It's embarrassing but true: one morning I forgot my name.

The oncologist's receptionist asked me that simple question and I paused.

"Oh, God," I stammered into the telephone
receiver, trying to buy some time. "Uh, uh....uh......"

But she understood. I'd been up most of the night, checking in with the back-up doctors, monitoring my husband's temperature and symptoms, bringing him liquids, changing the bedding that repeatedly became soaked when his fever intensified or the infamous night sweats hit.

When morning dawned, all I wanted to do was get him to the doctor. Sleep would have to wait.

It's no wonder that research finds that caregivers are at very high risk of becoming ill themselves. Even when their loved one's prognosis is good.

 

 A major complication with caregiving, and the complications can be numerous, is that many of us take on this role by "chance." Our partner is diagnosed with cancer or MS. Our self-reliant mother suffers a nasty fall. Or all the little tasks we've gradually taken on to help Dad suddenly add up to way more support than we'd realized he actually needed.

 

We become exhausted and overwhelmed before even realizing we've taken on a new role...on top of everything else we do.

 

Nor do we realize we've joined a huge demographic. Check out BJ's post on National Family Caregivers Month for some eye-opening information.

 

The good news is that the internet has made it easier for caregivers to connect with each other, find good resources and even take some practical classes.

 

Caregiving.com offers free webinars, caregiving shows on blog radio and interaction with fellow caregivers through a number of personal blogs.  

 

The Intentional Caregiver focuses on elder care, with ezine articles, online courses, and, like Caregiving.com, lots of solid caregiving information.

 

I discovered both sites through Twitter, here for The Intentional Caregiver and  here for Caregiving.com.  Both usually offer multiple daily tweets, with links to research, informative articles, caregiving resources,conferences and now, twitter chats. 

 

For a terrific, realistic overview of caregiving and key resources, here's Caregiving.com's The FAQs of Caregiving: The most frequently asked questions about caregiving-and the answers you need.

 

Hélène J. Powers, M.Ed.,writer and educator, is the author of the Fiftyshift booklet Friends Indeed: How to Help During a Serious Illness. She shares caregiving group information, stories and tips on her blog  http://blog.helenepowers.com/.