Depending on You

A long time ago, about maybe 6 or 7 years ago I was talking to a guy I met online. For a brief time we were friends and talked just about every day until we didn't. But, we would always joke that when we got older someone would have to change our depends. It was a running joke between us and of course we both hoped that joke never came to be real.

Flash forward to present day now my mom wears depends. She was doing well after her first stroke and didn't wear them at all just regular plain old underwear but the second stroke and a broken pelvis left her in one of those home care places for a while and in there everyone wears depends. They had limited number of people trying to take care of a lot of patients so it made sense since I discovered that when you had to go to the bathroom assisted they would take their time helping you and basically when my mom was in there she couldn't wait for them so I took her or my sister. When she came home we had a nurse come in once a week, physical and occupational therapy,  and a social worker. The social said that the insurance would pay for the depends. I was hesitant at first and really didn't want to see my mom go to depends. In my mind depends was the stop to being old and feeble. And I had a hard time dealing with my mom actually getting old. If she was old then I was getting old too. She was dragging me down with her. (LOL)

Today my son yells, he doesn't know how to talk in a normal inside voice, he yells to me while I am trying to get dressed that grandma wet her depends and she needs a change. I was surprised that she had an accident. That has become the new normal now. I get dressed as fast as I can and come in her room and she managed to get her wet ones off and was working on a dry pair to get on. She was putting them on backwards but she was doing it. I had a proud moment almost like the first time my son went to the potty by himself when he was 2 and a half. 

I honestly thought that once my son was out of diapers I would never ever have to change another diaper again. I didn't factor in depends though. Well, all I can say I hope that my son doesn't have to change my depends in about 25 years from now.  My wish for him is when he is done changing his kids diapers, when he has them in the future, that will be the last diaper he changes until he has grand kids.