USA Today article on caregivers

[kamataca]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/200 ... vers_x.htm

I'm sure this is posted somewhere else, but this is an article called "Cancer Hurts Caregivers, Too." Many of you may have the, "Well, DUH!" response to some of the sentiments written about here, but it is a good reminder to take care of ourselves while taking care of the ones we love!

Peace to you all!

Kelly

[Ry]

Great article Kelly -- thanks.

[Linda661]

Kelly:

Excellent article. I did a bunch of posts in the Path Less Travelled Forum to highlight that there are real life dangers to caregivers, proven by research -- it's critical for caregivers to take care of themselves and, at times, that is really difficult if not impossible in this journey. Our overall healthcare system (and insurance support) is moving in a direction that puts even more burdens on family caregivers by default without anything in place to support the needs of the caregiver. I ran across numerous social service workers who kept warning me that caregivers often predecease the patient because of the stress load on them......they were really concerned about me as a consequence in my journey with this. I'm still here though and kicking really well....it's doable

All that said, know your personal limits and find a way to make adjustments in your life to accomodate -- it can be uncertain and uncomfortable at first, but it can happen. It's doable, just rocky and uncertain when you're in a particulary difficult individual circumstance -- sometimes you have to go "outside the box" in your thinking to do it.

Linda

[tnmynatt]

Good article. Thanks for posting it. Interesting that it is considered as stressful as caring for a patient with Alzheimers.