Here to help stabilize in the first days and weeks after receiving a diagnosis.
One step at a time — through clarity, grounding, and next steps.
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Post Terminal Prognosis: Topic No. 2 – Living While Dying
‘Living while dying’ is a term or phrase that I have always used while caring for TiLOs (an acronym that I use to affectionately refer to “terminally-ill loved ones”) as a reminder to help them make the most of each day, one day at a time. As I have noted in a previous blog, the…
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Post Terminal Prognosis: Topic No. 1 – Quality of Life vs. Quantity of Life
Quality of Life refers to focusing on the palliative care aspects of a TiLOs daily life with any treatments limited to minimizing symptoms and discomforts including among other things pain management to maximize comfort. Quantity of life is essentially focusing on the extension of survivability of a TiLO by administering treatments in an effort to…
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In the Beginning…
Before we get started, here are some key points that I learned with each loved one. Please note that this listing is not meant to be all-inclusive but, rather, to provide some basic guidelines upon which to start to form a caregiving foundation. Additional details on the following points and much more will be included…
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Take My Hand…
Terminally-ill? Terminal prognosis? Advanced stages? What are you talking about? I just came in for a simple scan and now you tell me that I only have so much time left to live? It would be best to start getting my affairs in order. Really? You must have the wrong records, right? There must be…
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Intro: Lifetime Caregiver for Terminally-Ill Loved Ones
In June 1992, I received a phone call that would forever change my life. My younger brother, Jimmy, called me to share that he had just been diagnosed with AIDS, which was unexpectedly discovered during the early stage of an elective surgery procedure that he was undergoing to resolve some minor issues with his sinus. …
Take My Hand 