{"id":27120,"date":"2025-05-23T10:38:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T14:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=27120"},"modified":"2026-04-03T01:41:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:41:25","slug":"you-raisw-me-up-my-care-giveer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=27120","title":{"rendered":"YOU RAISW ME UP — MY CARE GIVEER"},"content":{"rendered":"
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YOU RAISE ME UP \u2014 MY CARE GIVER<\/div>\n

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THE FALL <\/div>\n

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The distance i fell was short\u2026.about 3 feet.   The consequences have been catastrophic. I hit a marble slab with head and shoulder.   Hit hard.  broke a bone fragment<\/div>\n
that needed to be stabilized b a neck brace.  The result was six weeks of near immobility day and night\u2026then a soft brace for another 4 weeks.<\/div>\n

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But that is not my STORY today.<\/div>\n

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THE PERSONAL CARE WORKER \u2026P.S.W.<\/div>\n

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We had short meeting with a hospital administrator in the basemen tof TheTrilium Hospital.<\/div>\n
I feared the worst so spoke first<\/div>\n

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\u201cI do not want to  be hospitalised.  Put in a hospital bed.I do not want to be here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe do not want you.\u201d<\/div>\n

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What? Not wanted?\u2019 WE Are sending you home with you wife.   We will keep in touch via our outpatient <\/div>\n
system. We cannot provide care for those who fall.  <\/div>\n

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\u201cYou are luckier than many who falll because you have Your wife.  She will look after you as a<\/div>\n
Personal Care Worker.  It will not be easy.  Those living alone have a far harder time.<\/div>\n
Our hospital will help but the big load falls on the PCW,s.<\/div>\n

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MARJORIE SKEOCH\u2019S JOB AS A PCW.<\/div>\n

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-Dawn to dusk – dusk to dawn – 24 hour day<\/div>\n
-dress Alan in morning, feed him, make sure he takes is pills, wash him. feed him with spoon and a straw,<\/div>\n
wash his clothes, make the bed, do he dishes, cook for him, wash the dishes, push his walker if necessary,<\/div>\n
drive him wherever goes. lift the wheelchair in and out, do the shopping, soothe him, watch him. <\/div>\n

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Change your life entirely.  Forget about playing bridge or visiting friendsl  Instead Marjorie has become a personal care worker.<\/div>\n

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SPECTRUM assigns other PSWs  like the young lady from Nigeria who did m y toe nails or the enthusiastic young man who <\/div>\n
wanted to give me a full shower with both of us in our 3 x 3 shower room or the woman who pullled down my shorts to wash my bum<\/div>\n
or the young swarthy Sikh who just came to  talk to me about hockey or the real nurse who wanted to make sure all was<\/div>\n
correctly done and I was happy.   One cute dancer showed me how to exercise. She couldn\u2019t speak English.<\/div>\n

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The day we left the hospital for our home Marjorie was surprised by the PSWs already waiting at our house.<\/div>\n

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OUR HOUSE IS CHANGED<\/div>\n

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Our son Andrew installed 6  holding bars so I could hold on when moving about.  Then he installed a 15 foot railing<\/div>\n
from first to second floor before the 16 steps were declared a no go zone.  Our bed was moved to the TV room converting<\/div>\n
it to our main living space.  Rugs were removed. Two chesterfields were bi-sected with a chainsaw and sent the dump.<\/div>\n

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All four us living in the TV room. Four?  Yes, four of us.  Woody our dog and Chelsea Bun our feral cat. FOUR.<\/div>\n
also part of Marjorie\u2019s duty roster. <\/div>\n
what would you do?<\/div>\n

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I could go on. I will go on.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
may 21, 2025<\/div>\n

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POST SCRIPT<\/div>\n

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\u201cYOU RAISE ME UP\u201d lyrics express my feelings best .  My personal Care Giver, my wife Marjorie<\/div>\n
lifts me up <\/div>\n
in the darkness of our bedroom when I feel down and hopeless.  LIving day and night with a head brace <\/div>\n
fastened with velcro  and not to be removed until a broken shard of bone finds a new home somewhere<\/div>\n
near my spinal chord.   Isn\u2019t that enough to make a person depressed.?  When I feel that way Marjorie lifts me up<\/div>\n
with her optimism. \u201cYou will get better, you always do”<\/div>\n

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JOHN GROGAN  \u2014 YOU RAISE ME UP<\/div>\n

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When I am down and, oh, my soul so weary
When troubles come and my heart burdened be
Then I am still and wait here in the silence
Until you come and sit awhile with me

[Chorus]
You raise me up<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be

[Instrumental Break]

[Chorus]
You raise me up so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be
You raise me up (Up<\/i>) so I can stand on mountains (Stand on mountains<\/i>)
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas (Stormy seas<\/i>)
I am strong (I am strong<\/i>) when I am on your shoulders (Ooh-ooh<\/i>)
You raise me up to more than I can be
You raise me up (Up<\/i>) so I can stand on mountains (Stand on mountains<\/i>)
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas (Stormy seas<\/i>)
I am strong when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be
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Get tickets for your favorite artists<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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