I grew up rich in cousins. I spent holidays with my first cousins and lived, starting at age 11, in the same town with second cousins (the children of my mother’s first cousin) AND a first cousin twice removed (my grandmother’s first cousin – each generation that separates us is the “removed” part). Don’t worry, […]
family
Project management for caregivers
I am a caregiver. I help coordinate the health and home care for an elder loved one who, for the purposes of maintaining a bit of anonymity, I will call “M.” He is a healthy, happy octogenarian. We have known each other for nearly 40 years, but we are not related by blood. I am […]
Public Q&A: Peer support for parents of teens with cancer
Helen Burstin, MD, reached out to ask if I know of an online peer-to-peer support group for parents of teens with cancer. For anyone who knows Helen: Don’t worry, it’s not for her own family. She is asking on behalf of a friend, who writes: “I’ve been able to find groups for parents of children […]
What’s your advice?
My dad was a survivor — of a heart attack in his 50s, kidney cancer in his 60s, and an initial diagnosis of melanoma in his 70s. Melanoma recurrence and complications of treatment are what finally got him. A lifelong runner, Dad kept meticulous notes about his mileage and heart rate on paper. He bought […]
Letter to shareholders
For tax purposes, I recently added up all the various sources of income I’d received in 2017. It was a real hodge-podge of a year since I left my appointment at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and started working on my own projects again. This exercise brought home the lesson that […]
A good death
You might think, looking at the open tabs on my browser, that I’ve got death on my mind. And you would be right. My father passed away in December from melanoma. The end was about as peaceful as we could have hoped for, but it was still hard to watch. I spent most of what […]
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