Outrunning Your Shadow : Caring For Dying Parents

No one wants to face this problem until they have to, but most of us must one day face the loss of our mother and father. Fred Hill discusses this difficult but very timely issue. The author shares his own recent experience, along with his wife Barbara in the difficult process of providing home-care for two parents, dying simultaneously. He searches for meaning throughout the challenging experience and takes the reader along on a journey that leads finally to understanding and redemption. The author addresses serious issues, such as aging and grief, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Practicalities are discussed, including matters regarding Living Wills, Medicare, hospice, and nursing home considerations. But the author also adds words of comfort, compassion, and even humor that helped him along the way. Hill shares the selected reflections of poets and songwriters, spiritual leaders, anthropologists and others that also helped him to understand and cope with this crisis. He strives to remain frank about the facts and honest about the emotions he experienced, while preserving the upbeat and inspiring tone of the story. "Yes, it was a difficult-experience. But I found that I could do it, and-in-the end I was very glad I did. If I had not been there for my parents, I would have missed a lot." The author found both trials and rewards from caring for his parents, long time Charleston, IN residents. He celebrates Bill and Kathy Hills lives together and struggles to address their suffering. He also challenges others of his generation to consider acting as caregivers for their aging parents when the need arises.