2 posts tagged with hospice.
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Eldercare, Family Caretaking, and End-of-life Logistics: Stuff I Learned
My mother died this year, after a long decline in her health, and I was one of the main people who helped take care of her. While caring for her, preparing for her death, and handling logistics afterwards, I learned a lot from online resources (including MetaFilter), various professionals, and friends. So I'm trying to pass on some things I learned -- about paperwork, patient advocacy, body donation, delegating to friends, coping with Mom's delirium and incontinence, and more -- by sharing them in a blog post I have been working on for months. It was pretty hard to write in places, and I hope it saves people a few unpleasant surprises. [more inside]
At the end, who did you hold close and who did you push away?
My mom died of cancer a few days before Christmas. In the six months between when she was diagnosed and when she died I tried to photograph her struggles and decline (mainly as something to do in all the craziness). The final project was small: 10 photos and a short essay on her problematic role as a parent.
I didn't expect the reception it got. Some people were moved, others hated it. I permanently lost contact with one of my siblings. I still think it was the right thing to publish. As complicated a relationship I had with her, her end of life and death were worth chronicling.
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