The words that I could not bring myself to admit bubbled to the surface: I have been preparing for...
Category: Occasional Caregiving
So many of us are providing care to someone with an episodic chronic illness, who may not need much or any care between flares. We may be ready to jump in and provide care after surgery or respite care. Caregiving requirements and responsibilities can fluctuate significantly over time.
What it Means to Live in a Country that Does Not Guarantee Paid Family and Medical Leave
The United States stands alone among developed nations for failing to support families with paid...
Dad, a Death Sentence and the Planner Who Set Us Straight
During my dad’s illness, I experienced firsthand what had, until then, just been book learning:...
The Day His Journal Went Blank
Almost five years ago, when my father was 62, he learned he had Alzheimer’s disease. Over this...
A Deep Dive into Deep Kindness: What It Really Means to Be Kind
One of the most dangerous narratives we have in our culture currently is this idea that kindness...
Faces in a nursing home
Since mid-March, when they locked their doors to all visitors, long-term care facilities in Texas...
Stolen Years: Learning How to Fight Lewy Body Dementia
A month before my grandfather William passed away, I sat beside him in the hospital, pushing a...
Isolation and ‘impossible choices’: When caregiving goes into lockdown
Even before the coronavirus, caregiving had become Sade Dozan’s every day. About a year and a half...
How to Help Comfort a Loved One During a Hospital Stay
Follow these tips to make their hospital stay as easy as possible.
How to Balance Parenting and Elderly Caregiving
My aunt’s decline took place over the course of about six weeks. We went from her visiting on...
Does life ever get easier?
Sometimes it's just one thing after another, for months and then years. How do you make it...
It’s okay to skip Christmas
It can be rough to navigate the maze of enforced holiday cheer. Especially if you have a...
Young caregivers put future careers at risk, study shows
One in four Canadians aged 15 to 19 helps someone with challenges resulting from illness,...
The girl I didn’t save
No one ever uses the word dying, even if it’s the correct word to use. We think this denial of the...
Empty space
Moving out of a home and seeing that empty space where you used to always has a sad, beautiful...
Kimberly Williams-Paisley Says Her Mother’s Battle With Alzheimer’s Disease Taught Her to Say ‘Yes’ to Life
Kimberly Williams-Paisley is “busy, busy, busy, ” she says on her one day off in Vancouver. But...
With love, Grandma
I didn’t really realize it was issue. I mean there were signs here and there, but nobody can have...
Protecting seniors from healthcare professionals who commit fraud
Our elderly loved ones can be vulnerable candidates for financial fraud. Those with memory issues...
How Our Relationship Survived When My Partner Got Sick
For my wife, a drive is never just a drive, because she struggles with a set of illnesses that are...
Meet Jack Carlson, The MacGuyver Of Adaptive Bikes
We had a lady that called that was selling the trikes that we sell, and she wanted to get out of...
So Sad Today
I've long been a fan of Heather Havrilesky, so when I saw her interview Melissa Broder, the woman...
Autistic New Yorkers Share Their Stim-Toy Stories With ‘Aftereffect’
After an autistic man's stim toy was mistaken for a gun, with tragic results, NPR's Aftereffects...
The Luck of Kokura
Many people fantasize about running away and leaving it all behind. In this short story by Gary...
Fishhooks
You are forgetful sometimes, but living in purgatory, unremembering what happened five minutes...