A Caregiver's Handbook

I’m the wife of a wonderful man who has terminal cancer. From one day to the next, I found myself in the role of caregiver: my husband came home from a trip, went to bed, and barely got up for over a year. He is now not completely bedridden and much more mobile, but he needs assistance with basically all the activities of daily living. Over the course of his journey, I have learned a lot. I’m an analytical and introspective person and a writer, so I have been driven to put down in writing some of what I have found out, some of my strategies, some of the resources I’ve dug up, and so on, in the hope of giving some help to someone else in a similar situation. I suggest that you start way back at the beginning of this blog for the basics, but please use it any way that helps.

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Care Cards

We all get a little overwhelmed from time to time. Care Cards is a set of helpful little tips to keep you on top of your mental well-being.

Self-care help.

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Find the cheapest price for your impatient’s (or your own) medication--sometimes even cheaper than your insurance copay.

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Sometimes just brushing your teeth deserves a medal.

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My impatient and I have had no experience with transplants, but a lot of this will resonate with those who have been through other surgeries, lengthy hospitalizations, or other radical forms of treatment.

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I’ve never hidden the fact that I have MS but today I’m coming out as a cripple—claiming my identity as disabled.

An important and eye-opening read for those who aren’t aware of these problems--and sympathy for those who are. Read the comments too.

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More Usable

For some time, I’ve been fretting that this tumblr is not as useful as I would like it to be, because it’s not as accessible as I would like it to be.

I decided that I should make an index, with the title of all the posts as links to reach those posts.

Guess what, that isn’t going to happen in this lifetime. With “time” being the operative word.

So in order to get the most from what I’ve written during this journey, I suggest that you go to the first page and work your way forward from there:

http://caregivershandbook.tumblr.com/page/8

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And some days, you don’t even have time to do that...

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Oh, ha ha…

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Too true!

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Got five minutes? Plenty of time to relax and de-stress!

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New techniques to move patients safely. Must watch.

Wow--I wonder when these items will be available!

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A good way to treat your impatient too!

(Remember NOT to treat yourself like a teenager: that would involve eating pizza three times a day, staying up way too late, spending hours in front of the TV, and doing dangerous stuff!)

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Choose to Be Grateful. It Will Make You Happier.

In concept, saying you’re grateful even if you’re not seems bourgeois and saccharine. But it’s actually a tool to a better end.

This articles answers questions I didn’t know I had: I’m a mutant, which is why I tend to gain weight. Amazing.

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You think holiday air travel sucks? Try flying while disabled. On American Airlines.

Air travel is degrading, stressful, and humiliating enough as it is, so imagine doing it when you can’t get up and walk off the plane.

Telling it like it is, sadly.

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Make sure your impatient gets lots of hugs! (And make sure you do too!)