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Embracing "Slow Medicine," the Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging Loved Ones
Harper
February 2008
On Sale: February 5, 2008
288 pages ISBN: 0061243027 EAN: 9780061243028 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
What's the right thing to do for mom and dad as they get
older? Thanks to advances in science and medicine,
more of our parents are living longer than ever before. And
though we are rewarded with more time with the people we
love, we are also faced with new sets of complications—more
diseases, more disability, more need for support and careful
judgments. Yet while our health care system may help people
live to an older age, it doesn't perform so well when
decline eventually sets in. We want to do the best thing but
are overwhelmed with the staggering choices we face.
Geriatrician Dennis McCullough has spent his life
helping families to cope with their parents' aging and
eventual final passage, experiences he faced with his own
mother. In this comforting and much-needed book, he
recommends a new approach, which he terms "Slow Medicine."
Shaped by common sense and kindness, grounded in
traditional medicine yet receptive to alternative therapies,
Slow Medicine advocates for careful anticipatory "attending"
to an elder's changing needs rather than waiting for crises
that force acute medical interventions—an approach that
improves the quality of elders' extended late lives without
bankrupting their families financially or emotionally. As
Dr. McCullough argues, we need to learn that time and
kindness are sometimes more important and humane at these
late stages than state-of-the-art medical interventions.
My Mother, Your Mother will help you learn
how to: —form an early and strong partnership with
your parents and siblings; —strategize on connecting
with doctors and other care providers; —navigate medical
crises; —create a committed Advocacy Team; —reach
out with greater empathy and awareness; and —face the
end-of-life time with confidence and skill.
Although taking care of those who have always cared for us
is not an easily navigated time of life, My Mother, Your
Mother will help you and your family to prepare for this
complex journey. This is not a plan for getting ready to
die; it is a plan for understanding, for caring, and for
helping those you love live well during their final years.
And the time to start is now.
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