Caregiver

Some months back, I wrote several articles that started with a dire feeling but ended with a glimmer of hope. I talked about the struggles and challenges stage 4 breast...

You know how in the movies the oncologist always looks over their glasses and declares gravely, "You have 12-18 months to live." The characters grapple with this timeline, sometimes they...

Most caregivers, myself included, focus on how our experience affects us emotionally. I'm going to step aside for this article and speak with you about the physical demands of caregiving...

Eight months into our marriage, cancer stole from us the ability to have sex (i.e., intercourse). As the special intimacy of intercourse disappeared from our marriage, other romantic practices and...

As a caregiver, it's all too easy to neglect ourselves. Our life changes radically when our spouse or other relative receives a cancer diagnosis, especially if we provide the only...

"I’m fuming right now. I’m so mad I just want to cuss up a storm. I’m going to lose my freakin mind." Those were my wife’s words yesterday. She was...

I've always been of an artistic temperament. Besides being a musician and writer, I've also set my hands to sculpting, painting, sketching, and other creative outlets. Growing up and accepting...

In my marriage now, I see 3 options. I see myself standing before 3 roads that fork off into very different futures. Thankfully, I’ve been trained well, and certain truths...

My footsteps echoed through the empty rooms of our beloved home, once filled with so many hopes and dreams it felt like the walls of our small home would burst...

If there's anything my late wife, Lynette, loved, it was the winter holidays. She had a real flair for decorating, baking, cooking, and hosting, and I loved watching her as...

I tend to burn the candle at both ends and often in the middle. My wife and I started seeing a marriage counselor a couple months back to help us...

I heard the results of a survey 25 years ago and it’s haunted me ever since. The survey results were said as part of a sermon I heard on a...

I like to think of myself as a manly man. When we moved to Oregon last year, I applied for jobs at a couple of companies. I didn’t get the...

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” or so the saying goes. That's a little rough, but the meaning is clear. On their own, good intentions are fine;...

I had a mental image yesterday of how I feel in life. I pictured a piece of twine rope frayed at both ends. I wasn’t even thinking about anything, in...

She breezed into the house, shrugging off her backpack and setting down her cappuccino. We'd known each other for a number of years but hadn't clicked as friends. She was...

I think one of the most dominant feelings for those in Cancerland is feeling alone. At least it is for us. There are different types of “aloneness,” but here, I’m...

Everything changes when it's time to call hospice. A lot of the time-consuming, mundane caregiving tasks end; taxi-cabbing, running personal errands, picking up prescriptions, and so forth. When that nurse...

Yesterday, I felt pissed off a few times at my dear wife. She was too slow getting ready to get out of the house. She was on her phone too...

I felt it the other day. I feel it more than I wish. It often stirs right below the surface of my moving demeanor. Frustration. Okay, let’s not sugarcoat it...