Helpful tips learned over the course of thirty years of caregiving through personal experience or interacting with others.
Communication is a tricky process. When I make a statement, not only am I projecting what I think I intend to say, but I am also creating in my mind an image of how I think you will receive my message. I tell myself a story about our conversation before we ever have it. That […]
I try to stay optimistic about the future, but occasionally an event occurs that reminds me of how tenuous life can be. One of those events happened recently with the passing of a fellow caregiver’s spouse. Similar health histories About eight years ago, I meet the caregiver while my husband, Lynn, was a patient in
End of Life Decisions Read More »
Someone asked me recently if I had ever written about how we adapted to Lynn’s loss of function in his hands. I haven’t, but it’s a topic that might be helpful to some, so here goes. Lynn’s loss of the use of his hands gradually progressed over time. I’m guessing the decline occurred over maybe
Christmas is now officially over and it’s with mixed emotions that I say goodbye to it for another year. I love the Christmas holidays. I decorate everything in sight. Since we don’t go out very much, we miss most of the festive sights so I bring it to us instead. I can’t outline the house
We Survived Christmas, But Just Barely Read More »
I have not always been a full-time caregiver. As I look back over Lynn’s journey through the maze of MS progression, I have had different roles along the way. On the Outside Looking In Role For several years before he was diagnosed with MS, I watched his symptoms develop from afar. He would mention an occasional
Stages of Caregiving Read More »
One of the struggles we have had to address with Lynn’s MS progressing so rapidly at one point was the loss of his feeling useful. Lynn was very strong, flexible, and talented all of his young adult life. Then over the course of three years it seems he went from having the ability to build
The Need to Feel Productive Read More »
I’ve discovered that a lot of people who have never been caregivers just don’t get what it really means to be a caregiver and they make a lot of bad assumptions that sometimes cause us to hurt. I had an example of that this week. On Friday, I received an email from my former sister-in-law.
Today was Lynn’s six-month visit with his dentist. Tonight, after his shower, was time to cut his fingernails and file them. Between the two activities, I began to think about all the small things a caregiver takes over for their charge that are so important to that person’s self-image and feeling of being clean and neat.
Hygiene and Grooming – Sweating the Small Stuff Read More »
We were on vacation when I wrote this blog this week. I was not able to post a blog this week because, unknown to us, the condo we use changed their practice this past year and each home owner is now required to provide their own internet service to their renters. The home-owner for the
Was That a Vacation? Read More »
When we went on vacation, I rented a wheelchair van thanks to the generous gift of one of our church members. IT WAS AWESOME! I was so spoiled by that van. Lynn and I have a 2002 Impala. When we go somewhere, I bodily list my 190 lbs husband from his wheelchair and set him
I so want a wheelchair van! Read More »
