Caregiving

It has been a busy few weeks for me as I ‘embark’ on another Journey- writing my book:’ Living with Myeloma, a Caregivers Journey®.

Over the course of my 60+ years on this earth, I have been blessed to know and to love some amazing elders—individuals who are a bit older and certainly much wiser than I. Today, let’s discuss how our lives can be enriched if we choose to listen and learn from the elders in our world.

Thank you for attending the AARP CARE Conference, feel free to Speakers PPTs Compressed the slides. Thanks to all the community partners and speakers for making it a success!

After the initial cancer diagnosis, most patients have a structured treatment plan with appointments, and a time structure. As the caregiver, you are adjusting your life to help the patient with medications, getting to the doctor visits, and handling the everyday responsibilities of running the household, and trying to continue a job, business, or career of your own. You will try to balance ‘his/her needs and your own. If you have children, you are also trying to maintain a ‘normal’ family life and keep your own fears and concerns to yourself and not burden them.

I hope you are doing well and loving life. If you are like me, you are savoring the first few days of the Spring season. What an amazing time of year! As is usually the case, the arrival of Spring is not a smooth process along the Front Range. We were teased this week with temps in the 70’s. However, this evening, snow is back in the forecast. Such is the nature of seasonal changes. Two steps forward and one step back. This stutter-step unfolding merely serves to intensive my itch for warmer temps, blue skies, green grass, and sunshine. All in due time, right?

Attend AARP’s free, two-part webinar to find out how.

AARP Colorado is hosting an event to help support caregivers and provide them with the information they need on a variety of topics, such as local community resources and medical options.

Last year I was reminded once again of the importance of being known in this world. My brother died. Upon his death, I became the last one standing of my biological family. My brother was the last person who had known me my entire life. We had a common origin. We shared a common history. We knew each other from the inside out. Today, I miss “remembering when” with my brother! I long for him to fill in the blanks when I fail to remember a name or an event in our family. More than anything, I long to be known—a predominant desire for human beings that is seemingly magnified as we age.

March is my time to Celebrate the coming of Spring and my Birthday! I am so grateful to share my special day with my husband, ‘children’and grandchildren. It is also a Celebration of 28 years that Jack is Living with Cancer.

Having worked in the field of hospice and palliative care for many years, I realize most people are not comfortable talking about death and dying. In fact, as a community educator, I became quite creative when advertising programs and events so as not to scare people away! We live in an age denying, death averse society. However, our reluctance to confront the reality of our mortality doesn’t serve us well. Instead, if we are able to accept the fact that human beings are finite creatures—we will all die—then we are free to live fully present to the moment. I learned this life-giving lesson from those I companioned in hospice.