At night, either Kai or his mother always had to be up in case his father’s dialysis machine ran into a problem.
Transcript
Then we would start the process of dialysis, hooking up the machine, getting the solution ready, hooking him up making sure that there’s nothing wrong with the lines and the tubes, and he would usually fall asleep, and then just making sure that everything was good. But the problem was, on top of not being able to see, not being able to hear, if he lied on his tube and clogged it, it would set off an alarm. So my mom and I, during this whole experience, we lost a lot of sleep because we had to make sure that one of us was listening. So our doors were always open, and so, we had to keep an eye out for him. And there was actually an experience where my mom just needed to have a weekend to herself. So, she went and stayed with my sister here at her place. And so basically, there was no sleep that weekend because I’m a very, I can be a very heavy sleeper, so it’s making sure that dad was fine. And then of course the second mom leaves, something happens to his machine—No, it wasn’t his machine—it was he was feeling pain in his chest. So there’s a procedure of assessing it. We gave him some nitroglycerine just for the pain, just to see if that would work and that didn’t work. And then there’s the procedure of—well my procedure is—is it really worth it to call 911, because 911 will take him but then 95% of the time they’ll just ship him off to [city in BC] and I don’t have transportation, and they usually don’t let family members drive with them unless it’s—in that circumstance they actually did let me so that was nice of them.
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- Society and caregiving 2 – KaiKai was a youth caregiver. He would like the government to recognize that youth are often responsible for caring for someone too.
- Society and caregiving – KaiWhen Kai got a job, he didn’t tell his employer or colleagues that his father was ill. You don’t want to let everyone know that your family is not perfect.
- Resources – KaiKai became involved in a pilot project to raise awareness about youth caregiving and helped to create a youth support group.
- Providing support – KaiDuring a week-long training session, Kai and his mother learned to run the dialysis machine overnight.
- Personal growth and transformation – KaiAlthough caregiving is hard, Kai thinks we should embrace the experience and learn from it.
- Interaction with professionals 2 – KaiKai suggests that healthcare professionals get to know their patient and family, especially when visiting their home. Get to know their likes and dislikes, and how they like things to be done.
- Interaction with professionals – KaiIn one of the most difficult moments, Kai and his father met an excellent doctor who was honest and made Kai feel included.
- Impact on professional life and career 2 – KaiKai became involved in a video project to raise awareness for youth caregiving, and helped start a youth support group.
- Impact on professional life and career – KaiKai started working to help out financially, but was so distracted by the situation at home that he was eventually fired.