Wow, is she ever. Her voice is gone. She can manage a squeak, clear her throat and sort of squawk-rattle out something. For the most part though, nothing. We have had this illness in our house for over a month, just working its way through everyone again and again. Nasty stuff. The big problem is th...

It was a tough day for mom today. She received dad’s SS information and some other mail that was addressed directly to him. The magazines don’t seem to bother her that much, after all, they both read them. It was only a matter of who filled out the card as to who it was addressed to. The...

©2008, A. Jeanroy This week will start off with another caregiving website that I found. It is called HerMentorCenter.com . This site is more than just a how-to for caregivers. It is more of a nurturing the Sandwich Generation of caregivers, by giving them tools to help themselves. From the site, y...

I am sure many of you can relate: I am spending a lot of time worrying about my mom. She seems to be doing well lately. I have to say, her anger seems to be dissipating, but I am concerned about her comments about longevity. She said to me yesterday that she really didn’t want to go to her upc...

It is back to the normal routine today. We have had our holiday vacation, and since we all do better with some sort of schedule, today could not have come any sooner. Mom is already up. I can hear her organizing her closet. You know how a bird does better with something to occupy itself? Well, the s...

There seems to be a vague but bad illness going through our family. There is high fever (103+) and a slightly sick stomach, lethargy for about 24 - 36 hours, then it is over. I do not want mom to experience this. This is my first major illness to try to keep her from getting. She primarily sits at c...

I wanted to get a little more serious with  you, for this post. I recently answered a comment about what to do with a difficult situation between a father with Alzheimer’s, and his caregiver daughter. This reminded me of my time working in a nursing home. Because I am a sturdy, 6 foot tall wo...

Surgery went fairly quickly. Mom was in moderate pain, relieved by some lovely medication that made her warm and fuzzy, like the grandma we all remember. Later that night, the extensive wound started bleeding enough for us to decide to call it in. The doctor on call was (thankfully) the one who did ...

Today, I am accompanying my mother to her surgery. We leave precisely at 6:30 a.m. to check in at 7:30. Everything is signed, sealed and delivered. The surgery should take all day, since they are using the Moh’s procedure, a technique that tests each layer, to be certain that all the cancer is...

You come home to find that your wife, two baby daughters and mother-in-law were dead there will be, without a doubt, pain and heartache.  Yet, through the pain and heartache a Californian is demonstrating the power of forgiveness. There are freak accidents that sometimes has consequences and that i...