You, along with most adult children, want to see your mother stay safe. Unfortunately, this logical and understandable viewpoint is running head-on into your mother’s also-understandable need to remain independent. So, what can you do? Read more →
Entries categorized "TheCandidCaregiverColumn"
...Giving one another personal space is important to many marriages. This doesn’t change when one spouse has health issues Read more →
For an emotional, engaging, and educational look at real people who are living while dying, take a few minutes to watch.. Read more →
When trying to save a life has not worked and the person is not expected to live no matter how much misery they endure with treatments that are essentially meant to give them another week or month of life, it’s time for hospice care. Read more →
Whether or not November was chosen as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month because of the sad reminders of holiday deaths that Thanksgiving and Christmas bring around each year, I don’t know. But to me, the timing is perfect. Read more →
...Perfectionism can lead us in an even more stressful cycle as we fail to meet own standards. Read more →
Caregiving is a strange beast: while every day can be different because the person for whom we are caring may have different needs or even an emergency, every day is the same in that our lives seem to focus on our loved one and we often let our own wants and needs slide. We can feel stressed from constant changes yet numbed by the sameness of needing to focus on the care of a vulnerable loved one. Often, we don’t even notice that we’ve slipped into a routine of combined stress and numbness until a friend or family member takes a moment to ask what is new in our lives. Read more →
"While all caregiving has its commonalities, being a young caregiver has its own unique challenges. Being thrust into a caregiver role at a young age, when my mom had a debilitating stroke..." Read more →
Often, the safety of both the care receiver and the caregiver is the ultimate decider. If you’ve reached a point that you can no longer transfer your loved one to bed... Read more →
Nearly everyone who enters a nursing home to live goes through a period of adjustment. Why wouldn't they? They've had to leave their home, or at least their most recent one. Read more →