This may just be one of my favorite parts of the life-care planning process: building the care-partner team. You naturally have tons of questions as you and/or a loved one make important preparations. Yes, they’re all equally important! But selecting the care partners that’ll be there for support in good times and bad is the […]
I’m a professional life-care planner. I’ve been helping people and their loved ones plan for advancing age and terminal illnesses for decades. It’s critical to be prepared. Just a few short weeks ago, our own plan fell apart. It certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying or expertise. By all accounts, the life-care plan Brian […]
It’s close to the end. You know it. Your family knows it. The doctor and medical staff know it. (“Close to the end” is a strange combination of perspective and reality. And “knowing it” is an exercise in faith and reality.) When is the time right for hospice care? Most hospice agencies say families and […]
A few weeks back, Brian wrote here about his recent bout with aphasia. It was a living nightmare. And even though it lasted only a day, his ability to speak, to communicate, a part of his very being, was trapped indefinitely in a box. Could you imagine? You see, many people equate diseases like Brian’s Alzheimer’s […]
You stare into the bathroom mirror with your aging mother in the next room calling for breakfast. You don’t like the reflection you see. You’re tired, on edge, and you need to eat, too. You’ve barely had the chance to put in some dry shampoo and brush your hair. You’re feeling caregiver stress … and […]
Dementia is a thief. Just ask my life partner/care partner, Brian, who has Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. It’s an armed robber that steals memories, mostly in reverse chronological order, so what happened weeks, days, hours or even seconds ago can be a complete mystery. Some folks regress to the point they’re “mentally present” in […]
I woke up Saturday morning just like any other day. Maureen, my life partner/care partner, was up before me, of course, as she moves like a lightning bolt and I take my sweet time. The gentle waves of Tampa Bay just outside our bedroom window glistened in the morning sunlight. So relaxing and peaceful, a […]
