The Complete Bedside Companion

As the American population grows older and the nation's health care crisis deepens, more and more of us are called upon to care for ailing parents, spouses, siblings, other relatives, and close friends. As any layperson who has ever had to make legal or financial decisions for an elderly parent or nurse a contemporary through the painful progress of a terminal disease can attest, this is not a road best traveled alone.

If someone you love is very sick or dying, you don't want to learn the hard way how to provide the physical and emotional comfort your "patient" so urgently needs. There are countless volumes on specific diseases available full of useful but coldly clinical information. And there are shelves stackedwith guides to the spiritual aspects of sickness and death. But "The Complete Bedside Companion" is the first book to offer warmth and personal guidance while providing -- or telling you where to find -- the practical advice you need to know to care for an ailing loved one.

Drawing on the experiences of dozens of ordinary people who have eared for relatives and friends ill or dying from complications of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, diabetes, AIDS, and other serious conditions -- along with the practical wisdom of distinguished medical, legal, financial, and psychological experts -- this sound, compassionate guide provides field-tested, down-to-earth, nuts-and-bolts advice on every aspect of caring for the sick, including

Working with the system, not against it

Managing symptoms like nausea or pain

Exploring alternative therapies

Doing battle with insurance companies

Maintaining cash flow and coping with bills

Maneuvering through family tensions

No matter what their circumstances -- whether they have a network of support or are flying solo, whether they are caregiving at home, in the hospital, in the hospice, or in the nursing home -- the "everyday angels" who perform the invaluable, demanding, and ultimately rewarding task of tending to those who cannot tend to themselves will here find answers to their questions, practical advice encouragement, and affirmation for their loving care.