opportunity about life, standing up for yourself, for your brother too. About how females must be wary of having long held traditions take advantage of them.
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AlvaDeer May 22, 2024
From A PM from our OP, this apparently is the home of the mother, and the OP thinks it a good idea to call EMS next time grandfather goes down. She did not, also, mean to say that grandfather was on Medicaid, but rather that he had his medicare and his Social Security.

I think the Mom needs to handle this, and our OP at 19 should likely get her own place if mother doesn't do so. Social Services is RIGHT THERE with Hospice. They need to help the mom and do their job and work on application to Medicaid and placement.

OP, do know that SS alone is not nearly enough for nursing home care which averages about 5,000 a month at BEST. So granddad will need Social Services to work with your Mom and get this done.

You should stay out of this, well back from this, and find a place of your own to live if you are out of school. You can't be responsible for this.

In order, as you asked, to make a second reply on a thread just ask the original person with the question. In this particular case that would be Beatty. Hang in there. You will get the gist of it.

Wishing you luck. You are young to be facing this but can do it. I went into the big bad city of Chicago at age 17. Of course that was when getting an efficiency with bathroom down the hall on Lake Shore Drive cost only 18.00 a week. Lordy, does time ever fly.
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To clear up a few misconceptions that somehow came in here.
In original post to us taylor was telling us who lived with Grandpa and her mom and she wrote child 6(m). She meant six years old male. Lea thought she meant six months and asked for explanation. She cleared it up and apologized. It is all below in her responses.

To clear up the issue of whether a hospice patient can EVER go to the hospital.
Yes. They can. Under many circumstances, but I will just leave that to googling fingers rather than go into explanations. "Google 'can Hospice patient ever go to the hospital'" for the answers as to under what circumstances. A fall with a possible fracture would be one for instance.

I think Taylor has been a great OP, forthcoming and participatory. Just my humble opinion.
I wish her well and hope she'll continue to update us in future.

I am sorry she was threatened by Hospital, but this is typically done. AS to the threat of "We are calling APS on you" correct answer is "PLEASE DO because I cannot accept him into my home at this point when it is unsafe for my own, therefore his health"; then you WALK OUT THE DOOR. Hospital-speak is rote. It is the same across our country. Sadly. I could write a book as to "what they will say" and how you should answer.
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pamzimmrrt May 23, 2024
Thank you Alva, I agree. And pts can go back on hospice when they are discharged. Happens every day!
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Tell your mom you can NOT and will not do this. Leave the house before your mom in the morning so she will be forced to do something about it. She should drop him off at the POAs house. Your mom needs to get on him very strongly about grandpa moving into a nursing home ASAP. The whole thing is a disaster and I am so sorry that you are all dealing with this.

Best of luck.
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taylor926 May 22, 2024
i actually somewhat did do this and she fully supported me because she understands how stressful this situation is, i left out of state to stay with someone until the end of the month! and from what i can tell, this friday mom and poa have a meeting to discuss grandpa.

as for dropping him off, poa would simply come bring him back and leave him on moms porch. my mom is the ‘too caring’ one of the siblings, hence why shes the ‘care slave’. people take advantage of that if you cant tell 😔

also, she and i have gotten onto him strongly, but he usually storms out and says he cant do it. hes very bipolar about the situation, sometimes hes bestfriends with mom, agreeing itd be beneficial for him to be in assisted living, saying he’ll sign the finances over, and other times hes coming at her throat saying shes a terrible person for wanting him to be in assisted living and to figure it out herself. even though (news flash) she cant without poa lol!

it really is a disaster, but im thankful for all of you giving me understanding feedback. thank you so much for your advice
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Caring for 3 cats and a dog has to be almost halftime for your mom. With that plus the 24/7 for dad and now taking care of a 6 yo, how is that being done?

Just as your mother has to take ownership of her adult decisions, so too do you. Do not prioritize your pets as an excuse to delay getting on with your own life. Otherwise you’d be stuck doing childcare and possibly eldercare for “free,” undocumented, for years and years.

My red line would be that grandpa be out before I came back. If this means mom can’t care for the pets, you should be there only to facilitate rehoming situations for animals not likely to be allowed.
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pamzimmrrt May 23, 2024
respectfully, Peggy.. cats are pretty self sufficient. I should know, I have a 15 cat home.. LOL Mostly outside, but feed them 2x a day and do the litter box as needed,, and my DD has an elderly Chi,, who sleeps most of the day. A quick ( and I mean quick when they are elderly) walk 2 x would do it. and the 6YO could walk the dog in the yard if needed. if its in sight of Mom. I believe OP plans to move on with her pets once she gets her feet under her!
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Grandpa needs to be placed in care in a facility.
That is for your mother to do.

You need to move out and on with your own life as soon as schooling is over. Get a room in someone's home and a job, get an education. That is irregardless of whether grandfather is there or not.

Your mother sounds as though this task of caregiving is too overwhelming for her to do, and certainly it is not fair for a 6 year old to be raised in this chaos.

I am so sorry. There are, if grandfather doesn't have assets, ways to get him Medicaid placement in a nursing home.
I am thankful he is on Hospice.
As for the Hospice Social Worker to help you mother get in facility care for granddad.

Wishing you the best.
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taylor926 May 22, 2024
although i understand its up to my mom to get him into a facility, shes tries everything (and is still trying) in her power. im just trying to help her with ideas on how to move forward with this situation, it hurts seeing how stressed she is with no help. moving out is definitely my top plan right now, im beyond tired of the stress here but i am incapable of having a job at the moment as i help my mom out with my brother and caring for grandpa.

and most definitely the task of care giving for him is stressing her in ways i cant describe. but she and i are stuck right now on what to do

grandpa does have assets, he has plenty of money to put himself in a care facility but he simply refuses to. his medicaid would pay half, and he would have to pay the other half ($3800 in total), and he refuses. its extremely selfish of him as he sees all the stress hes giving us, but nothing will change his mind. :(
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So mom leaves you alone for 12 hours a day to care for a 6 month old infant in addition to a grandfather who's left in his own filth for a week until a hospice nurse comes by? And nobody has reported her to CPS and APS yet?
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AlvaDeer May 22, 2024
I think she means age 6, male, as that's how she put the rest of it. Not 6 mo. But don't really know. Just a guess.
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I don't know if that was an exaggeration about sitting in filth for a week but I'd make contact with APS right away. I wouldn't even wait for them to get wind of this and sweep me up as a responsible. I'd tell them everything asap.
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taylor926 May 22, 2024
it was somewhat of an exaggeration! the smell however is not. mom does plan to make contact with aps, uncle and mom have a meeting with hospica social worker this friday! if that somehow goes wrong or no progress is made, the options will lead to aps.
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If You Uncle has POA drop Him off On His door steps with a suitcase and dont Look Back . This person really needs to be in a NH or your uncle needs to care for him and Not use you as a servant . I am sorry you are left to care for a Young child . That is Not fair to you . If You are afraid to leave him on your uncles doorsteps call Adult protective services and Have them come to the House . Try finding a social worker or therapist from your doctors clinic for your self . It is traumatic enough for us older people to do this Job never Mind a 19 year Old . Very sad . Your Mother shouldn't be Using you like this either . That is not fair to leave a sick man and little Child for you to care for . If she doesnt Listen consider Packing your Bags and leaving . There are Places you can do work exchange - Omega institute In Upper state NY and Upaya Zen center in Santa Fe, NM . There are Youth hostels you can work at too for a Free room One Just opened Lazy Tiger in Asheville, NC . These are fun and you get to meet people from all over the world .
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taylor926 May 23, 2024
love this idea lol, uncle refuses care for him because he also has a full time job and is “too stressed”. so assisted living literally is the only option. also to clear any confusion up, little brother is 6 years old and in school, hes easy for me to care for! just gets really stressful when its a 6 year old AND grandpa at the same time. but i put no blame to my mom like some people are doing, i feel for her and understand how stressed she is from this situation.

i of course am allowed to leave, i currently am out of state to stay with someone until the end of this month because i needed a break, but its just hard for me to stay away for long because i have my own pets to care for in our apartment.

thank you so much for all of those options, if i ever check out to the point i do leave i will look into those 😊
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You are being made a slave to mom’s choices here. You’re tasked with raising HER infant as if he is your own, and now she’s heaped HER dad onto you too with his defecation, wandering and falling. Your mom is making you the mommy so she can work 12 hour days which at least is a life.
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taylor926 May 23, 2024
i know it does look like that and it does feel that way but it really isnt moms fault. she had to get a full time job to provide for all of us so i just unfortunately got left to care for grandpa. i can leave anytime id like, im currently out of state to get a break!

but trust me ive watched her try her best with this situation hand and foot for what seems like forever, shes supportive of how i feel and understands everything because she too is/was in my shoes.

also if there was any confusion, little brother is 6 years old and in school.he is easy for me to care for, it just gets stressful when its caring for a 6 year old AND grandpa.

i will admit though, since ive left (about a week ago) it does look like things have been better.
(uncle and mom have meeting with social worker from hospice tomorrow, and hospice team says they will call aps) and mom has said if those options dont work, she will take the advice of taking him to ems and saying she cant care for him anymore!
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