caregiver story Adjusting to a new life.

[Belle Taylor]

{Setting: The Phoenix Foundation, early morning. 

It was very early in the morning at the Phoenix Foundation. Belle who was Russ Taylor's wife was laying the couch that was in the war/meeting room. The reason she was laying down was because she was tired and not feeling 100%. Russell had woken Belle up at four am so he could get her ready to go to work with him. The reason Belle had to go to the Phoenix foundation with him was because she was really sick and severely disabled. 

A couple of years ago Belle had been diagnosed with a rare and terminal condition called multiple system atrophy. It was a condition that caused her body and mind to slowly shut down. At first the systems were mild but after a while Belle had trouble getting around and struggled to take care of herself. Six months ago Belle's health started to decline at a alarming rate. Unfortunately she had gotten to the point where she was not able to walk let alone stand, so she had to use a wheelchair to get around. 

 

On top of that she was not able to dress or feed herself without struggling, she had also lost control of her bodily functions so she needed to wear diapers 24/7. Belle had also gotten to the point where she was losing her ability to speak, she was still able to talk, but sometimes she struggled and every now and then she would talk like she was a young child. She had also been acting more childish as time went on. Even though she tried not to act childish, Belle couldn't help it. It was like she was losing control of her mind and body and Belle hated it. 

 

On top of the Multiple system atrophy, Belle also had a rare degenerative bone condition on top of some other health problems she suffered from. That being said Belle needed her husband Russ Taylor to take care of her every need. Over the last few months Russ has become her caregiver. 

When it was a little after 9 am, Belle groaned softly as she slowly started to wake up, she had fallen asleep not long after they arrived at the Phoenix. Now that Belle was awake, she needed to have her second dose of morning medicine, she also needed to be fed her special breakfast and have her diaper checked and changed since she was due for one. Now that Belle was awake she looked around and then yawned as she rubbed her eyes, she then picked up the remote and turned on the TV that was in the room, it had been put in when Belle started going to work with her husband so she would have something to do while Russ was busy working.