IF YOU'RE NEW HERE, START WAY DOWN AT THE BOTTOM (Introduction)
“HOW’S HE DOING?”
You will be amazed at how many people will want to know how your loved one is doing. They will phone you, they will email you, they will buttonhole you at the grocery store. If you try to give all of them the latest news, it’s unlikely that you’ll have time to take care of your impatient.
Luckily, there are more efficient ways of dealing with the news flow.
If you have an organized friend who has offered to help, you can make her the news source.
Give her a daily update by phone or email or in person, and put a message on your phone: instead of “Leave a message after the beep,” it could say “For the latest on Oscar, call Adelaide at 555-555-5555.”
Or you can put a daily update on your phone: instead of “Leave a message after the beep,” it could say “Oscar’s physical therapist says he’s dong well and should be back on his feet by Groundhog Day.”
But then you can’t answer your phone, or you’ll have to screen all your calls—and you might miss a call from the doctor or Oscar’s physical therapist.
Or you could combine messages: “Leave a message after the beep, or, for the latest on Oscar, call Adelaide at 555-555-5555.”
If you are happy writing and have time to do so, you can write a little newsletter about Oscar and send it to all those curious friends via email. The problems with this are, first, not everyone has email (I KNOW—crazy, right?), and, second, if you send a message to a large number of people, it might be blocked as spam by either your or the recipient’s email provider.
Yet another option, and an excellent one, is the website caringbridge.org. It’s very easy to use, and your organized friend who offered to help can post the updates you give her. All you need to do is have everyone spread the word that that’s where they should go for the latest news, rather than calling you.
And if your impatient is chafing at the fact that he’s immobilized and needs something to keep him occupied, let HIM answer the phone and tell everyone how he’s doing.