What happens when you find out your diagnosis from a patient portal, instead of from your doctor? For more than a year, my mom suffered from a persistent, baffling cough. Two negative bronchoscopy procedures and several imaging scans later, her doctors still couldn’t figure out why she was coughing. Her pulmonologist scheduled an exploratory biopsy. […]
How caregivers can support their loved one through addiction. Celeste Kranick won’t forget the moment when a close relative, for whom she had acted as caregiver, opened up about why he couldn’t stop Read More
The Care Plan prioritizes LGBTQ+ and racially diverse caregivers. After her wife was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2011, Marsha Wetzel spent the next two years taking care of Judy, her partner of 30 years, until Read More
Illinois Family Caregiver Coalition gives caregivers a voice, connects them with resources Balancing a career with caregiving put Amy Brennan in a precarious position. In 2016, the Chicago resident took five months off work with partial Read More
Keep your loved ones with dementia safe through this holiday’s winter storms. While the snow, wind, and colder temps coming this week are a major inconvenience for most of us, for individuals with dementia, Read More
How to gently redirect the conversation when someone has dementia “Where do you live?” “Did you eat lunch?” “How are the kids?” If your loved one has dementia, you likely hear these sorts of questions, Read More
Telling children their grandmother is suffering from dementia is not only scary for the children, but also difficult for the adult delivering the message. That message must be sensitive and age appropriate, experts say, with Read More
What advice would you give to someone new to caregiving? “Make sure that you have empathy for the patient that you’re actually taking care of. I think about every single patient that I’m Read More
Supporting a loved one with cancer through the holidays Everything that makes the holidays so special — family time, parties, gifts — can also make this time of year extra taxing for people with cancer. The diagnosis Read More