My MIL lives alone about 20 minutes from us. While I like her, she's not the kind of person I can be around for long periods of time because she complains constantly and always wants everything to be about her. She was widowed two years ago and clearly struggles with depression but refuses to get help. She complains about being lonely but will not leave the house to try anything that might connect her with other people in her situation.
While I feel sorry for her, I don't like how she treats my husband and constantly demands that he come to her house to fix little things we suspect she breaks on purpose. My husband gets frustrated with her easily and then is difficult to deal with at home when he is stressed.
Yesterday, MIL fell in the garage and hurt her leg. Fortunately, she did not break anything, but this is her second fall in 2 months. She also has diabetes and mobility issues. It's clear that she can't continue to live at home on her own. We had been planning to try to move her closer to us into a retirement community with cottages where she might meet other people her age. Now the community that is being built is out of her price range.
My husband seems to have already decided that we are going to build an addition ($100,000!!!) to our house and move her in, even though in previous conversations, we have both agreed that we don't want her to live with us. I don't believe that having a separate living space would keep her from constantly being in our house, complaining and demanding attention. He seems to think she'll just stay in her own place and watch TV all day. We have only been married for a couple of years, and I think this is a terrible idea. We need our private space with our kids (blended family). I'm very concerned - and have told him so - that her presence will cause problems with our marriage.
I would appreciate any suggestions for how to convince him that we should not move MIL into our house, even into a separate space like a connected suite. He thinks that she will refuse to move into assisted living, but also seems to think they are terrible places. I've been to some and they are pretty nice (though expensive).
Thank you for your help!
I would tell him I understand his dilemma, but that imho Mom needs placement if she cannot remain on her own.
I would not argue why.
I would not discuss my own issues.
I would simply say I have limitations, I understand that I am not a Saint and won't be applying for Sainthood soon, but that it is a very simple me or Mom proposition.
So that is where I am in all of this. The discussion would stop right there. And if the building of the addition began I would leave RIGHT THEN AND THERE and go on my own. I would remain sweet to my beloved hubby and I would tell him I can perhaps help with shopping and the occ. casserole, but I will be busy making my own life.
Now it's up to you. You can only decide for you. If you let your husband go ahead with all this without making him understand you cannot do this and may leave then it is ON YOU when the marriage ends and ends with bankruptcy. You already know you don't want this. The reasons are not important. I am not here to argue the issue of how nice MIL is or how much privacy you will have (you WON'T have ANY) or how much care you won't have to do or and of the rest of it.
If you cannot bring yourself to be honest here, and are not certain in your own mind where you stand then I suggest counseling RIGHT NOW. Because this is coming fast, and will be here before you know it.
Reference another poster today who moved Dad in and now Dad is sitting and saying "Too bad. I am not leaving. I am not going anywhere."
I am being tough here, but imho you need to "get this", or you will be drowning in decade of caregiving to someone you don't even LIKE instead of spending the best, the most carefree time of your life, you and your husband, traveling, perhaps building a little second home in the woods to watch the wildlife as I did with my Partner.
Please think about this. Get help. Give up the wishy-washy and embrace your own limitations and your own needs for your OWN LIFE.
I wish you the best. Believe me. I DO.
Men are also pretty slow at learning new things... this may take more than a minute, so big, deep breath and let him figure it out for you!!! Take him on a journey into the future:
Start to ask him questions like:
"What do you think it will REALLY be like to have mom in the house with us?"
"What do you think it will do to our: Marriage? Free time? Family life?"
"What's going to happen when she needs care beyond what you can provide?
"How is mom going to make friends and socialize if she's living with us?
Ask him questions like:
"What he will do if mom has poopy pants and I'm not around to clean her?"
"Will you be able to take time off work to drive her to her doctor's appointments?"
"Are you okay with her having dinner with us every night or will you help her make her own dinner?"
All I am saying is, Yes, build the $100,000 in-law apartment, but instead of moving her in, rent it out as an Airbnb and use the profits to pay for mom's care!
Maybe he'll catch on.... he's a man, take it slow! Be kind! Don't argue! Give him a few sleepless nights... then call a quality home healthcare agency and get mom REALLY taken care of!
Always beware the Mommy's Boys, there's a reason Norman Bates was single.
It isn't.
She needs to stand strong or this is ONE and DONE and it means the destruction and unhappiness of three people. I hope she can stop this and stand firm.
I told her that no one knows all the details of something like that unless they've done it. So I gave her some discussion points. One included bodily functions that inevitably have to be dealt with (urine, feces, vomit, etc.)
(She said, "Ohhh, I never thought of that....)
My niece avoids direct combat at all costs so I had to laugh when she relayed the following:
Her: Who's gonna clean 'em up if they poop?
Him: (vacant stare)
Her: IT AIN'T GONNA BE ME.
I didn't know she had it in her. I was such a proud aunt.
List all the details of care required (enlist the help of someone who would know if you don't) as well as what can be expected in the future for the care of aging person, especially with existing conditions.
This should take pages. Pages, I say.
Put it under his darling, little nose---maybe even with a "sign up" part (this will be the fun part for you, if not illuminating for both of you.)
Aside from showing him the reality of it, remain objective. You don't want to appear selfish. It's those who don't imagine themselves taking an active role (like a husband who thinks everything will be accomplished by your magic wand) don't have a clue what it takes to care for someone--I guarantee it.
Reality vs. the magic kingdom. Objectivity vs. emotional or personal pleas/motives.
My husband still talks about building on and having his mom live with us, we already moved her out of state into a MC facility to be closer. Absolutely NOT! He can talk and dream all he wants but it is not happening while we are married.
I remind him:
who is going to clean her after toileting or accidents?
who is going to help her bathe? Get dressed?
who is going to take her to all of her appointments?
who is going to sit in the ER 3 times a week because she pulls out her catheter?
who is going to make meals for her?( he doesn’t eat properly when Intravel to help take care of my mom)
He has tried multiple times….sometimes he gets it sometimes he doesn’t. What he sees is his mom in a facility. He has even tried reverse psychology on me by suggesting my mom come live with us….NO.
my suggestion is….if she has a home, sell it. Rent a place closer to you. Hire caregivers for 4-6 hrs a day and THEN when hubby is off of work he gets to relieve the caregivers.
under no circumstances do you pitch in. Do not make it easier for him. So if you have to stop now doing anything then do that. Men have no idea(well some men don’t)
good luck!!
This sounds nice, but it will not be like what your husband thinks it will be. Your entire house will become her space. Then will come the competing with you for your husband's attention and affection. Then will come the instigating trouble, the incessant complaining, and the staged attention falls and fabricated health crises. She'll start doing this as a form of entertainment or because she wants to sabotage some special occasion that doesn't involve her.
I've been an in-home caregiver for almost 25 years. I've seen many couples get broken up because an alpha MIL gets moved in.
Please don't do it.
One queen in a hive. No truer words have ever been said. You will have nothing but misery if you move her in. If you think she treats your husband bad and is demanding now, move her in then see what your lives become.
Find her an AL or senior community that she can afford.
You've talked to each other, you've each started forming (pretty much opposed) plans, you've concluded that she can't continue to live alone. But has either of you asked her what she thinks about beginning to move forward?
Meanwhile, ask her to consider a falls alarm. I'd take yesterday's incident as pretty positive, seeing as she apparently managed to get herself out of it (did she?); but I haven't yet met a client who was sorry she had an alarm. Plenty who'd been very sorry they hadn't, though.
I'm 62 years young right now. I still actively work (from home) and my own mother lives with me. (I didn't learn my lesson the first go around) Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my active years? Caring for elderly is NOT for the faint of heart. Hugs to you. Not an easy decision.
Like I have told my husband for years, two women cannot live in the same house. One always considers it hers and resents anything the other tries to do. Like you, I liked my MIL but I did not love her. Because of lies she told people concerning me I only visited when my DH was with me. I am sure that if she returned here to live after FIL died, she would be doing exactly what ur MIL does. I TG that the decision for her to live with us never needed to be made. She passed at the age of 92.
So MIL has options. There must be more affordable places than the cottages. Maybe a nice apartment nearby. Sell her house and use those proceeds to offset her SS and any pension she may receive. Depending on her age and health issues maybe a nice AL. But the proceeds of the house will only last so long. So then its Medicaid paying for her care in a nice LTC facility.
Like I said age should be a factor in your decision. If Mom is in her 60s even 70s, she could live another 20 or 30 years. Her needs, especially as a diabetic, will change and are you willing to be her Caregiver. Some of the questions on this forum are "How do I get my husband to care for his mother, he seems to think thats my job"
Does husband think that he can use proceeds of the sale of Moms house to build the addition? If Mom needs Medicaid within the next 5 years, those proceeds will be considered a gift and there will be a penalty. Medicaid does not look at the addition as something done for Mom but something you profit from if u sell your house. Any upgrades done for Mom do not get done out of her money if there is a likelihood she will need Medicaid within 5 yrs of the upgrade.
Construction materials are very high now. Maybe better putting the addition on hold and finding her a nice apt nearby. Then go from there. DH needs to set boundries especially if he gets frustrated with his Mom. He has to be ready to enforce them too. "No Mom, I cannot come over right now". He does not break plans with your or the kids to run over to Moms to fix a sink that she can call a plumber to do. Really, she would have to wait either way. She will try to step over these boundries its up to husband to stand firm. He has a family and they have priority.