It's one of the most intense moments in your life to be diagnosed with a chronic illness. Conditions that will change your life forever are never really going to become normal. We have our lives planned out and not once did we ever think we were going to either pass away sooner or live in pain for most of our remaining years. It's even more daunting when you have a young family to raise. A million worrying thoughts will go through your mind in a single moment. How will you take care of your kids, can you do chores like washing their clothes and cook them dinner or helps them with their homework? How long will you be able to manage on your own before the later and more aggressive stages of your illness begin to show up? It's an incredibly difficult set of circumstances. To stay on top of these challenges, you must plan ahead and change the way you live based around your condition.
Ask for help
Local authorities are one of the avenues you can go down to ask for help. Many local authorities will actually assign helpers and carers to families with parents that cannot cope with the number of things their children need. This may be to simply cook dinner or to help them with their homework. If parents with chronic illnesses have slowed down and are unable to provide the basics such as this, local authorities must be contacted. Such entities of governance will want to step in and provide some kind of support because the last thing they want to have to do is take the children away. So, it's within your right to ask for professional services from the local authorities to help around your home and make life as normal as possible while you cope with your health condition.
A full-time caring environment
If your health has deteriorated or is on that path, then you may need to move into a controlled environment where there is full-time care. Families often find it much easier to move into a hospice with palliative care than to carry on at home. This is because they have great care facilities for parents but also children’s playgrounds and entertaining activities for them too. In the meantime, you will receive advanced illness care from professional doctors and nurses. If you have trouble sleeping, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, and or general pain and discomfort, these are the kinds of symptoms that they can help you cope with. As well as physical care, they offer spiritual and emotional support to help you get back to your normal self.
Patience with your children
Parents with chronic illnesses have to understand that their children may have serious trouble fully comprehending why their father or mother is not like their friend’s parents. It's important to speak to them about your chronic conditions and be patient with them as they may need to explain multiple times.
Parents who have chronic illnesses will find that unfortunately, they may spend less and less time with their children. It's okay to reach out for help so you can still maintain your lifestyle while you are recovering or getting care of yourself.
