caregiver Archives | Loving Meditations

Practicing Self-Care As a Caregiver

July 21, 2018 by Tamara Green, LCSW00Cancer, Cancer Patients, Caregivers, PeopleTags: cancer, caregiver, self-care

Guest post by Harry Cline, creator of NewCaregiver.org

When David and I find great tips for patients and caregivers from other professionals, we love sharing them with you, our wonderful readers.

This article is a must read for new and seasoned caregivers. Please take this author’s great advice on self-care. Doing so will make a huge difference in the quality of your caregiving experience… and in your life.

And, here’s just one of the many nuggets from this article: “Take responsibility for your health and happiness and commit to being kind to yourself. If you feel selfish thinking of yourself, remember that the loved one you’re caring for wants to see you happy and balanced, not stressed, tired and overwhelmed. Practicing self-care is a kindness to them, as well.” – Harry Cline

Enjoy and don’t forget to leave a comment or ask a question.

As always, wishing you calm,
Tamara and David

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Modern Meditation: A Self-Care Solution for Killer Stress

July 5, 2018 by Tamara Green, LCSW & David Dachinger00Cancer Patients, Caregivers, Meditations, PeopleTags: app, calm, cancer, caregiver, meditation, mindfulness, patient, self-care, stress, survivor

Stress is killing us – it’s linked to the six major causes of death: cancer, lung ailments, heart disease, accidents, suicide and cirrhosis of the liver. And over 75 percent of all visits to the doctor’s office are for stress-related complaints and ailments.

What self-care solutions are available to reduce this harmful distress? Several easy and simple mindfulness meditation techniques can help. You can even do some standing in a checkout line, awaiting the doctor or while sitting in traffic. Along with yoga and repetitive prayer, mindful practices are known to evoke the “relaxation response”, which is the counterpart to the stress response. Meditators enjoy greater emotional clarity and mental resilience, and meditation can actually increase the amount of gray matter in your brain (which is a good thing!)

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One Essential Ingredient Your Waiting Room Needs

April 17, 2018 by Tamara Green, LCSW & David Dachinger00Cancer Patients, Caregivers, MeditationsTags: calm, cancer, caregiver, meditation, mindfulness, patient, self-care, stress, survivor, waiting-room

Is the waiting room stressing your patients and their families?

What if there’s an easy, cost-effective solution for transforming your wait area into a relaxing, restorative environment?

When I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2013, my caregiving wife and I embarked on an oncological odyssey to dozens of medical facilities, doctor’s offices and hospitals. These appointments included stress-inducing scans, biopsies, consultations, radiation treatments, chemo infusions, follow-ups and surgeries. We spent a lot of time sitting in waiting rooms.

It was all too common to hear the TV emanating intense, dramatic bulletins with banners flashing, “News Alert!” Or, we’d hear chatty talk shows and rowdy game shows with strident voices, buzzers, canned laughter and applause. Unless the staff turned down the volume or changed the channel, there was no relief from the intrusive programs. In one major hospital, an oncologist admitted he had no control over the intense shows on the waiting room TV because the staff behind the counter controlled the programs, tuning to the channels they wanted to watch.

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Cancer Stress Reduction You Can Start Doing Today

March 21, 2018 by Tamara Green, LCSW & David Dachinger22Cancer Patients, Caregivers, Meditations, PeopleTags: app, calm, cancer, caregiver, meditation, mindfulness, patient, self-care, stress, survivor

DECISIVE DOCTOR VISIT

About a year after my initial diagnosis of stage IV head and neck cancer, I had a follow-up visit with my oncologist Dr. C. After my vitals were taken and blood drawn, we had a brief wait in the bleak exam room. Then Dr. C. entered, greeting in his usual style, “How are you, David! You look great!”

During this exam, Dr. C. announced that my scans were clear and I was now officially cancer-free. He commented, “That was not an easy regimen (chemo, radiation and surgery) you just had, but you did phenomenally well!” He asked if there was actually something I did which helped me get through treatment in such good emotional and physical shape. I replied that I’d used a mindful wellness practice, listening to programs at the infusion center. His eyes lit up as he suddenly proclaimed, “That’s what I want for all of my patients!” He desired a way his patients could become calm before their exams or treatments.

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From Cancer Blues to Mini-blue

January 7, 2017 by Tamara Green, LCSW210Cancer, Cancer Patients, Caregivers, PeopleTags: cancer, caregiver, mini-cooper

It’s 3:00 A.M. and I wake up realizing that this is the last day with our beloved Mini-blue. Suddenly flooded with memories of that day when the three of us – my husband David, our son Mark and I – walk into the Mini Cooper dealership, wide-eyed and excited. Smiling, we look at each other knowing what the other was thinking, “This day is finally here! We made it!”

You see, this wasn’t any ol’ day; this was the zenith we’ve been waiting for – where one dramatic period was ending and a new and exciting one was beginning.

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4-Step Guide to Taming Your Fears When Illness Hits: A Caregiver’s Perspective (Part II)

December 11, 2016 by Tamara Green, LCSW10Cancer Patients, Caregivers, PeopleTags: calm, cancer, caregiver, fear

taming-your-fear-part-1 In last week’s post, I shared with you how my world turned totally upside-down in just four terrifying days. Our son with diagnosed with Lyme disease and my husband was told, “You have stage-4 cancer.” Fear took hold of me and shook me to the core. I knew it was time to follow my own prescription for fear by using a process that I had created for my psychotherapy and coaching clients – the method I call F.E.A.R. I’m excited to reveal that today, but first, let’s get the nitty-gritty on fear.

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