caregiver stories(articles)

“You become a parent, a teacher, a counsellor, all while still being family; completely responsible for someone else, with little to no respite.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMwJskoJ1Oo Get a glimpse into how caregivers feel, and step into their world. Caregiving by nature, is an extremely stressful, and sadly, a thankless job. Hear from caregivers themselves. Caregiver Saathi’s vision is to create an ecosystem for the well-being and healing of caregivers, especially family caregivers who provide home-based care to those navigating incurable conditions. We Read More

Movie Review Courtesy: Rebecca Thomas The Theory of Everything is a 2014 biographical film about the world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. However, the relationship that Stephen shared with his wife, Jane forms the crux of the story. After he was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 21, Jane takes on the role of being a primary caregiver for him. We see her journey as a caregiver beginning with determination to make the most of the situation Read More

Movie Review Courtesy: Abeer Syed Waiting is a 2015 Indian drama film revolving around Tara, a young vibrant married woman and Shiv, an elderly professor. The two strangers develop a heartwarming bond as they battle through their inner struggles while their respective spouses are admitted to the hospital. Shiv waits patiently for 8 months for his comatose wife to recover despite the negative evaluations of her recovery from her doctors. He is optimistic about her recovery and cannot stand the Read More

Movie Review Courtesy: Ishita Dinger Khamoshi is a captivating tale of a female nurse who struggles in balancing the demands of her professional role and her own emotions. This movie captures the intricate challenges that healthcare practitioners face in their work and how that affects many aspects of their well-being. The nature of relationships with healthcare practitioners is very transactional. Patients expect to get immediate treatment from doctors and once they are cured, this relationship ends. However, in the journey of palliative Read More

Original Publishing Date: 25 February 2014 Publisher: Kelowna Capital News Author: Marjorie Horne “The inevitable path of end of life care is that you will lose that person you love. As you move through that process, your journey will change and shift and ultimately be more challenging.” The author talks about the struggle that a caregiver encounters in their caregiving journey. It can be extremely frustrating and challenging for a caregiver to see their loved one’s condition continuously decline as Read More

Original Publishing Date: December 4, 2013 Publisher: The Caregiver Space Author: Adrienne Gruberg “Looking back on my career as a caregiver, I marvel at the number of levels of care…..remembering how at every level I’d say to myself, “I can’t take this stress much longer.” Adrienne Gruberg shares her story of being a primary caregiver to her husband and reveals the stages that a caregiver goes through in their journey of caregiving for their loved one. The first level was Read More

All through my life, I had been accustomed to seeing my father as a strong and healthy individual – he rarely (if ever) even had a cold or a fever. It all changed when (in April 2012) he had a fall in the park and cracked his shoulder joint. It all happened in a few seconds and he was 89…While he was coping with the surgery and post-surgical complications, I was beginning to understand what caring for the elderly really meant. Read More

We often consider diabetes as lightly as a bad bout of cold; after all, it is not life-threatening. You have seen that Uncle in your building going for morning walks or your manager dealingwith deadlines like a pro, despite having diabetes. Diabetes may not seem as life-threatening as cancer or chronic heart disease as it does not show life-threatening symptoms right away, however, it is a silent killer. It can cause havoc in the patient and the caregiver’s lives over Read More

“Because of the situation…there will be negative reaction for any act, from the patient… so keep it in mind, you have to be calm” https://youtu.be/nzsYdTA7RiQ Rajesh and his wife were shocked by the diagnosis, when they heard that she had fourth stage fibroid cancer. They were told it was a rare disease and the chances of survival were bleak. Doctors within the family advised them to let her go peacefully without undergoing any treatment. The family decided to try their Read More

There’s a great saying- “To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honours.” And while that may be true, what also accompanies such an honour is the unseen and inexplicable emotional trauma, financial stress and always a certain sense of failure. As one of my mother’s primary caregivers, I felt each of these feelings and much more. In the wee hours of April 6, 2019, my mother passed away at the hospital, where she Read More