There were two blog posts in last week’s “New Old Age: Caring and Coping“ blog in the New York Times that were about life after caregiving.
Thursday’s article includes two stories. One is about Sharon who cared for her husband with MSA while also dealing with breast cancer. Not much is said about MSA (one of the disorders in our local support group) except that it is described as a “devastating diagnosis” and “looking after [her husband] and managing the inevitable medical crises occupied [Sharon’s] full-time attention.”
One of Thursday’s caregivers made these statements about caregiving for his father that really resonated with me:
“I don’t think anything I’d done up to that point can match what I did for my dad,” Darren said. “You learn whatever you thought your physical and emotional limitations were, you stretch beyond them to do what needs to be done. If anything, it’s made me a better attorney because there is no problem that’s going to come my way that is bigger than the life and death issues I dealt with with my dad.”
Thursday’s blog post also references a website that some “former
caregivers” or “veteran caregivers” may find of interest —
aftergiving.com. The website describes itself as “a community of former family caregivers transitioning to a life after caregiving.”
Friday’s article also includes two stories about caregivers who derive comfort in knowing that they helped their family
members.
Here are links to both blog posts in case you want to read further.
Robin
——————————————————————
New Old Age: Caring and Coping
End-of-Life Care
After the Caregiving Ends
New York Times
By Judith Graham
March 7, 2013, 10:05 am
New Old Age: Caring and Coping
End-of-Life Care
After Caregiving, Comfort in Having Helped
New York Times
By Judith Graham
March 8, 2013, 7:02 am