Excerpt from Survival of the Caregiver: Prologue

 

Prologue

This is not a technical book. If your loved one has Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Heart Failure, Diabetes, Cerebral Palsy, or has depression, a stroke, spinal injuries or any number of other debilitating catastrophic illnesses, there are many books in the library that describe all the problems, treatments, and prognosis of each of these conditions. Doctors and scholars who have specialized in these illnesses write these books. There is valuable information to be found in these accounts, and you should avail yourself to the ones pertaining to the particular problems of your loved one.

This is a book that is devoted to the caregivers of those who have the tragic illnesses. My twenty years of experience as a caregiver has given me many insights into coping with and surviving the problems of caring for an ill person. This book gives encouragement along with valuable information learned the hard way by trial and error. It is my hope that it will ease the way for caregivers going through this most difficult transition.

I am a very private person. Some things I find essential to discuss in this book are difficult for me; they invade the privacy of my life and that of the loved one I am caring for. The importance of conveying, in open discussion, all the ramifications of surviving in the caregiver's world outweigh my privilege of privacy.

Each individual's circumstances are unique; some of the things I have written about may not be relevant to your particular situation. But the book is very supportive in many different areas of any caregiver's life. My information comes from the living experiences of dealing day by day with another person, whom I deeply love, which is totally dependent on me. A lot of my thoughts come from the heart openly, honestly and sincerely. I pray that the reader will find help, comfort and solace in my words and in the knowledge that others share the struggle, pain and even anger. We all deserve to survive the ordeal.

Doctors who write the technical books sympathize with your circumstances and say they understand, but the only one who can really relate to what the caregiver's life is like, day in and day out, is another person walking in a pair of caregiver's shoes.

Come join me now, for a walk through an alphabet of words, which will go a long way in helping you survive as a caregiver. 

For more posts by and about Janice and her book, click HERE.