by Susan | Apr 7, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving
Being a caregiver is a lot like being a parent. It doesn’t come with an instruction book. You must decipher a lot of jargon you don’t understand. But you don’t get nine months to prepare and there doesn’t seem to be as much support for caregivers. I was reluctantly...
by Susan | Mar 31, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving, Gestalt, Relationships
Since John went to KU last August I’ve enjoyed living alone. Many days the only reason I get out of the house is to feed the horses. So why do I feel so shut in now? On Saturday the Governor of Kansas issued a stay at home order starting on Monday. I think it’s the...
by Susan | Mar 25, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving, Horses
A friend posted the meme to the right on FaceBook a few weeks ago. My response was that the operative word is “can”. We can but we don’t have to if we don’t want to. It’s brought up a lot of feelings for me. Why do we feel like we have to live up to the...
by Susan | Mar 17, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving, Medical
It’s pretty remote where I live. The population of Oakley is around 1,800 people the nearest international airport is 250 miles away. I don’t expect we will be hit hard by the coronavirus. I still think it’s a good idea to practice a few commonsense guidelines. Mike...
by Susan | Mar 10, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving, Medical, Relationships
It appears I’ve left some of you hanging. I’ve had a few people reach out about the results of the testing. They called from KU Med Center to schedule my mammogram and ultrasound on Thursday February 27. I explained that I lived 350 miles away and told her that I...
by Susan | Mar 3, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving, EGC, Grief
I wrote this as a follow up to The Truth About Caregiving then given the circumstances over the last few weeks I held it. (If you missed those you can read them here and here) This Valentine’s Day has brought up a lot of emotions for me. I was confused about it...
by Susan | Feb 25, 2020 | Awareness, Gestalt, Medical
Last week when the technician was taking me to the secondary ultrasound room, we passed the ICU room. This is where I watched as they stabilized Mike before they put him on the air ambulance to KU Med Center. My whole body reacted. The technician thought I was going...
by Susan | Feb 18, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving, Communications, Medical
Last week I found a tiny lump under my right arm. At first, I was going to wait and see what it did. That lasted a day and I called to see if I could get in to see my primary care physician even though it had only been a little over a week since I’d seen her. They...
by Susan | Feb 11, 2020 | Caregiving, EGC, Gestalt, Medical, Relationships
Caregiving is an emotional and sometimes lonely experience. Especially when it is a loved one you are caring for. It was early in Mike’s illness that I remember telling a therapist I was terrified and exhausted. He told me that I was one of the strongest people he...
by Susan | Feb 4, 2020 | Awareness
This has been coming up a lot for me lately. Why do I procrastinate? For me it’s tied to perfectionism. I have many ways to procrastinate, doing laundry, eating, cleaning house, or the dreaded social media. There are also the things that look like work, researching...
