Family life can include the joy of getting a first job, marrying, and watching children grow. It can also include the turmoil of job loss, disability, and the death of loved ones. One of the hardest aspects of my life is witnessing my father-in-law’s cognitive decline from vascular dementia. It’s…
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A few years ago, my father-in-law started to complain about his balance, feelings of dizziness, and muscle weakness. Over a period of a few months he had fallen several times. One such fall led to a fractured right arm, serious enough to land him in hospital.While there, a geriatrician diagnosed him…
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I recently posted a blog about an interview I had with Henry, a man in his 60s who had sustained a hemiplegic spinal cord injury (SCI) some 20 years ago in a car accident. This injury left him paralyzed from about his waist down. That interview focused on the first few days post-accident – his initial…
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My 88 year old father-in-law was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2014. According to the gerontologist, his condition was likely caused by one, if not several, previously incurred strokes; the symptoms of which had gone undetected for quite some time. The physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges…
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On December 12, 2015 my husband and I got a phone call from one of his brothers. It was bad news. Their 87 year old mother was in hospital in grave condition. The thoracic aortic aneurysm, which she had had for many years, had grown to the size of a cantaloupe and was now leaking. The biggest concern…
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