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...
by Susan | Jan 28, 2020 | Awareness, Caregiving, Relationships
Isn’t work part of life? We all try to achieve balance between our work life and our personal life. I don’t believe an equal balance can be attained. We can only do our best at not letting either take over. Last week a friend posted the following quote on FaceBook: I...
by Susan | Jan 21, 2020 | Caregiving, Communications, Medical
I read a post by Brandon Janous titled Wanna feel loved? Get Cancer. The title is what drew me to the article. It’s very true. I got gifts from people I knew well and people I hardly knew. One friend insisted on bringing dinner which turned into several meals. But I...
by Susan | Jan 14, 2020 | Awareness, Communications, Medical, Relationships
I’ve heard people complain that their doctor was more interested in themselves than their patient. I’m not going to lie I’ve felt like this myself. When Mike was first diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease it felt like the doctor was giddy about making such a...
