Tired and on edge, I was worried by rumblings from my husband Brad’s doctors that they might send...
Category: Caring for a Romantic Partner
How Polyamorists and Polygamists Are Challenging Family Norms
Diana Adams, a family lawyer in New York, has become the leading figure in the conversation...
When It Comes to Caregiving, Women Are Already Toast
In despair, I typed “caregiver” into Google, planning to follow it up with “resources” or “support...
The Costly, Painful, Lonely Burden of Care
After spending four months in the hospital, becoming temporarily blind and unable to walk, eat,...
Don’t Tell a Caregiver to Stay Positive. Here’s How to Help Instead
My husband had been in the hospital, critically ill, for weeks one day when I broke down in tears...
50 Million Americans Are Unpaid Caregivers. We Need Help.
For four months, my husband, Brad, had been recovering from a stem-cell transplant that saved his...
Making the Mental Load Visible
Too often we compartmentalize our caregiving — childcare, aged care, sick care, disabled care. Yet...
We Needed More Significant Others
After multiple biopsies over many weeks (Scott said he felt as if he were an Ikea desk being...
Never say I didn’t bring you flowers
I was disabled, and she became my legs; over the years, as I grew sicker, I became more and more...
Moving Forward After Caregiving Ends
In November of 2020, my beloved husband died. His death brought 23 years of caregiving to an end....
Lisa Raitt on taking care of her husband as he struggles with young-onset Alzheimer’s
In the early hours of the morning, Bruce Wood will wake up next to his wife, former Conservative...
The Promise That Tested My Parents Until the End
When I was still young enough to pay attention to the things my mother and father said, I would...
The Ventilator: Life, Death And The Choices We Make At The End
For much of their lives together, Stephanie Rinka and her husband, John, had ongoing conversations...
Saying I Do, And Saying Farewell
In 2010, after two years together as a couple, during which we almost broke up once, we learned...
The Peckish Patient
Brad had lost his vision along with the ability to digest food in the wake of a stem cell...
Our Shared Sickness
Housekeeping seemed simple to me: clean, tidy, wash, clean, tidy, wash, clean, tidy, wash… The...
Why Does the Richest Country in the World Rely on Volunteers for Emergency Healthcare?
The call was for a 64-year-old woman with a cough and inability to walk. But she did not appear to...
‘I am mine’: This is what Alzheimer’s is like at 41
Four years ago, Jo was diagnosed with dominantly inherited Alzheimer’s disease, an extremely rare...
At 82, My Grandmother Has Lost Her Husband — And The World As She Knows It
The disarray and social upheaval caused by the virus took a life event that’s already fraught for...
I Loved Planning My Queer, Disability-Friendly Wedding — But It Wasn’t Easy
When we recapped our thoughts about the venue later in the car, we both disappointedly took the...
Caring for the carers
Schulz and four colleagues reviewed the research on family caregiving for the disabled and ill...
She called 911 for a medical emergency. They treated her boyfriend like a criminal.
A woman calls 911 to get help when her boyfriend has a diabetic seizure. The paramedics who...
With a Chronic Illness, Sex Can Play Many Roles
“Society tends to say that if you have a chronic illness or disability, then you’re not sexual....
I Lost Some of My Genitalia at War. This Is How I Have Sex
Every genital injury has the potential to permanently alter how a person has sex. The fear of no...