What matters most when someone close to you has been diagnosed as terminal? Time and quality of life for both of you. Coping with both the practical and emotional questions of this challenging passage.
We are all just walking each other home, according to Ram Dass. Whether you believe that there is life beyond this one or not, the reality is: our lives here are finite. We are all going to die one day, yet every death is individual -- as is the walk toward that individual death both for the one leaving and for the ones they leave behind. Focusing on what truly matters between human beings while taking care of the business of living at the end of life is what this book is about. It offers practical, experienced-based advice and tips on handling physical changes. It gives you resources for finding help when you need it. But it also tells some of the stories of others who have made this journey as caregivers, as family, friends, partners, spouses and neighbors, stories that will to help calm and encourage you and let you know you are not alone.
Paperback and E-book. Amazon site for OK Now What?
Reviews
A very readable book full of helpful advice from people with a lot of professional experience. It's organized in a way that lets the reader pick and choose the information they need and is great in that it's aimed at those caring for someone with serious illness because caregivers' needs can get overlooked. Written with a practical and light touch, some sections made me smile -- and the humor makes difficult topics more bearable. I would recommend this book to anyone dealing with serious illness.
—Marian Grant, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow.
Winner of the 2016 Friendly Caregiver Award from Today's Caregiver magazine and caregiver.com
Thank you Sue and Nancy for writing such a thorough and easily usable guide for family caregivers as we endeavor to care for our loved ones. The title says it all. We are all looking to figure out what really matters and what's next as we take the caregiver journey. This is the kind of book I wish I had when first caregiving for my loved ones, and I know that you will be a great comfort to so many family caregivers.
—Gary Edward Barg, Editor-in Chief of Today's Caregiver magazine and CEO and founder of caregiver.com
Great book. Well Done!! "OK Now What?" is the perfect gift for a friend caring for a terminally ill loved one. Such care can be painful, deeply sad and very lonely. The authors know this and more. Drawing on their deep experience, they help to lift the burden with practical advice, common sense, and lovely stories. They leaven the soul and make it clear that you are not alone. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
—Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Great information! Your book is filled with so much information—I wish I had read it before both my parents passed.
—Barbara Kline, co-host, 2BoomerBabes Radio Hour.
About the Authors
Sue Collins has been a hospice nurse for over thirty years. In this book, she has shares both the wisdom she had gained from experience along with only a few of the stories of the lives she has touched at the end, when there is no more time for anything but the truth.
Nancy Taylor Robson has sat by the death beds of family and friends, and helped to walk friends through the months and years after a loss. She knows, at least intellectually, that none of us is getting out of here alive.
OK, Why The Red Bike? Because a bike can represent a lot of things simultaneously: movement; switching gears (though ours doesn’t have any in case anyone’s looking and is a stickler for that detail);pausing on the road to take stock of where you are and where you’re going from here. And much more. Share your journey with us.