by External Article | Dec 25, 2021 | Caring for a Parent, Death & Dying |
My mother and father never married. This meant, as my mother explained, that I was his legal next of kin, responsible for making his medical decisions. This responsibility, already complex because of his lack of a living will, would prove to be even more fraught...
by External Article | Jul 23, 2021 | Care Work Library, Caring for a Parent, Long Distance Caregiving, Long Term Caregiving, Millennial Generation |
My older sister and I eventually decided to involve our aunt to help figure out a way to save her. We got together, talked about it, and approached my mother – she was barely responsive to us, so we decided we would get help for her regardless. The next day, my mother...
by External Article | Jan 18, 2020 | Care Work Library, Caregiving Relationships, Finding Meaning, For Friends & Family |
Have you ever felt helpless trying to help a loved one? We know the stories: the alcoholic mother/brother/friend who keeps getting in trouble. The father who has been borrowing money from his adult children with the intent to pay it back but never following through....
by External Article | Mar 1, 2019 | Care Work Library, Caring for a Child, Finding Meaning |
After Julie “Mama Julz” Richards’s own family was nearly destroyed by addiction, fighting back against meth became a personal crusade. Kayla has not been home in six days. She could be less than a mile away, her mother says; could be more. Richards has no idea if her...
by Cori Carl | Aug 31, 2018 | 24/7 Caregiving, Caring for a Romantic Partner, Long Term Caregiving, Millennial Generation, Occasional Caregiving, Planning, Reviews |
I’ve long been a fan of Heather Havrilesky, so when I saw her interview Melissa Broder, the woman behind the formerly anonymous Twitter account, @sosadtoday, I knew it would be good. shit can't get worse *shit gets worse* — so sad today (@sosadtoday)...
by External Article | May 14, 2018 | Care Work Library, Caring for a Child, Caring for a Sibling |
When my nine-year-old son, Max, was diagnosed with ADHD last year, I immediately went into education mode. I started reading books. I watched videos. I signed up for a parenting class. So many of the struggles my husband and I had been having with our parenting...
by External Article | May 3, 2018 | Care Work Library, Caring for a Romantic Partner, Finding Meaning, Generation X, Grief, Short Term Caregiving |
Jon had been sober for eight years when we met him. When, in October of 2017, we learned he was relapsing on heroin it was devastating. For months he struggled to regain his sobriety. On February 9th Jon went missing. Alex and I were terrified. We called hospitals and...
by Kaiser Health News | Mar 18, 2018 | Caregiver News |
A few years ago, Renea Molden’s doctors told her they wanted to take her off her opioid pills. It did not sound like good idea to her. “I was mad, I’ll be honest. I was mad. I was frustrated,” said Molden, 40, of Kansas City, Mo. She struggles with fibromyalgia,...
by External Article | Nov 10, 2017 | After Caregiving, Care Work Library, Caring for a Parent, Generation X, Grief, Long Term Caregiving |
I see my mother as a woman whose life had been bottlenecked by pain. First, her trauma was unresolved. Then it became stagnant, then rotten, then completely toxic, eventually destroying her body, just like it had her mind. Her sadness grew bigger and she got smaller...
by External Article | Mar 23, 2017 | Care Work Library, Caring for a Sibling, Grief, Millennial Generation, Occasional Caregiving |
When someone who needs help doesn’t accept it, you become infuriated, and then you become resigned. But when the consequences of their trespasses become your consequences and they just lie, ruin and avoid in the face of what has become your sacrifice, then hatred...
by Guest Author | Oct 7, 2016 | Caregiving 101 |
Mental illness is prominent in the United States, yet it is not discussed as often as physical illnesses. Mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder are serious medical conditions that require diagnosis and treatment, yet there is a...
by David Waterman | Jul 14, 2015 | Caregiver Stories |
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... by Bob Harrison | Dec 24, 2014 | Baby Boom Generation, Because of Annie, Caregiver Stories, Caring for a Romantic Partner, Grief, Long Term Caregiving |
On November 2nd, 2010, I lost my wife Annie to a blood cancer. As Annie’s caregiver for thirty months, we were always looking over our shoulders, dealing with a prognosis that was exceeded within the first three weeks of her diagnosis. So I was always dealing...
by External Article | Feb 18, 2013 | Care Work Library, Caregiving Relationships, Caring for a Parent |
What do we owe our tormentors? It’s a question that haunts those who had childhoods marked by years of neglect and deprivation, or of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of one or both parents. Despite this terrible beginning, many people make it...
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