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Sometimes I whisper, “Forgive me mom.  I didn’t know.”  My lovely mother died eight years ago, and when she was in a nursing home for six years, I certainly made some careless caregiving mistakes.

For example, when my mom was recovering from pneumonia and was bed-ridden, many grandchildren and relatives visited her.  That was wonderful, but I was so happy to see some of these individuals that what was supposed to be a visit with my mother became a social occasion.

At one time, there were at least four different conversations in progress.  None of them directed toward the patient, my mom, who was probably straining to pick up the gist of each conversation.

Now I cringed to think how that felt to my mom, and so I whisper, “Sorry mom, I didn’t know what I know now.”

When we visit a patient in a hospital or nursing home, we need to keep our focus on the patient.  Make plans with other friends and relatives to get together at a later time outside of the patient’s room.