Love, Laughter, and Morphine: A Compassionate Guide for Caregivers of the Terminally Ill

Caring for a loved one with terminal illness often involves navigating a challenging path through uncharted territory. This journey of the heart can be overwhelming especially for those who are new to caregiving. Over time, stress, sleep-deprivation, and anticipatory grief take an emotional and physical toll. Our ability to cope, be kind to ourselves, and provide the best level of care for our loved one may be reduced unless we seek assistance, know what to expect, prioritize, and organize. Peering into the mirror of our loved one's vulnerability is to share our deepest fears and needs, enabling us to grow not only as caregivers but as human beings.

Based upon the author's experience in Australia as a caregiver for her grandmother with colorectal cancer, Love, Laughter and Morphine is part memoir with practical hands-on tips for the caregiving journey. Honest, compassionate, and raw, this book lays bare the changing circumstances of caregiver and loved one as each struggles to come to terms with the unique sorrows and challenges of end-of-life care. Encouragement, good-humor, and support abound in this important book suitable for any brave caregiver walking a loved one Home.

In Love, Laughter and Morphine you will learn:

• What to expect upon the caregiving journey.
• Organizing medications, information, and paperwork involved in caregiving.
• Insight into anticipatory grief.
• Dealing with relentless stress, sleep-deprivation, and emotions.
• Feeding your loved one.
• Palliative care and hospitalizations.
• Legal considerations.
• Enriching your loved one's final days, weeks, and months.
• What to expect as death approaches.
• Family issues while caregiving.
• Spiritual concerns.
• Using humor in caregiving.
• Improving the relationship between caregiver and loved one.
• Writing a new chapter of your life following the completion of caregiving's journey.

Let Love, Laughter and Morphine gently guide you upon your caregiving path and support your efforts as you accompany your loved one to their forever Home.