Author: Michelle Terrill Heath

We run out of answers.We run out of patience.We run out of ideas and the capacity to witness suffering.We run out of kindness and compassion and the ability to be nice.When we run out of these, we can only turn to love. Being Andy’s caregiver […]

For me, this book and the formula of prayer it shows how to do, was compatible with my Christianity and a missing piece in learning to effectively ask for what I wanted and needed. Long before there was Parkinson’s in my life, I learned how […]

             I’ve learned so much in my role as Andy’s caregiver. The learning isn’t actually a surprise but it feels surprising to me because it was never an intentional choice, like other big parts of my life. I graduated from high school in three years […]

Family caregiving is becoming more and more relevant as medical interventions make living longer lives possible. As our population ages there will be more need for care. The VA has offered to pay family caregivers, in certain instances, because the outcomes are better if the […]

A friend of mine has a master’s degree in public health. She was waylaid in her career as a university hospital administrator, by a congenital disability. Nevertheless, she has found ways to use her in depth knowledge of medical systems to advocate for some of […]

My life, before Andy began living with Parkinson’s, was therapy and counseling free. I had never felt a need to work out difficult aspects of life and my feelings around them with a professional. I had witnessed various forms of counseling and therapy having positive […]

When I let Andy know all the hoops Brendan had jumped through in order to make the betting game work for him, I said, “Brendan loves you but you make it harder for anyone to want to go out of their way for you because […]

In this next series of blogs, I will be addressing some of the aspects that I experience as a caregiver for my husband, who lives with Parkinson’s. I am a “family” caregiver which means I was never intending to be a caregiver at all, and […]

We walked in our finery up a dusty gravel road until a sharp left turn and a few supersized wooden steps landed us in the cathedral of the deep forest. We walked together to the grassy spot that the river had left dry as she […]

The change I’m addressing today is the need a Parkinson’s traveler has for more rest than the average person requires. In my life with Andy, I’ve seen that he is able to experience the fun of travel when he has enough opportunities to rest. The […]