The Family Caregiver's Survival Guide is an essential reference book for anyone undertaking the long-term care of a loved one. For over twenty years the author has been engaged in the day to day care of four separate and distinct family members, and in his attempt to help others in similar situations, this book is the result. It is not all sweetness and light in its telling, and deals frankly with the type of realities few will discuss. Even if you believe that God granted you the gift of becoming a caregiver, that doesn't mean that you will either enjoy every minute of the job or just naturally know how to be one. The first book describes a detailed personal journey for the author through the myriad day to day to week to year to..., activities involved in such care, along with tips and tidbits on how to both accomplish this sometimes rewarding, sometimes not, job, and how to stay sane in the process. As is true for all, while his experiences are often unique to his caregiving situation, many of them also share a great deal of commonality for all to benefit from. The second book concerns a state by state reference section on anything and everything available to the family caregiving situation. Organized under individual state headings, this section is an invaluable treasure trove of what might be found in the reader's state and sometimes municipality to assist both the caregiver and care-given in their long and healthy mutual lifestyles.
About the Author: When I mentioned to my brother that I was about to finish this book, the first comment he made was something to the effect of, "What makes you an expert?!. You only have your own experiences to write about..." He was more or less right of course. However... I have been a direct caregiver to four disabled or impaired people over the last twenty years. I have been a paid caregiver to one for most of that time, my wife became disabled fourteen years ago, her mother seventeen years ago, and my mother, now passed, about ten years ago. Now in truth, while I did no actual caregiving in-person to my own mother, I was involved in the process for that whole time, and had to at least deal with the family dynamics up until her death, and beyond now, three years ago. No, I am not an expert caregiver, but I came up through the ranks and have the scars to prove it. This book is a compilation of what I and others have learned over that time, and how I managed, with help sometimes, to overcome some fairly insurmountable learning curves and still remain both relatively sane and relatively healthy. As you (the reader) will learn in the pages that follow, family caregiving is pretty much a lonely, unrewarding career, and definitely not for the faint of heart. It is also however, a vocation which can be personally rewarding and even funny sometimes, in amongst the wondering about how one ever ended up in such a place and how many others have ended up in almost exactly the same place, all with no idea on how it will all come out, save that the object of one's attention will in all probability one day pass on. Namaste solo traveler, and by all means, good luck.