For Caregivers
For the one who
noticed first.
A book for the daughter who saw it before anyone else did and got called dramatic for it — and the large-print books made for the hour you spend sitting beside her. Honest, practical, and nothing like the pamphlet they hand you at the hospital.
Kindle $4.99 · Paperback $14.99 · Hardcover $24.99. Free to read on Kindle Unlimited.
“Stop being emotional. She's just getting forgetful.”
My brother, in our mother's kitchen, holding two past-due notices
You're Not Overreacting
Everything I wish somebody had told me in that kitchen
My mother balanced a checkbook to the penny for fifty years. If it was off by eleven cents, she found the eleven cents. So a late notice in that house wasn't a bill — it was a flare going up over a treeline. I said something was wrong. I was told I was being dramatic, and I let it go for months. That's the part I'd take back.
Seven years of caring for both of my parents, mostly alone, written down so the next person doesn't have to work it out at three in the morning.
- What to do in the months before anyone agrees there is a problem
- How to get eyes on a parent's accounts without taking them over
- The one kind of account that can quietly rewrite her will
- Making decisions with a sibling who arrived eleven months late
- What a prognosis actually is, and why “by Christmas” is not a date
- What caregiving does to the caregiver's body — and five things to do about yours
Something for her hands
For the hour you're sitting together
The hardest part of a visit is often the part nobody warns you about: you run out of things to say. These are large-print and bold enough for a hand that isn't as steady as it was — made for sitting beside each other, pointed at the same thing.
Free
The Three A.M. Pages
The book's appendix, on its own — every practical thing in it, collected, so you don't have to hunt for it in the middle of the night. What to check in the house. The exact words to use on the phone to a bank. What to ask when someone gives you a timeline.
Yours whether you buy the book or not. No email, no sign-up, no waiting for a confirmation link at two in the morning.
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One honest note
I'm not a doctor, a nurse, a social worker, a lawyer or a financial adviser, and nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice. It's one family's experience, plus the questions I wish I'd known to ask and the order I wish I'd done things in. Where you need a professional, the book says so — please go and get one.
Laws, benefits, account types and medical practice vary by state and change over time. Everything factual was checked at the time of writing; verify anything you intend to act on. If your parent is in immediate danger, or you believe someone is being financially exploited, contact emergency services or your local Adult Protective Services rather than a book.