Grief

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Are People with Advanced Dementia Aware of Their Surroundings?

Even among medical experts, you will find differing opinions on how much someone with advanced dementia of any type understands. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in...

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When Someone You Love with Alzheimer’s Doesn’t Recognize You

Watching a loved one move through the stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can be one of life’s toughest and most heartbreaking challenges. If we...

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Common Thoughts That Embarrass Caregivers and Induce Guilt

Wouldn’t it be nice to be a family caregiver who never gets frustrated and is an eternal optimist? Maybe there are some like that...

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Far Too Many People Still Attach a Stigma to Illnesses That Cause Dementia

Anyone who has cared for a disabled child or has a visible disability of their own knows this. However, people who care for an...

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Why Caregivers Shouldn’t Feel Guilty About Calling Hospice

A billboard in my city carries a simple message: “Most families say, ‘Why did we wait so long to call hospice?’ “ When I...

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Siblings Who Feel Shut Out of Caregiving

There’s a great deal of anger in the world of family caregiving over siblings who don’t help care for their aging parents. Very often,...

Family Disagrees about Moving Widowed Mom Weeks After Husband’s Death

Dear Carol: Dad died two weeks ago at 89 years of age. Mom is 87 and has what they think is early-stage Alzheimer’s. She’s...

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Is It Normal to Grieve Before Someone Dies?

Nearly everyone involved in caring for an ill or aging loved one is experiencing some degree of grief. However, we don’t usually identify the...

Music-Thanatology: Providing Harmony at the End of Life

The mission of hospice providers is to help people live their last months or weeks of life in the most comfortable, dignified, and satisfying...

Loving Yourself: A Caregiver’s Ultimate Challenge

We’ve all heard that we must first learn to love ourselves before we can love others. Yet, many of us have grown up with...