Diana Denholm can relate to the challenges of being a caregiver. A month after her husband proposed, he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
While he survived the cancer, he was later diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Even after receiving a heart transplant, her husband continued to deteriorate and develop other conditions, including severe osteoarthritis, skin cancer, kidney failure, depression and Parkinson’s disease. Denholm was her husband’s primary caregiver for over a decade.
Even though Denholm, Ph.D, LMHC, is a medical psychotherapist, she felt incredibly unprepared for her role and found little direction for navigating the many stresses and challenges of being a caregiver.
This inspired her to write the book The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook: Caring for Your Seriously Ill Husband, Caring for Yourself, which gives women the practical tools to traverse their day-to-day lives and communicate with their husbands.
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I was widowed at 50, 3 yrs ago and have been emotionally ill ever since. In the last 7 or so months I’ve been in the hospital for depression related issues because I had no idea how to take are of myself as every one said to do. 3 yrs out, I am now learning to treat myself better. I deserve it, I took great care of my husband who had cancer for 12 years, I owe it to myself to do the same for me. Talking to the Crisis Line has been the biggest gift ever. I am so thankful for that service. Also NAMI is helpful.