When you're a family caregiver, your list of to-dos probably feels endless: doctor appointments, meting out medications, prepping meals, shopping, scheduling home visits, not to mention caring for your own family, working, and, oh, trying to carve out a few minutes of peace and quiet... and that's just Monday. In order to tackle the exhaustive [...]
Last week, I was having dinner with several buddies. As usual when we get together, we had a great time catching up. We talked about everything you'd expect from a bunch of middle-age guys: jobs, golf games and lament for our struggling New York Yankees. Put aside your cheers for a second, though. Another topic [...]
A few months ago, I received an email from an elderly woman who told me I was sitting in an ivory tower and the advice I had given her about an assisted-living facility wasn't a help. I just didn't have a clue. My response was, "Mom give me a break!" I spend a lot of [...]
As a family caregiver, you do all you can to make certain your loved one receives the best care possible. To this point, no role is more important than that of someone's personal "health advocate." I've been asked many times: What does being a health advocate really mean? By definition, an "advocate" is a person [...]
There's one certainty for a family caregiver. At some point, you can count on having to wait for information that might have significant consequences to a love one's health. It can be a blood test, PET scan, MRI, biopsy and even the not-so-routine doctor's follow-up exam. There's an array of things it could be. But [...]
Yesterday, I received a call from a lovely woman named May* living in Birmingham, Ala. May initially called my office to find out where our magazines were available near her home. However, we started to chat about being a family caregiver. And, after a few minutes, she asked if I would give her some advice. [...]