You might find yourself battling with an emotion that feels a lot like grief as your senior continues toward the end of her life, but hesitate to call it that because she’s still with you. The complicated reality is that there are a lot of different types of grief, including grief that exists for events that haven’t happened yet. The name for that type of grief is anticipatory grief because you’re already starting to anticipate how painful it will be to lose your family member. Bereavement services can help you deal with these emotions.
Anticipatory Grief and its Symptoms
Anticipatory grief is just as painful as other types of grief. Unlike other types of grief, however, it arrives before the actual loss. This is the type of grief that you experience when you know that your elderly family member is near the end of her life but has not passed away. You’re mentally and emotionally already experiencing that loss, even as you’re helping her in the time that she has left. The symptoms of anticipatory grief are similar to those experienced with other types of grief. You’re likely to experience sadness, depression, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and more. And your senior can experience anticipatory grief as well.
Readying Yourself and Others for Your Senior’s Death
It’s difficult to work around anticipatory grief and do the things that you need to do to help your elderly family member the most. The feelings you’re experiencing are absolutely a normal part of the situation, but that doesn’t make them easier to manage. What can help is to ensure that you and everyone else involved, including your senior, understand what’s going on and what to expect. That means working closely with her medical team.
Using All of the Tools Available Through Bereavement Services
Bereavement services can be a huge help when you and your senior are battling anticipatory grief. They can offer you tools and connect you with resources that enable you to work through how you’re feeling. If there’s anything unresolved that might help you and your senior to better manage your grief, they can help you to find ways to come to a closure. This doesn’t make your feelings any less complicated, but it can give you ways to reframe the grief.
Hospice Care Can Do a Lot
There’s a lot that hospice care can do to assist you and your senior in this stage of her life. Depending on her needs, hospice can provide quite a bit of hands-on help for your senior. They do this by working closely with your senior’s medical team and ensuring that all of her needs are met. As your elderly family member’s condition and needs change, hospice can keep up with those changes to ensure that she’s as comfortable as possible. Keeping your elderly family member comfortable is a huge part of what hospice is geared to do for her.
You don’t have to go through the grief of any type alone. Having the support that you and other family members need is crucial during this painful time.
If you or your aging loved one could benefit from Bereavement Services in Holly Hill SC, contact the caring staff at Grove Park Hospice, at (803)536-6644.
Providing Hospice & Palliative Care in Orangeburg, Bamberg, & Calhoun Counties
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