The Gift of Caring
Saving Our Parents from the Perils of Modern Healthcare
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $15.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Randye Kaye
About this listen
In this book, author and biologist Marcy Houle shares her personal journey of caring for her father, a surgeon, who developed Alzheimer's disease, and later her mother, who succumbed to other medical conditions.
Like many children of aging parents, Marcy often felt powerless traveling this sad trajectory - watching them fall through the cracks of a fragmented and confusing healthcare system, where professionals often wrote off their symptoms as "just old age". The tragic secret? According to coauthor and geriatrics physician Elizabeth Eckstrom, these symptoms frequently are not "just old age". Rather, the problem is that the current healthcare delivery model for older people is ill-equipped to provide the comprehensive, person-centered care seniors need. Today, thousands of aging people face unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations, nursing home stays, and even death due to complications that could have been prevented or treated.
The Gift of Caring reveals these pitfalls and provides families with tools they can use to avoid them. Dr. Eckstrom shares professional medical insights into what Marcy could have done to safeguard her parents, and shows how we can become our loved one's best advocate.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2015 Marcy Cottrell Houle and Elizabeth Eckstrom (P)2016 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
When Caregiving Calls
- Guidance as You Care for a Parent, Spouse, or Aging Relative
- By: Aaron Blight
- Narrated by: Aaron Blight
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caring for a parent, spouse, or relative who cannot care for themselves due to age, infirmity, or illness is one of the noblest human activities. It’s also one of the most stressful, posing challenges that can be painful, confusing, frustrating, and deeply rewarding - sometimes all at once. When Caregiving Calls is an invitation to a deep conversation about caregiving and its meaning for you.
-
-
Hope Renewed
- By Lisa Davis on 06-08-22
By: Aaron Blight
-
My Parents' Keeper
- The Guilt, Grief, Guesswork, and Unexpected Gifts of Caregiving
- By: Jody Gastfriend, Patrick J. Kennedy - foreword
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A guide to caring for aging and ailing family members, which offers expert advice, illuminating vignettes, and a compassionate approach to building constructive, mutually gratifying relationships. When it comes time to provide care for those who once cared for us, where can we turn? This book offers practical guidance for a broad range of caregiving situations when family caregivers assume their new role.
-
-
Very sobering information
- By Kathi B. on 12-11-23
By: Jody Gastfriend, and others
-
Being Mortal
- Medicine and What Matters in the End
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Being Mortal, best-selling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending. Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit.
-
-
A Walk through the Valley of the Shadow
- By George on 11-02-14
By: Atul Gawande
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
Facing Death Together
- A Story of Our Losing Battle with Cancer
- By: Jordan Smith Jr. Ed. D.
- Narrated by: Frank Block
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Facing Death Together is a true story of how a loving marriage of 16 years is suddenly turned upside down after a simple routine visit to the doctor because of constipation. No one in the family suspected the traumatic reality of facing an unexpected diagnosis.
-
-
Heartbreaking and Honest
- By Drake on 07-14-24
-
One Doctor
- Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine
- By: Brendan Reilly
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic story told by a unique voice in American medicine, One Doctor describes life-changing experiences in the career of a distinguished physician. In riveting first-person prose, Dr. Brendan Reilly takes us to the front lines of medicine today.
-
-
Simply Brilliant
- By Jan on 06-20-14
By: Brendan Reilly
-
When Caregiving Calls
- Guidance as You Care for a Parent, Spouse, or Aging Relative
- By: Aaron Blight
- Narrated by: Aaron Blight
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caring for a parent, spouse, or relative who cannot care for themselves due to age, infirmity, or illness is one of the noblest human activities. It’s also one of the most stressful, posing challenges that can be painful, confusing, frustrating, and deeply rewarding - sometimes all at once. When Caregiving Calls is an invitation to a deep conversation about caregiving and its meaning for you.
-
-
Hope Renewed
- By Lisa Davis on 06-08-22
By: Aaron Blight
-
My Parents' Keeper
- The Guilt, Grief, Guesswork, and Unexpected Gifts of Caregiving
- By: Jody Gastfriend, Patrick J. Kennedy - foreword
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A guide to caring for aging and ailing family members, which offers expert advice, illuminating vignettes, and a compassionate approach to building constructive, mutually gratifying relationships. When it comes time to provide care for those who once cared for us, where can we turn? This book offers practical guidance for a broad range of caregiving situations when family caregivers assume their new role.
-
-
Very sobering information
- By Kathi B. on 12-11-23
By: Jody Gastfriend, and others
-
Being Mortal
- Medicine and What Matters in the End
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Being Mortal, best-selling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending. Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit.
-
-
A Walk through the Valley of the Shadow
- By George on 11-02-14
By: Atul Gawande
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
Facing Death Together
- A Story of Our Losing Battle with Cancer
- By: Jordan Smith Jr. Ed. D.
- Narrated by: Frank Block
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Facing Death Together is a true story of how a loving marriage of 16 years is suddenly turned upside down after a simple routine visit to the doctor because of constipation. No one in the family suspected the traumatic reality of facing an unexpected diagnosis.
-
-
Heartbreaking and Honest
- By Drake on 07-14-24
-
One Doctor
- Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine
- By: Brendan Reilly
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic story told by a unique voice in American medicine, One Doctor describes life-changing experiences in the career of a distinguished physician. In riveting first-person prose, Dr. Brendan Reilly takes us to the front lines of medicine today.
-
-
Simply Brilliant
- By Jan on 06-20-14
By: Brendan Reilly
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
-
That Good Night
- Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour
- By: Sunita Puri
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani, Sunita Puri
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the American-born daughter of immigrants, Dr. Sunita Puri knew from a young age that the gulf between her parents' experiences and her own was impossible to bridge, save for two elements: medicine and spirituality. Interweaving evocative stories of Puri's family and the patients she cares for, That Good Night is a stunning meditation on impermanence and the role of medicine in helping us to live and die well, arming listeners with information that will transform how we communicate with our doctors about what matters most to us.
-
-
Never needed 1.25x more... GREAT BOOK THOUGH!
- By Viejo Mzungu on 04-30-19
By: Sunita Puri
-
Brain on Fire
- My Month of Madness
- By: Susannah Cahalan
- Narrated by: Susannah Cahalan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 24-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: At the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?
-
-
A must read for anyone in the medical field, and anyone who has ever gone undiagnosed.
- By Sarah M Valentino on 05-13-20
By: Susannah Cahalan
-
Extreme Measures
- Finding a Better Path to the End of Life
- By: Jessica Nutik Zitter M.D.
- Narrated by: Jessica Nutik Zitter M.D.
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jessica Zitter became a doctor because she wanted to be a hero. She elected to specialize in critical care - to become an ICU physician - and imagined herself swooping in to rescue patients from the brink of death. But then during her first code she found herself cracking the ribs of a patient so old and frail it was unimaginable he would ever come back to life. She began to question her choice. Extreme Measures charts Zitter's journey from wanting to be one kind of hero to becoming another - a doctor who prioritizes the patient's values and preferences.
-
-
Brilliant & eye-opening
- By Bob Kelley on 03-16-17
-
Your Heart, My Hands
- An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons
- By: Arun K. Singh MD, John Hanc - contributor, Delos Cosgrove MD - foreword
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leaving a life marked by crippling setbacks and his father's doubt, in 1967 a 20-something doctor from India arrived in America with only five dollars and the desire to claim his American dream. Faced with an entirely new culture, racism, and the lasting effects of disabling childhood injuries, through hard work and perseverance he overcame all odds. Now having performed over 15,000 open-heart surgeries, more than nearly every surgeon in history, Dr. Singh reflects on his most memorable patients and his incredible personal life.
-
-
Remarkable!
- By Stacey on 12-01-22
By: Arun K. Singh MD, and others
-
Cancer Schmancer
- By: Fran Drescher
- Narrated by: Fran Drescher
- Length: 2 hrs and 40 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part inspirational cancer-survival story, part memoir-as-laugh-riot, Fran Drescher's new book picks up where Enter Whining left off. After her marriage ended, her TV series was cancelled, and her beloved dog died, Fran started having symptoms no doctor could adequately explain. With her trademark humor, she tells of her tireless search for answers and the cancer diagnosis that she ultimately beat.
-
-
Cancer Schmancer
- By bkitty on 04-10-04
By: Fran Drescher
-
A Series of Catastrophes and Miracles
- A True Story of Love, Science, and Cancer
- By: Mary Elizabeth Williams
- Narrated by: Mary Elizabeth Williams
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After being diagnosed in her early forties with metastatic melanoma - a "rapidly fatal" form of cancer - journalist and mother of two Mary Elizabeth Williams finds herself in a race against the clock. She takes a once-in-a-lifetime chance and joins a clinical trial for immunotherapy, a revolutionary drug regimen that trains the body to vanquish malignant cells. Astonishingly, her cancer disappears entirely in just a few weeks. But at the same time, her best friend embarks on a cancer journey of her own - with very different results.
-
-
Believe!
- By Mary on 08-22-20
-
I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out
- True Stories of Becoming a Nurse
- By: Lee Gutkind
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection of true narratives reflects the dynamism and diversity of nurses who provide the first vital line of patient care. Here, nurses remember their first "sticks", first births, and first deaths and reflect on what gets them though long, demanding shifts and keeps them in the profession.
-
-
A nurse must read!
- By Janet on 08-16-15
By: Lee Gutkind
-
The Spectrum of Hope
- An Optimistic and New Approach to Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
- By: Gayatri Devi MD
- Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine finding a glimmer of good news in a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. And imagine how that would change the outlook of the five million Americans who suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, not to mention their families, loved ones, and caretakers. A neurologist who's been specializing in dementia and memory loss for more than 20 years, Dr. Gayatri Devi rewrites the story of Alzheimer's by defining it as a spectrum disorder - like autism, Alzheimer's is a disease that affects different people differently.
-
-
Aging with Grace
- By Lisa F on 05-19-21
By: Gayatri Devi MD
-
Making Rounds with Oscar
- The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat
- By: David Dosa M.D.
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oscar the cat has a very special skill. An otherwise ordinary cat—he'd sooner give you his back or a sideways glance than curl up on your lap—Oscar has the uncanny ability to predict when people are about to die. Adopted by staff members at Steere House nursing home when he was a kitten, the three year-old cat has presided over the deaths of more than twenty-five nursing home residents thus far.
-
-
Just Don't Expect Much of Oscar...
- By Gillian on 01-26-15
By: David Dosa M.D.
-
You Can Stop Humming Now
- By: Daniela Lamas
- Narrated by: Susannah Jones, Daniela Lamas
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern medicine is a world that glimmers with new technology and cutting-edge research. To the public eye, medical stories often begin with sirens and flashing lights and culminate in survival or death. But these are only the most visible narratives. As a critical care doctor treating people at their sickest, Daniela Lamas is fascinated by a different story: what comes after for those whose lives are extended by days, months, or years as a result of our treatments and technologies?
-
-
Enlighthening
- By GMA on 07-29-18
By: Daniela Lamas
-
The Art of Dying Well
- A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An inspiring, informative, and practical guide to navigating end-of-life issues, by a groundbreaking expert in the field and the New York Times best-selling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Katy Butler argues that we have lost touch with the “art of dying” as practiced by our ancestors, yet we still hunger for rites of passage and a sense of the sacred, especially in the important life transitions of aging and dying.
-
-
Me too
- By Clif Green on 01-04-20
By: Katy Butler
Related to this topic
-
Doctored
- The Disillusionment of an American Physician
- By: Sandeep Jauhar
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hoping for the stability he needs to start a family, Sandeep Jauhar, an attending cardiologist, accepts a position at a massive teaching hospital on the outskirts of Queens. With a decade's worth of elite medical training behind him, he is eager to settle down and reap the rewards of countless sleepless nights. Instead, he is confronted with sobering truths. Doctors' morale is low and getting lower.
-
-
Frank, inside perspective on the follies of unintended consequences in medical reform
- By JW on 02-25-18
By: Sandeep Jauhar
-
The Spectrum of Hope
- An Optimistic and New Approach to Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
- By: Gayatri Devi MD
- Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine finding a glimmer of good news in a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. And imagine how that would change the outlook of the five million Americans who suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, not to mention their families, loved ones, and caretakers. A neurologist who's been specializing in dementia and memory loss for more than 20 years, Dr. Gayatri Devi rewrites the story of Alzheimer's by defining it as a spectrum disorder - like autism, Alzheimer's is a disease that affects different people differently.
-
-
Aging with Grace
- By Lisa F on 05-19-21
By: Gayatri Devi MD
-
One Doctor
- Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine
- By: Brendan Reilly
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic story told by a unique voice in American medicine, One Doctor describes life-changing experiences in the career of a distinguished physician. In riveting first-person prose, Dr. Brendan Reilly takes us to the front lines of medicine today.
-
-
Simply Brilliant
- By Jan on 06-20-14
By: Brendan Reilly
-
Your Heart, My Hands
- An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons
- By: Arun K. Singh MD, John Hanc - contributor, Delos Cosgrove MD - foreword
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leaving a life marked by crippling setbacks and his father's doubt, in 1967 a 20-something doctor from India arrived in America with only five dollars and the desire to claim his American dream. Faced with an entirely new culture, racism, and the lasting effects of disabling childhood injuries, through hard work and perseverance he overcame all odds. Now having performed over 15,000 open-heart surgeries, more than nearly every surgeon in history, Dr. Singh reflects on his most memorable patients and his incredible personal life.
-
-
Remarkable!
- By Stacey on 12-01-22
By: Arun K. Singh MD, and others
-
Critical Care
- A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between
- By: Theresa Brown
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her former career as an English professor, Theresa Brown had been shielded from the harsh reality of death. That all changed the day she decided to become an oncology nurse. In Critical Care, Theresa writes powerfully and honestly about her first year on the hospital floor. With great compassion and a disarming sense of humor, she shares the trials and triumphs of her patients and comes to realize that caring for a patient means much more than simply treating a disease.
-
-
Excellent all the way around!
- By Susan on 10-12-17
By: Theresa Brown
-
Don't Leave Me This Way
- Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
- By: Julia Fox Garrison
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia Fox Garrison refused to listen to the professionals she called Dr. Jerk and Dr. Panic, who - after she suffered a massive, debilitating stroke at age thirty-seven - told her she’d probably die, or to Nurse Doom, who ignored her emergency call button. Instead she heeded the advice of kind, gifted Dr. Neuro, who promised her he would “treat your mind as well as your body.” Julia figured if she could somehow manage to get herself into a wheelchair, at least she’d always find parking. But after many, many months of hospitalization and rehab, Julia not only got into a wheelchair, but she got back out.
-
-
Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
-
Doctored
- The Disillusionment of an American Physician
- By: Sandeep Jauhar
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hoping for the stability he needs to start a family, Sandeep Jauhar, an attending cardiologist, accepts a position at a massive teaching hospital on the outskirts of Queens. With a decade's worth of elite medical training behind him, he is eager to settle down and reap the rewards of countless sleepless nights. Instead, he is confronted with sobering truths. Doctors' morale is low and getting lower.
-
-
Frank, inside perspective on the follies of unintended consequences in medical reform
- By JW on 02-25-18
By: Sandeep Jauhar
-
The Spectrum of Hope
- An Optimistic and New Approach to Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
- By: Gayatri Devi MD
- Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine finding a glimmer of good news in a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. And imagine how that would change the outlook of the five million Americans who suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, not to mention their families, loved ones, and caretakers. A neurologist who's been specializing in dementia and memory loss for more than 20 years, Dr. Gayatri Devi rewrites the story of Alzheimer's by defining it as a spectrum disorder - like autism, Alzheimer's is a disease that affects different people differently.
-
-
Aging with Grace
- By Lisa F on 05-19-21
By: Gayatri Devi MD
-
One Doctor
- Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine
- By: Brendan Reilly
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic story told by a unique voice in American medicine, One Doctor describes life-changing experiences in the career of a distinguished physician. In riveting first-person prose, Dr. Brendan Reilly takes us to the front lines of medicine today.
-
-
Simply Brilliant
- By Jan on 06-20-14
By: Brendan Reilly
-
Your Heart, My Hands
- An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons
- By: Arun K. Singh MD, John Hanc - contributor, Delos Cosgrove MD - foreword
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leaving a life marked by crippling setbacks and his father's doubt, in 1967 a 20-something doctor from India arrived in America with only five dollars and the desire to claim his American dream. Faced with an entirely new culture, racism, and the lasting effects of disabling childhood injuries, through hard work and perseverance he overcame all odds. Now having performed over 15,000 open-heart surgeries, more than nearly every surgeon in history, Dr. Singh reflects on his most memorable patients and his incredible personal life.
-
-
Remarkable!
- By Stacey on 12-01-22
By: Arun K. Singh MD, and others
-
Critical Care
- A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between
- By: Theresa Brown
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her former career as an English professor, Theresa Brown had been shielded from the harsh reality of death. That all changed the day she decided to become an oncology nurse. In Critical Care, Theresa writes powerfully and honestly about her first year on the hospital floor. With great compassion and a disarming sense of humor, she shares the trials and triumphs of her patients and comes to realize that caring for a patient means much more than simply treating a disease.
-
-
Excellent all the way around!
- By Susan on 10-12-17
By: Theresa Brown
-
Don't Leave Me This Way
- Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
- By: Julia Fox Garrison
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia Fox Garrison refused to listen to the professionals she called Dr. Jerk and Dr. Panic, who - after she suffered a massive, debilitating stroke at age thirty-seven - told her she’d probably die, or to Nurse Doom, who ignored her emergency call button. Instead she heeded the advice of kind, gifted Dr. Neuro, who promised her he would “treat your mind as well as your body.” Julia figured if she could somehow manage to get herself into a wheelchair, at least she’d always find parking. But after many, many months of hospitalization and rehab, Julia not only got into a wheelchair, but she got back out.
-
-
Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
When Your Parent Becomes Your Child
- A Journey of Faith Through My Mother's Dementia
- By: Ken Abraham
- Narrated by: Tim Lundeen
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, Ken Abraham wrote off his mother’s changes in behavior as quirks that just come with old age. There was memory loss, physical decline, hygiene issues, paranoia, and uncharacteristic attitudes. He soon realized that dementia had changed her life - and his family’s - forever. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 5.4 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer’s disease. That’s one in eight older Americans. More than likely, that figure includes someone you know and love.
-
-
Very Christian and not very useful so far
- By Cat288 on 11-29-15
By: Ken Abraham
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
-
Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)
- A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying
- By: Sallie Tisdale
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You get ready to die the way you get ready for a trip. Start by realizing you don't know the way. Listen to a few travel guides. Study the language, look at maps, gather equipment. Let yourself imagine what it will be like. Pack your bags. This book is one of those travel guides - a guide to preparing for your own death and the deaths of people close to you. The fact of death is hard to believe. Sallie Tisdale explores our fears and all the ways death and talking about death make us uncomfortable - but she also explores its intimacies and joys.
-
-
I thought I had more time...
- By Alyssa on 09-09-19
By: Sallie Tisdale
-
The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind
- My Tale of Madness and Recovery
- By: Barbara K. Lipska, Elaine McArdle - contributor
- Narrated by: Emma Powell
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2015, Barbara Lipska - a leading expert on the neuroscience of mental illness - was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to her brain. Within months, her frontal lobe, the seat of cognition, began shutting down. She descended into madness, exhibiting dementia- and schizophrenia-like symptoms that terrified her family and coworkers. But miraculously, the immunotherapy her doctors had prescribed worked quickly. Just eight weeks after her nightmare began, Lipska returned to normal. With one difference: she remembered her brush with madness with exquisite clarity.
-
-
Be Prepared To Feel Insane--
- By Gillian on 04-11-18
By: Barbara K. Lipska, and others
-
Rise and Shine
- The Path to Life
- By: Simon Lewis
- Narrated by: Kelsey Grammer
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crushed between a truck and a tree, Simon and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene of a horrific car accident. Enduring a broken skull, jaw, arms, clavicle and pelvis, followed by a coma, Simon lives to tell his remarkable journey from tragedy to triumph.
-
-
Amazing opportunities for healing!
- By Leah on 04-29-17
By: Simon Lewis
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
Forever Ours
- Real Stories of Immortality and Living from a Forensic Pathologist
- By: Janis Amatuzio
- Narrated by: Janis Amatuzio
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Forensic pathologist Janis Amatuzio first began recording the stories told to her by patients, police officers, and other doctors because she felt that no one spoke for the dead. She believed the real experience of death, namely the spiritual and otherworldly experiences of those near death and their loved ones, was ignored by the medical professionals, who thought of death as simply the cessation of breath. She knew there was more.
-
-
Forever Ours
- By Londa on 01-04-06
By: Janis Amatuzio
-
The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head
- A Psychiatrist's Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases
- By: Gary Small M.D., Gigi Vorgan
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
True stories are more bizarre than any fiction, and Dr. Gary Small knows this best. After 30 distinguished years of psychiatry and groundbreaking research on the human brain, Dr. Small has seen it all - now he is ready to open his office doors for the first time and tell all about the most mysterious, intriguing, and bizarre patients of his career. The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head is a spellbinding record of the doctor's most bewildering cases.
-
-
90% Useless Information
- By Think B4 Eating on 10-01-10
By: Gary Small M.D., and others
-
In Shock
- My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
- By: Dr. Rana Awdish
- Narrated by: Dr. Rana Awdish, Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Shock is a riveting first-hand account from a young critical care physician, who in the passage of a moment is transfigured into a dying patient. This transposition, coincidentally timed at the end of her medical training, instantly lays bare the vast chasm between the conventional practice of medicine and the stark reality of the prostrate patient.
-
-
Read this book!
- By CT on 11-08-17
By: Dr. Rana Awdish
-
Changing the Way We Die
- Compassionate End-of-Life Care and the Hospice Movement
- By: Sheila Himmel, Fran Smith
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s a quiet revolution happening in the way we die. More than 1.5 million Americans a year die in hospice care - nearly 44 percent of all deaths - and a vast industry has sprung up to meet the growing demand. Once viewed as a New Age indulgence, hospice is now a $14 billion business and one of the most successful segments in health care. Changing the Way We Die, by award-winning journalists Fran Smith and Sheila Himmel, is the first book to take a broad, penetrating look at the hospice landscape.
-
-
Sadly, not very engaging.
- By Debra S. Long on 06-16-18
By: Sheila Himmel, and others
-
The Family Gene
- A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future
- By: Joselin Linder
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Joselin Linder was in her 20s, her legs started to swell. She thought little of it until her health problems started to compound in ways that baffled her doctors. Diagnosed with extreme liver blockage and dangerous levels of lymph fluid, Joselin turned to the most similar case she could think of - her father's.
By: Joselin Linder
What listeners say about The Gift of Caring
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kimber
- 08-10-17
A Poignant point of view that ALL medical .....
A poignant point of view that ALL medical professionals should not miss.
As a RN case manager and ICU Trauma Nurse for many years....I found this to be very enlightening and reinvigorating to my sense of empathy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ALK
- 06-26-18
must read for those with aging parents
If you have aging parents, (with or without dementia) this book provides very useful information and guidance. The story combined with the informational chapters is a great way to explain things. Everyone should read it as their parents/family members are getting older and needing more help. It unfortunately is directed more to people with good financial resources. It would have been very helpful to provide pointers for those with limited resources. It would have been helpful to hear ideas for the aging parents who are difficult to deal with- those that are not aging as pleasantly /suffering more of an aggressive behavior as they decline.
The information on delirium was excellent, more people should be aware of this problem especially in the elderly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Miss Addicted
- 07-20-20
Didn't want to read it or listen to it
I have aging parents and I didn't want to deal with this topic so, I started out begrudgingly listening and I finished LOVING IT! I went right out and bought a hard copy! Great, useful info.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Home-Is-A-Retreat-Mom
- 11-09-20
Best care giving book during illness & life’s end!
Such an amazing book on how to lovingly care for your parents during illness, good and difficult times in the last year‘s of their life. Making them comfortable and finding things to do in common, & hiring excellent help so you the caregiver can stay well. She shows you how to be in medical advocate when person you love is in the hospital or in rehab. Trust your instincts and never leave them unattended in a hospital or rehab facility.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James
- 12-16-17
Classist- only helpful if you have lots of money
The advice they give requires being able to hire full time servants and casually fly private planes. If that's you, great! They acknowledge that there is a problem in geriatric care, but with no systems level of understanding of why that is and who it hurts most.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful