Stories from Caregivers: Donna from NEW YORK
NY
Donna
FROM NEW YORK
My name is Donna and I am 57 years old. Back in 2012 I wrote a book called The Soul of a Poet, Rich as a Rose. Since then I spent quite a few years helping my sister Chris with my dad. You see my dad finally moved out of Brooklyn in 2011 after my mom passed away. He moved to Oceanside NY. Around the same time my sister Chris had separated from her husband so she decided to move in with dad. She also had her 6 year old daughter Gina. Dad wasn't that bad back in 2011 so Chris and I shared the responsibilities. I would travel from Brooklyn to stay with my dad while my sister took care of her needs. I would go shopping, prepare meals and helped him with whatever he needed. After almost a year they decided The Cove where they presently were living was much too small. So they started looking for a house. They found the perfect house on Niles Street located in Oceanside also. It was a low ranch which would make it easy for my father to get around. My Father's name is Joseph and my mother's name was Mary, ironically. We were a good catholic family with catholic values. Our family has always been close. It was finally time to move and a lot of packing needed to be done. I started helping Chris again at Niles only dad started getting worse. Around October, hurricane Sandy hit. Sandy really damaged the Niles house so Dad had to stay with me for awhile and Chris and Gina stayed by my sister Linda who also lived in Oceanside. Dad stayed with me almost two weeks while they were working on the Niles house. Many repairs needed to be done. I fed him, made sure he was comfortable and helped him with his needs. My timid cat even started to warm up to him. I used to call him Papa Joe. It was kind of a pet name for him. I loved him very much. The time came and Dad was ready to go home. So my sister came to pick him up. Time went by and Dad started getting sicker. When I went to the house I had to give him showers and whatever else he needed. Dad loved peanut butter so in the morning I gave him raisin bread with peanut butter. I failed to mention dad had a problem swallowing so we had to give him medicine when he ate. He also walked with a walker and could not walk on his own. Dad was in constant pain from polymyalgia rheumatica. The medications helped but not always. January 2015 came and dad had a very bad cold and was not getting better so he went to the hospital. At one point in turned out he had pneumonia. Time passed and he went from the hospital to the rehab back and forth. March 11, 2015 Joseph Commisso passed away. The End.
