Living: the ultimate team sport

Caregiving and The 36-Hour Day

Posted on April 14, 2014 Updated on May 29, 2017

A Caregiver’s Day.

Caring for a loved one is a full-time job, as one of my fellow bloggers clearly illustrates in the attached article.  Please read her article, especially if you’re not quite aware of how full the carer’s day can be.

There’s a reason why the book, The 36-Hour Day (now in its 6th edition) is so popular with health professionals and family caregivers.  The subtitle for the book reads, A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease, related Dementias, and Memory Loss.  As the former caregiver for my father who died from Alzheimer’s in 2007, I can verify that whether you are providing hands-on care or managerial long-distance care for a loved one, your job never ends.  A normal day is a relative term that changes with every day or hour – or as is sometimes the case – every minute.

My article, A normal day, caregiving style, throws a spotlight on how a patient’s and caregiver’s life changes once a diagnosis has been delivered.  The concept of normal is an ever-changing paradigm where the sand on the beach shifts so much, one can barely hold herself upright.

I celebrate all caregivers who manage this extraordinary task so well, and so devotedly.  You are a hero to many.

You are a hero to me.