A traumatic brain injury is a game changer in life. We are now seeing a lot more attention devoted to brain injuries in the news and in health care due to the high profile athletes who are suffering from traumatic brain injuries, and for sake of readability referred...
If someone had told me that I would be dealing with the effects of a car accident years after it occurred, I would have immediately assumed it would be due to the obvious damage to a person that results in broken bones and wheelchairs. I would never have thought of...
I had been building a wheelchair ramp for a Vietnam Vet who had his adult son visiting while I was working on his home. At the point where I needed the Vet's input on the pitch of his ramp and the space required for him to access his bathroom door, his son leaned over...
I work with a lot of different people to help bring attention to the disabled in our area and to especially shine a light on the caregivers that care for the disabled. But it the midst of doing for others and caring for my wife, I was knocked down myself. I fell into...
I work with a lot of different people to help bring attention to the disabled in our area and to especially shine a light on the caregivers that care for the disabled. But it the midst of doing for others and caring for my wife, I was knocked down myself. I fell into...
I had decided to join a mission team to the Navajo Reservation one summer. I was in my early twenties and I had assumed I could handle anything that life could dish out. I might have had that attitude partly from my experiences in childhood, and several very serious...
I fell through an open unsecured manhole on July 27, 2014, and that began a year plus a long time of dealing with chronic back pain, visits to doctors and a Presbyterian Pain and Spine Clinic. Complicating matters is the fact that I am my wife's caregiver as well as...
I fell through an unsecured manhole last summer and severely damaged my back. I had surgery on the morning of October 8th and developed complications and had a stroke early Tuesday morning. I will be writing of a whole new set of caregiving experiences where I will be...
Caring for and helping drug addicts and alcoholics can take a terrible toll on the family. We often do not realize the extent of the damage in a family due to drug or alcohol abuse, nor do we see the huge impact it makes on mental health. I was recently arrived in...
I started doing caregiving for a select few people while I lived in Colorado. My first client was Harold, a Korean War Vet who lost his legs when an artillery round went off near him in combat. Harold was a man wracked with pain, often unable to sleep due to the...
We are ultimately motivated by love. Caregivers might say it is duty that demands they take care of family members, but ultimately it is love. Sometimes people will minimize the efforts we make. Some will do a comparison between us and them. But that is neither...
This is my favorite painting. It is titled After the Storm. It did not load to a resolution that is clean and sharp, but it is one of my works I did when the feeling in my fingertips began to return. I certainly had been through a storm in life. First I grew up in a...
This is an article I wrote for CNN iReports this morning. I think of all the people I have cared for or assisted, this particular family was the most difficult for me to watch as things unraveled in the mind of the husband/father of the family. It is not a cheerful...
In the past 35 plus years of intermittent caregiving I have involved in, there is nothing more heart wrenching, nothing more terrible, no ache deeper to me than watching someone refuse to do the things that will at least give better health. The first issue that comes...
I spent a considerable amount of time, months in fact, trying to acquire the pictured Roho Cushion for my wife. I encountered a wide variety of issues that were enough to make me lose all faith in humanity at times and I questioned all of the answers I would receive...
My wife just had another bad fall while in her wheelchair. Having been a builder, I have often had to deal with building and rebuilding access areas and doors for the disabled and handicapped. This is not the first time my wife has fallen. But it has stressed her a...
I don't always think of the other person. None of us do. We get so caught up in our own thoughts and feelings that we lose sight of the other persons' feelings. I was feeling frustrated a few years ago as I tried to take care of all the errands, the pharmacy runs,...
You are there listening to the doctor tell you and your loved one that they have a fixed amount of time to live. If you are lucky they can stretch it out somewhat with medication, therapy, hospice care or a few other options. Going home the mind plays the scene over...
I spent the greater part of a day last week trying to expedite the delivery of a Roho High Profile air cushion for my wife's wheelchair. After several minutes of repeatedly explaining myself and this the fourth time that I had dealt with a medical supply company on...
I have been a Caregiver at various times for over 25 years. If I were challenged to put my finger on the one thing that causes the most stress other than the immediate health issues, I would have to say it would be the financial issues. In my 'normal' line of work, I...