Cancer.gov: Coping with Cancer for Caregivers
TheDigitalBeyond.com: What happens to your digital data when you die? Consider that you now have an electronic estate of personal information
including user names, passwords, pictures, social media accounts, financial and legal documents, stored credit card numbers,
iPhones, banking and online bill paying. Make your digital legacy part of estate planning by arranging for the deletion or
transfer of online accounts upon your death.
CaringBridge.org: Offers free patient websites to help loved ones share information and support throughout serious illness, care and
afterward. As a personal and private space to communicate, it saves time and emotional energy when health matters most. Authors
add health updates and photos to share their stories while visitors leave messages of love, hope and compassion in the guest
book. Easy to set up and use. It will automatically notify family and friends each time you post new information. CaringInfo.org: Caring Connections is a one-stop resource for information about home safety, pain management, talking with a child about
his or her illness, support when planning ahead, caring for a loved one, living with an illness, grieving a loss and much
more.
From KidSource.com: Estate planning/trusts with your special needs child in mind NAMI.org: Estate planning guidance system when your loved one has a disabling mental illness
Information, support
and guidance for family and professional caregivers. Includes topic specific newsletters, online discussion lists, back issue
articles of Today's Caregivermagazine, chat rooms and an online store. For caregivers, about caregivers and by caregivers. The Huntsman Online Patient Education (HOPE)
Guide is a large resource of cancer information for patients, family, friends and caregivers. Learn how cancer patients and
their families can cope with the emotional, physical, financial and legal aspects of living with cancer. For more information, call the Cancer Learning Center at 1-801-581-6365 or toll-free at 1-888-424-2100. You can also ask questions using the
online contact form. The mission is to provide information and
awareness for children and adolescents with cancer and their families, to advocate for their needs, and to support research
so every child survives and leads a long and healthy life. AlzheimersPlaybook.com: Download a free copy of Coach Frank Broyles' advice for caregivers or order a copy for $9.00. His beloved wife had Alzheimer's disease. You will find hope, caring and practical
advice.
Anticipatory Grief and Chronic Sorrow
Grief can begin before your loved one dies. This
"grief before grief " helps prepare you for loss when death occurs. The extent to which you can truly prepare
for the death of a loved one, however, is not known. Read more about anticipatory grief by clicking on the links below:
From Healing and the Grief Process (Nurse As Healer Series), Lynn Keegan, Editor, Delmar Publishers, 1997,
p. 150: Chronic sorrow is a term used to describe a never-ending sorrow characterized by no predictable end and
no true resolution. It is a prolonged feeling of loss and bereavement that is usually caused by an occurrence other than death, such as a long-term illness, disease or injury. The concept
of chronic sorrow was first used to identify the heartache of parents with a disabled child, but the term now includes the periodic
recurrence of sadness experienced by family caregivers, regardless of the afflicted loved one's age.
Any
chronic condition or disability that is long-lasting and pervasive in the lives of family members can be the basis of chronic
sorrow. Examples of such conditions include, but are not limited to: multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, spinal cord and brain injuries, epilepsy, hydrocephalus, autism and mental illness. Visit the links below to learn more about chronic sorrow.
For a different perspective on grief, read The Truth About Grief: The Myth of Its Five Stages and the New Science of Loss by Ruth Davis Konigsberg. She writes on page 16, "Our grief culture maintains that grief is unique, then offers
a uniform set of instructions [on how to grieve]." From the back cover: "With this book, I hope to offer you a means
of escape from our habitual ways of thinking about grief."
Konigsberg's
work is thought provoking and well researched. Click A Change of Heart for my review of the book.
Product Description: Burnout — the complete drain of physical, spiritual, and emotional reserves
—occurs when a caregiver slips into exhaustion or depression. More and more frequently, the responsibility of caring
for the chronically ill child, the disabled spouse, or the aging parent falls on a family member. From the decision to be
a caregiver to dealing with day-to-day activities, this guide provides help with every aspect of home care. Also included
in this edition are a checklist of tasks, a chapter on self-care and avoiding caregiver burnout, information about making funeral arrangements and the grieving process, a
glossary of terms, an explanation of Medicare benefits and a list of helpful resources. Price: $10.17.
242 pages. Receives excellent reader reviews.
Product Description: At some time, most families will
need to provide home care for an aging family member who is ill or disabled. While home caregiving provides many benefits,
it takes careful planning, support, and patience.
The American Medical Association Guide to Home Caregiving provides the information you need to take the
best possible care of an elderly, ill, or disabled person in a home setting. Written by experts from the American Medical
Association, the book explains such essentials as how to: - Plan
and arrange a room to adapt to a loved one’s needs
- Give
medications, maintain hygiene, monitor symptoms, deal with incontinence, provide emotional support, and relieve boredom
- Choose a home healthcare provider
- Pay for home healthcare, including Medicare and Medicaid, and long-term care insurance
- Care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or a terminal illness
- Choose between alternative living arrangements such as assisted living facilities or nursing homes
- Take care of yourself, the caregiver
With advice that touches both the physical and the emotional aspects of caregiving, this supportive, practical handbook
will help make the experience as successful and rewarding as possible for you and your loved one.
For Both Caregivers and Grievers:
From the Itasca Books web site:
Alone / For All Those Who Grieveis a
collection of poems and prose about coping with the strain of caregiving, and grief and healing after [the author’s]
dementia-stricken wife’s long goodbye. It is written to help those who suffer a grievous loss to work through their
grief and discover a road to redemption.
“W. F.
(Bill) Cento didn’t set out to write a book for people who are grieving, but Alone is not only a wonderful
tribute to his wife, Vera Ann, it is a heart-wrenching and spirit-lifting account of his days as spouse and caregiver.”–The
Catholic Spirit (by Pat Norby) Mr. Cento
is a retired reporter and editor. He lives in St. Paul, MN—alone.
For Nurses:
Are you a
practical nurse thinking of becoming a registered nurse? If so, please visit Online LPN to RN Programs, an extensive list of accredited online schools. Includes links for RNs who want to advance their degrees.
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