They focus on what they call "elder orphans," those seniors who don't get visitors or have family members to brighten their holidays. These senior's often suffer more depression that those with family ties and frequent visitors Read more →

Which kind of caregiver are you? Are you a bowl? One who can help a person shoulder his or her pain, then leave it with them and move on to help another, or yourself? Or are you a sponge, absorbing everyone’s troubles until you render yourself resentful, ill and burned out? Read more →

One of them, a portable doodad that raises the head of a mattress for those who have acid reflux, sounds amazing (she asked me to review it). I haven't tried any of the items she mentions, but Phyllis does the work for you and will even put together gift baskets. Read more →

Few of us can measure up to the fantasy - caregivers least of all. There's so much denial of today's reality in these images resurrected each holiday and thrown at us by every means, from advertisements to blockbuster movies. These images feed expectations that are impossible to meet. Read more →

This is what I call "Noxema thinking." I've used Noxema, since I was a teenager, for everything from cleansing to moisturizing to calming an itch or helping sunburn. It's always been my "if I were ever stranded on a desert island, what "beauty" supply would you take. Read more →

The courage that Justice O'Connor's family is showing by coming forward with this not too uncommon situation is, in my mind, on the level of Betty Ford going public with her alcoholism. Read more →

Just a note to let those of you who have tried to e-mail me this week know that my e-mail... Read more →

he’d be rigid in bed, up on one elbow and slamming his fist against his hand. Pow! Pow! Pow! Over and over, he pounded fist against hand. I’d try to get him to relax; to lie back. He couldn’t comprehend. Pow! Pow! Pow! He was trying to knock out the pain. Read more →

My favorite thing about the book is that Brown is meticulous in his details. He lets you know which year car this person drove in what year. He sets the scene in sports and guy groups (teenage boys and sex - I guess it's true that they only have one thing on their mind). Read more →

Fast forward several decades and you have my mom in a nursing home with severe arthritis and developing dementia. She still loved her mail delivered to her door. The problem was, if I had it delivered to her address at the nursing home, she would lose important items. Read more →