Dr. Chheda – What do you do when you as the caregiver fall sick or get injured? I sprained my ankle this morning, and the whole morning routine of the house went into chaos because I’m the one that does most of the caregiving. And so what do you do at that point? Everybody’s upset, the routine’s upset, you’re upset, things aren’t going the way you want it to go. There is no good time to be sick.

So what do you do when that happens and you are the caregiver who’s gonna take care of everybody? First, give yourself some grace. The human body will fall ill at some point. You will injure yourself. It’s okay. Yes, it seems like it’s never a good time to be sick. Appreciate those days when you’re feeling great and healthy, but give yourself some grace when you are sick.

Ask for help. It is perfectly fine to ask for help, and it’s perfectly fine for things to fall out of routine until you can get a new routine back. There is no easy answer. The human body heals on its own schedule. You can’t speed it up. If something hurts, if there’s something swollen, it is going to take at least 48 to 72 hours before the body can control it and the swelling gets better. If you run a fever, it may take five days because that’s just the way the body works.

So take a deep breath. It’s gonna be okay. And then get well and incorporate lots of wellness into your routine so that you can heal faster the next time it happens.