Crutches for a Caregiver

Pudding.  Dora the Explorer.  Juice. Bambi.  Burritos.  Blankets.  Chemo backpacks. The Lion King. Ice Cream. Crutches for a caregiver. Crutches I thought I would never use!  But I used them for sure.  I used them often. Did that make me a bad mother? I had always been a careful mother. … Read more“Crutches for a Caregiver”

Join the Club – Three Easy Tips for Caregivers

It’s not an elite club. It’s not a desirable club. It comes with a very high membership fee. No one ever requests to join. But once you’ve been inducted into the club of Cancer Caregivers, you might as well participate fully. Even though it takes awhile for your head to… Read more“Join the Club – Three Easy Tips for Caregivers”

It’s Not About the Wise Men – It’s Just a Simple Gift

It’s not about the wise men, this Christmas. Our gift to you comes from two ladies who consider ourselves anything but wise.  In fact, our story started with the words, “Don’t you wish you would have known…?” and continued with a resounding, “Oh, wow…yes!  I wish someone could have prepared… Read more“It’s Not About the Wise Men – It’s Just a Simple Gift”

We All Learn in Different Ways

Different Ways to Learn The professor of educational psychology class at a university intoned, “We only learn by practicing—by actually doing something.” I shook my head in disbelief. I raised my hand (I can’t keep my opinions to myself, sometimes). “So, you’re telling me that if I drove down the… Read more“We All Learn in Different Ways”

Celebrate Ten Years in Remission!

Celebrate! Today is big!  Huge!  Today we celebrate one of those milestones you never expect to even think about with your children.  Once thought of, however, the prayer that you’ll ‘make it’ is a never-ending process-type prayer!  That prayer for remission and the end of chemotherapy! Ten years ago, my… Read more“Celebrate Ten Years in Remission!”

The Difference Hair Can Make

A bright red ponytail and flying blond hair edged around the corner of room number 11 in the Children’s Cancer ward.  Wide-eyes greeted me as my two precious little girls tip-toed over to where I perched on the parent chair/bed/sofa/storage unit.  I hadn’t seen them for over a week: the… Read more“The Difference Hair Can Make”

Asbestos: The Deadly Threat to DIYers

Today Rachel Lynch from the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance will share with us about a deadly fiber that most people don’t know enough about. What DIYers don’t know about asbestos just might kill them. Tiny particles of asbestos, a naturally occurring fibrous material used in construction in the 1970s, can enter… Read more“Asbestos: The Deadly Threat to DIYers”

The Blood and the PTSD

I ran frantically through the house, sweat dripping down my back and my eyes wide open with that familiar gritty I’ve-spent-all-night-awake-in-the-hospital-feeling. I grabbed things and flung them into suitcases and yelled again for my kids to get out! No one answered and I redoubled my efforts. Piles of laundry gave… Read more“The Blood and the PTSD”

A Caregiver You Know Might Need This Book

Not Knowing That I Stood in Need When my husband miraculously recovered from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with Central Nervous System involvement I knew I should feel grateful and blessed. I did, mostly. But a heavy blanket of depression crept over me and sucked the color out of my days. I felt… Read more“A Caregiver You Know Might Need This Book”

Submersion or Submission: Which would you choose?

In the fifth part of our series on how caregivers seem to experience the same reactions to circumstances that a drowning person experiences, we explore the options a drowning person has–submersion or submission. “From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with… Read more“Submersion or Submission: Which would you choose?”