Site index (alphabetical)
INDEX FOR SITE
A • B • C • D • E • F • G • H • I • J • K • L • M • N • O • P • Q • R • S • T • U • V • W • X • Y • Z
A
Abortion
ACA (Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare)
Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)
Addiction and substance abuse disorders
Addiction, Memoirs and fiction about
Addiction, Recovery from
Addiction to opiods and psychactive drugs
Addiction, treatment, and recovery
Addiction treatment, Fraudulent practices in
Addiction treatment with a dark side
Addiction, Virtual--to cell phones, etc.
ADHD, ADD, and other problems with inconsistent (sometimes hyperfocused) attention
ADVANCE DIRECTIVES, WILLS, LIVING WILLS, AND OTHER ESTATE ISSUES
---Advance directives, POLSTs, MOLSTS, living wills, health care (medical) proxies
---Documents to protect your and your survivors' rights
---Documents and info to have available in one place
---End-of-life financial planning
---End-of-life planning and document storage sites
---End-of-life care and planning for pets
---Getting your affairs in order (end of life planning)
---Options for life-sustaining treatment
---Organizations fighting for elder and pension rights
---Paperwork for expressing your end-of-life preferences
---Planning, handling, and protecting your digital estate
---Wills, trusts, legacies, and estates (what to know about inheritance)
Adverse events
Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare
Affordable Care Act: Repeal, Reform, or Replace ("inside the sausage factory")
AGING
---Ageism and other tough issues
---Ageism, A few books on
---Aging and cancer
---Aging positively, realistically
---Aging, research on
---Bladder and related timing problems
---Cognitive skills and aging
---Connection and/or loneliness
---Driving and dementia
---Exercise for elder adults
---Healthy weight, achieving and maintaining
---Intimate relationships, the new landscape of
---Knee replacement and other fixes for body parts
---Managing body and mind
---Managing modern life (and electronics)
---Memory
---Preventing falls
---Reminiscence, life review, and life storytelling
Aid in Dying
Alcoholism, binge drinking, and approaches to treatment
Allergies and asthma
Alopecia areata ("spot baldness")
ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND OTHER FORMS OF DEMENTIA
---Alzheimer's disease
---Life with Alzheimer's: Bonnie Estridge's compelling series in The Mail on Sunday
---Blogs about dementia
---Books about dementia
---Caring for patients with dementia
---Dementia signs, symptoms, testing and diagnosis
---Dementia support groups and research organizations
---Driving and dementia
---Films, documentaries, and shorts about dementia<
---Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
---Lewy body dementia
Aneurysms and arteriovenus malformation, or AVM
Annuities and pensions, Being smart about
Antibiotic-resistant diseases
Anti-vaccine movement
Anxiety and phobias
Appendicitis
Arlene Friedman Shepherd: The Life She Loved (In memoriam, 2012)
Arthritis
Art of obituary writing
Asbestos (as causing mesothelioma, a form of cancer)
Asperger's syndrome
Aspirin
Assisted dying and VSED (voluntarily stopping eating and drinking)
Assisted living
Assistive devices, remodeling, and other ways to enable independent living
Assistive devices, equipment, and other resources for living with a disability or medical condition
Asthma
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS
---Autism and vaccines,
---Autism, being practical about
---Autism, Organizations focused on
---Autism, Parents' and siblings' stories
---Autism, understanding
---Blogs about autism
---Savant syndrome
---Stories of individuals with autism
Autoimmune diseases
Autopsies: When and why and how
Avian flu (bird flu)
Avoiding overtreatment or unnecessary and possibly harmful treatment for cancer
Awards for writing about disability
A • B • C • D • E • F • G • H • I • J • K • L • M • N • O • P • Q • R • S • T • U • V • W • X • Y • Z
B
Back pain, chronic
Back pain, Alleviating
Bad practices, such as double booking surgery
Basic health care explanations
The beneficial effects of life story and legacy activities
BEREAVEMENT, GRIEF, AND RECOVERY
---Mourning a death from coronavirus (virtually)
---Disenfranchised grief and ambiguous loss
---Grief and recovery , selections about (from Pat's anthology, Dying: A Book of Comfort)
---Grief, bereavement, and mourning blogs, sites, forums, and online discussion groups
---Grief, The stages of (“The only way out is through”)
---Grieving the loss of a child
---Grieving the loss of a child, books about
---Grieving the loss of a pet
---Selections from DYING: A Book of Comfort
---Stages of grief ("The only way out is through.")
Big Pharma
---How I fought Big Pharma on insulin prices — and won (Elizabeth Pfiester, STAT News, 9-20-24) Patient advocacy groups can score big victories if they avoid the trap of taking money from their opponents
Bill of the month (and other outrageous medical bills)
Bipolar disorder (manic depression)
Bladder and related timing problems" target="_blank">Bladder control and related problems
Black lung disease
Blindness, macular degeneration, and other vision problems and disorders
Blood disorders, including Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
BLOGS, COLUMNS AND NEWS ABOUT VARIOUS TOPICS
---Autism
---Cancer and personal encounters with cancer
---Dementia
---Disability
---Grief, bereavement, and mourning (includes online discussion groups)
---Health, healthcare, and medicine
---Hospice and palliative care
---Index of various topics
---Social Security, Medicare, and pension rights (plus links to organizations, and citizen lobbies
---Where journalists get their medical news and information (Writers and Editors site)
Blood donation
Bone cancer
BOOKS AND RECOMMENDED READING (by topic)
---Aging and elders, books and movies about
---Aging, illness, and dementia, Fiction about
---Books to help you make it through the night
---Cancer and serious illness, Books about
---Caregivers and caregiving, Books by, for, and about
---Caregiving for elders, Books about
---Chronic or invisible diseases and conditions, Books about patients with
---Complex and difficult endings (A reading list)
---Death, dying, loss, and grief, Books for adults about
---Death and loss, Children's picture books about
---Dementia, Books about
---Ethical wills (legacy letters), Books to help you write
---Family-directed funerals, Books and stories about
---Grieving the loss of a child, Books about
---Heart attacks, stroke, and other cardiovascular disease, Books and other resources about
---Medical reference books, general
---Medical and healthcare professionals, Books about the work and lives of
---Books about how healthcare professionals train, think, and act
---Pandemics and disease, Books and articles about
---Books and stories about suicide and surviving a suicide
---Memoirs of living with a disability
Vaccines and immunization, Books about
---Wrongful convictions, Books and stories about
Borderline personality disorder
Brain injury
Brain tumors and brain cancers
Breakthrough cases of covid
Breast cancer
Breast implants, Cancer and
Buprenorphine (medication-assisted treatment for addiction)
Buying drugs and procedures smartly, cheaply, safely
CANCER, BY TYPE
---Specific types of cancer
---Bone cancer
---Brain tumors, brain cancer, and aneurysms (no, aneurysms aren't cancers)
---Breast cancer
---Cancer syndromes
---Carcinoma, melanoma and other skin cancers
---Colon and colorectal cancer
---Kidney cancer
---Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and other blood cancers
---Lung cancer
---Mesothelioma
---Multiple myeloma
---Ovarian, cervical, and other gynecological/reproductive system cancers
---Pancreatic cancer
---Prostate cancer
---Rare types of cancer
CANCER, TREATMENT, TOOLS, AND SUPPORT FOR
---What causes cancer
---Cancer by the numbers (e.g., survival rates, incidence)
---Cancer information and advice, sources for
---Cancer support groups
---Cancer screening and tests
---Cancer research, education, and advocacy organizations
---CAR-T cell therapy
---Checking out clinical trials for cancer
---Chemotherapy
---Comforting and helping a person who has cancer
---Coping with cancer
---Financial support for cancer care
---Finding hospitals and cancer centers
---Finding support for the family of cancer patients
---General information and approaches to treatment
---Immunotherapy
---Foods that fight cancer
---Make-a-Wish and other wish fulfillment organizations
---Tools for coping with cancer
---Understanding the debate on cancer-related health care reform and health policy
Cannabis, Medical use of
CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH AND DISEASE (heart and coronary conditions)
---Cardiovascular health and disease, general info about
---Eminence-based cardiovascular medicine
---Evidence-based cardiovascular care
---Heart attacks, preventing and surviving
---Heart disease in women
---Heart surgery
---Hypertension and blood pressure issues
---The statin wars
---Strokes, preventing, treating, and surviving
---Transient ischemic attack (TIA)
CAREGIVING
Caregivers, caregiving, long-term care, and caregiver burnout
---Caregivers, Books by and about
---Caregiving for elders, Books about
---Caregiving from afar
---Caring for caregivers (preventing caregiver burnout)
---Caring for patients with dementia
---Caregiving from afar
---Hiring a geriatric care manager
---Resources for caregivers
---Online communities for caregivers
---Organizations helpful for caregivers
Caregivers' stories
Car T-cell therapy
Celiac disease
Cerebral palsy
Cervical, ovarian, and other gynecological cancers
Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease
Charity care and medical assistance
CHARITY, PHILANTHROPY, AND VOLUNTEERING: Giving wisely and doing good (and donating your body or body parts)
---Volunteering
---Charity ratings
---Donating bodies or body parts
---Donating organs and tissue, for transplants
---Practicing philanthropy: giving to make a difference
---Rethinking charity
---Teaching the next generation about giving
---Tips on charitable giving
---Worst practices in charity world
Child, Grieving the loss of a
Children's grief
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Children's mental health problems
CHRONIC, RARE, AND INVISIBLE DISEASES AND DISORDERS
---Coping with chronic, rare, and invisible diseases and disorders (specific conditions described in alphabetical order)
---Coping with invisible chronic illnesses and conditions (including ADHD, autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), diabetes, fibromyalgia, rheumatic arthritis)
---Orphan Drugs
---Compassionate use of experimental drugs ("right to try" laws)
---Helpful resources
---Managing chronic pain (See also Pain management)
---Memoirs of coping with chronic, rare, or invisible diseases, including mental health problems
---Rare and undiagnosed diseases and conditions
---Specific chronic , rare, and invisible conditions, in alphabetical order (not listed in index)
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)
Cleaning principles, products, processes, and household management tips
Cleaning for asthma and allergy sufferers
Climate change, Arguing about (on Writers and Editors site)
Clinical Center, NIH (on Pat McNees site)
Clinical trials, Articles about (on Pat McNees site)
Clinical trials, Checking them out
Clostridium difficile (C. diff or C. difficile)
Cognitive skills and aging
Co-Housing
Colon and colorectal cancer
Compassionate use of experimental drugs ("right to try" laws)
Complex, difficult, and intentional deaths
Complex and difficult endings: A reading list
Concierge, or retainer, care
Concussion (traumatic brain injury)
Connection and/or loneliness
Conspiracy theories (on Writers and Editors site)
Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs)
Conversations about dying
Conversations about dying, Death cafes and
Coronavirus (general) See also Covid 19
Coronavirus: How to minimize the risk of getting and spreading it (lengthy, practical blog post)
Coronavirus, Mourning a death from (virtually)
Coronavirus: The facts (a full webpage, with many topics)
Coronavirus and children
Cost of dying, High
Costs of, and ratings for, hospitals
Costs and prices for medical tests and procedures
Costs of drugs
Covering abortion (Writers and Editors site)
Covering Covid-19 (Writers and Editors site)
Covering disability (for journalists)
Covering disaster (Writers and Editors site)
Covering gun violence
Covid-19 contact tracing
COVID-19: How to minimize your risk
Covid-19 pandemic, the big picture
Covid-19, reliable sources of information and updates about
Covid-19 testing
Covid-19 vaccine and virus trackers
Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy
Covid-19 vaccine rollout
Covid-19 vaccines
Covid-19, Who is harmed most
CPR, yes or no? (what you should know about cardiovascular resuscitation)
CRISPR (controversial technology for editing cells' genomes)
Crohn's disease, colitis, and other gastrointestinal disorders
Crossing over (near-death experiences)
Culprits in the opioid crisis
Cutting and self-harm
Cystic fibrosis (CF)
A • B • C • D • E • F • G • H • I • J • K • L • M • N • O • P • Q • R • S • T • U • V • W • X • Y • Z
D
Deafness and hearing loss
DEATH and DYING (See also END-OF-LIFE CARE)
---Books about death and dying
---Conversations about dying
---Complex and difficult endings--suicide, homicide, physician-assisted suicide, violence (including domestic violence), sudden death (from accidents and otherwise), dementia and other forms of lingering illness
---Coronavirus: the good, the bad, and the practical
Death, dying, and end-of-life care
Death, dying, and grief in the age of social media
---Helping a dying friend
---How to tell children their parent is dying
---Movies about death and dying
---Near-death experiences (crossing over)
---Order Dying: A Book of Comfort
---Saying goodbye
---Statistics about death, mortality, long-term care, hospice care, and palliative care
---Stories about death and dying (including the "good death" and dying with dignity)
---When is someone legally dead?
Death Cafes (events, not venues--facilitating conversations about end-of-life concerns)
Death with dignity
Decoding health care prices
Decluttering
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Dementia
Dental care: what you should know
Depression and other forms of mental illness
Depression, including Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Devices, drugs and procedures, Buying them smartly, cheaply, and safely
Devices, equipment, and other resources for living with a disability or medical condition
Devices, Faulty medical
Devices for fighting social isolation (for elders)
Devices to enable independent living
Diabetes
Diagnosis.
---Diagnoses doctors get wrong
---Medical mysteries(stories of illnesses and conditions difficult to diagnose)
---Rare and undiagnosed diseases and conditions
---Resisting overdiagnosis, overtesting, and overtreatment--and misdiagnosis
Diet and nutrition
Differences between single payer insurance, universal health coverage, and "Medicare for All"
Difficult, complex, and intentional deaths
DISABILITY, INCLUDING PROBLEMS OF AGING
Housing options for seniors and disabled (eldercare, changing attitudes, managing disability)
---Articles and essays about living with a disability
---Assistive devices, remodeling, and other ways to enable independent living
---Awards for writing about disability
---Blogs about disability
---Blogs and websites about living with a disability
---Changing attitudes toward disability
---Covering disability (for journalists)
---Disability sports
---Memoirs about living with a disability
---Memoirs of illness, crisis, disability, differentness, and survival
---On dealing with variance from "normality"
---Organizations that help artists with disabilities
---Traveling with limited mobility and other disabilities
Disaster preparedness
DISEASES AND CONDITIONS
---Specific diseases and conditions, alphabetical list
---Addiction and substance abuse (various forms of addiction, as medical conditions)
---Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia
---Autism spectrum disorders
---Cancer, various types of
---Cardiovascular disease and conditions
---Chronic, rare, and invisible diseases (a fairly long set of links)
---Depression and other forms of mental illness
---Medical mysteries (difficult to diagnose conditions and diseases)
Domestic violence and abusive relationships
DNA (genetic) testing
DNA testing (genetic genealogy) (extensive links on Pat McNees site)
DNR order "Do not resuscitate" order
Doctors, surgeons, hospitals, home health agencies, nursing homes. Ratings for
DOCUMENTS TO KEEP IN ONE PLACE
---Documents and information to keep together, easily findable (personal, financial, and legal)
---Documents caregivers may need
---Documents to protect your and your survivors' rights and wishes
---End-of-life planning and document storage sites
Dogs (service dogs, therapy dogs, and other types of assistance dogs)
Domestic violence
Donating blood
Donating your body or body parts
DOWNSIZING, DECLUTTERING, MOVING, AND OTHER HARD-TO-FACE REALITIES
---Being, dealing with, or trying to help a hoarder
---Cleaning and household tips
---Downsizing and decluttering (letting go of things)
---Estate, garage, and yard sales, etc.
---Evaluating your "valuables"
---Garage, estate, and yard sales, etc.
---Giving your stuff to a good cause
---Organizing and dealing with things and information
---Recycling electronics and other stuff
---Selling and renting stuff online
---Selling or recycling books, etc.
---Senior move managers and other specialists
Driving and dementia
DRUGS
---Addiction to opioids and psychoactive drugs
---Addiction, treatment, and recovery (generally)
--- Buying drugs and procedures smartly, cheaply, safely
---Compassionate use of experimental drugs ("right to try" laws)
---Culprits in the opioid crisis
---Decoding drug prices
---Doctors' incentives to prescribe expensive medications
---Drug courts, The problems with
---Drug-resistant superbugs (MRSA, sepsis, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria)
--- Drugs, Big Pharma, conflicts of interest, and why U.S. patients pay too much for medication (blog post, updated)
---Fake and substandard drugs' appeal (and danger) for patients who can't afford real drugs
---Fighting drug price gouging and making drugs more affordable
---Generic drugs: overpricing, shortages, and other issues
---Managing medication side effects
---Managing medications, tests, procedures, and treatments
---Medications, tests, procedures, and treatments to question or avoid
---Orphan drugs: The good, the bad, and the greedy
---Patient assistance programs (for buying medications)
---Questioning drug claims
---Reducing medical costs
---Side issues and practical ramifications of the opioid crisis
---Substance abuse and recovery (a whole section of its own)
---The war on drugs
DYING: A Book of Comfort. Order here
Dying at home
Dying, High cost of
Dysautomnia (POTS)
Dyslexia
E
Eating disorders
Eating disorders, Memoirs
Ebola vaccine
Ebola virus
E-cigarettes (vaping)
Economic impact of COVID-19
Eden Alternative
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
Eldercare planning resources
Elder fraud, elder abuse, guardianship problems, and romance scams, Preventing
Elder law, elder protection, and pension rights organizations
Electronic health records (EHRs--issues, problems, information)
Emergency care
Eminence-based medicine ("Because X says so" vs. evidence-based medicine)
End-of-life decision-making
End of life decision-making in the critical care unit
END-OF-LIFE CARE, PLANNING, AND CHOICES
---About end-of-life care
---Conversations about dying
---Death cafes (events, not venues--facilitating conversations about dying)
---Document storage sites for end-of-life planning information
---End-of-life decision-making
---End-of-life decision-making in the critical care unit
---End-of-life planning and choices for pets
---Improving end-of-life care
---Organizations and online resources supportive of right-to-die and related life-ending choices
---Practical aspects of end-of-life care and decision-making
Error, Anatomy of medical
Errors, Reducing medical
Essential medical links for patients, families, caregivers, and journalists
Estate, digital (what happens to your Facebook account, etc.)
Estate, garage, and yard sales, etc.
Estate planning
Estate, Settling someone's
Estates, wills, trusts, legacies
Estate planning and estate and inheritance taxes: What you need to know
ETHICAL WILLS AND LEGACY LETTERS
---Dignity therapy
---Ethical wills
---Ethical will workshop, Pat’s
--- Kristie Miller’s Letter of Intent
---The Stanford Letter Project
EULOGIES, OBITUARIES, VIDEO TRIBUTES, and other END-OF-LIFE STORIES
---The beneficial effects of life story and legacy activities
---Eulogies and video tributes
---Good interview questions for the family
---Healing stories and storytelling organizations and sites
---How putting events into a story may aid the healing process
---Obituaries and other forms of tribute
---Memoirs of illness, crisis, disability, differentness, and survival (a reading list)
---On dealing with variance from "normality"
---Stories, healing, and self-understanding (a booklist)
---Telling your story (writing your memoirs, creating a family history, genealogical resources, oral histories, books to get started writing your own or someone else's life story--on the Pat McNees website)
Euthanasia (physician-assisted dying)
Evidence-based cardiovascular care
Evidence-based medicine (Writers and Editors site)
Exercise for elder adults (aka 'senior fitness')
Exercise to stay fit
Experimental drugs and 'Right to Try' legislation
Eye diseases, blindness and vision problems
F
Facing tough issues
Faith-based healthcare sharing ministries (alternatives to health insurance)
Fake and substandard drugs' appeal (and danger) for patients who can't afford real drugs
Falls, preventing them, doing them right, recovering from them
Faulty medical devices
Fentanyl's death toll
Fighting drug price gouging and making prices more affordable
Finances in retirement
Financial assistance for seniors
Financial planning 101
Financing health care
Financing retirement, issues about retirement funds
Finding medical and health news and information (where journalists look)
Finding medical links for patients, families, and caregivers
Finding practical medical information online for people with rare conditions
Finding prices for medical procedures
Five stages of grief, The
Flu (influenza)
Flu vaccine
Flu vaccine hesitancy, Overcoming (a resource sheet)
Flu, What you need to know about the (blog post)
Food
Forgotten surgital items, Preventing
Frailty, Preventing, dealing with
Fraud, Preventing
Frequently asked questions about health insurance and the ACA (Obamacare)
Friends: Making and keeping them
Friedman, Arlene (Writers and Editors) Arlene Friedman Shepherd: The Life She Loved
Funds and issues, Retirement
Funeral music
FUNERALS, CREMATION, AND MEMORIAL SERVICES
Funerals, cremation, home funerals, green burial, memorial services
---Advice from the Federal Trade Commission
---Cemeteries, gravesites, headstones, and memorials
---Coffins, caskets, and urns
---Cremation and crematories
---Death- and burial-related organizations
--- DYING: A Book of Comfort (order here)
--- Family-directed funerals Books and stories about
---Funeral music
---Funerals, memorial services, and other ceremonies for the dead
---Green funerals
---Home funerals and family-directed funerals
---Memorials and headstones, Online and high-tech (locating burial sites with a smartphone, etc.)
---Music for funerals, wakes, and memorial services
---Organ, tissue, and whole-body donation
---Planning for a funeral
---Veterans death, burial, and survivor benefits
---Veterans, Farewells to
Fungal infections
G
Gambling addiction
Gas stoves, How to reduce your risk from
Gender and sexuality
Generic drugs: overpricing, shortages, and other issues
Genetic testing, gene therapy, and other genetic advances
Geriatric care manager, Hiring a
Getting your affairs in order
Giving (Teaching the next generation about charity and volunteering)
Glaucoma
Good death, A (improving end-of-life care)
Good e-resources for patients/consumers
Gout
Grants for seniors
Graves disease
Green House Project, The
Grief and grieving (several entries)
Guardianship problems, Preventing
Guided Autobiography, Why group leaders love it (Lisa Smith-Youngs)
Guided Autobiography, Why participants love it (video)
Gun control and gun reform l
Guns, Mass shootings
Gun violence and violent deaths
Gun violence, hotlines and research
Gut microbiome
H
Happiness is a choice you make
Hashimoto's disease (Hashimoto's thyroiditis)
Hate crimes
Head, neck, and throat cancer
Health and medical news (great sources for)
Healthcare, medicine, and medical science, Podcasts about
HEALTH INSURANCE, HEALTH EXCHANGES, AND THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (ACA, or OBAMACARE)
---The benefits pharmacy benefit managers manage don't usually benefit consumers
---Dealing with manpower shortages (physicians and other healthcare professionals
---Differences between single payer insurance, universal health coverage, and "Medicare for All"
---Doctors' incentives to prescribe expensive drugs
---Faith-based alternatives to health insurance plans
---Frequently asked questions about health insurance and the ACA (Obamacare)
---Health insurance (general)
---Health insurance, ACA, and the marriage glitch
---Health insurance exchange and marketplaces (and ACA, or Obamacare)
---Health insurance systems in other countries
--- Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance
---Orphan drugs: the good, the bad, and the greedy
---The politics and policy issues of health care (insurance) reform
---Pros and cons of a single-payer system and problems with the current health insurance system
---Retainer or concierge medicine and other new models for paying doctors
---Why U.S. medical costs are so high and where the system needs fixing
HEALTH INSURANCE, REFORMING THE U.S. SYSTEM OF
---The costs of neglecting the mentally ill
---Doctors' incentives to prescribe expensive medications
---Health care reform and the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare)
---Improving healthcare practices
---Organizations serious about improving U.S. healthcare
---Repeal, replace, and various proposed alternatives to Obamacare (ACA)
---Understanding the basic issues in health insurance reform
Health savings accounts
Hearing loss and deafness
Hearing loss and hearing aids
Heart attacks, preventing and surviving
Heart conditions and disease
Heart disease in women
Heart surgery
Heart surgery
***Helping a dying friend
Helpful organizations and Web resources (about dying)
Help lines, hotlines, and lifelines
Hepatitis C virus (HPC) and Hepatitis A
High maternal mortality rates in U.S.
HIPAA and patient privacy issues
---High costs, adverse events, bad practices, other problems with surgery
---HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)
---Patient privacy and related issues
---The HIPAA privacy rule
HIPPA (common error). See HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
Hip replacement surgery
Hiring a geriatric care manager
HIV/AIDS
Hoarding
Home exchanges, housesitting, and home sharing (for travelers)
Home health agencies, nursing homes, Ratings for (plus hospitals, doctors)
Homelessness, Addressing problems of
HOME MEDICAL ADVICE (links)
---Essential medical links for patients, families, caregivers, and journalists
---Assistive devices, remodeling, and other ways to enable independent living
---Good e-resources for patients, consumers, patient advocates and e-patients
---Medical choices, making informed
---Medical costs, reducing
---Private screening tests, the truth about
Hospice care and palliative care
HOSPITALS AND HOSPITALIZATION
---Finding hospitals and cancer centers
---Finding hospitals and cancer centers
---Hospitals and hospital systems: Issues within the industry
---Managing hospitalization and after
---Managing medical bills: hospital, emergency rooms (ER), urgent care, and "extras"
---Medicare coverage of hospitalization
---Ratings for hospitals, doctors, surgeons, home health agencies, nursing homes
---Sites providing information about hospital charges
---Managing hospital medical bills (emergency care and urgent care are not the same thing)
---Hospitals and hospitalization, Books and articles about
---What you need to know about hospitals
Hotlines, help lines, and lifelines
Household management tips
HOUSING OPTIONS FOR SENIORS AND DISABLED
---Housing options for seniors and disabled (including new housing models, equipment, services)
---Big picture: Senior housing options
---Aging in Place (including NORCs)
---Assisted living (residential care)
---Co-Housing
---Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs)
---The Eden Alternative and The Green House Project
---Homelessness, Addressing problems of
---Long-term acute care hospitals
---Memory care
---Multigenerational living
---Naturally occurring retirement centers, or NORCs
---Nursing homes, old-style and new (including Green Houses)
---Tiny houses, minimalism, and the small-home movement
---The Village Movement
How prepared are you for disaster?
How to comfort the grieving
How to help children deal with surgery
How to research surgeons and hospitals
How to tell children their parent is dying
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
Hypertension and blood pressure issues
I
Immunotherapy for cancer
If I had my life to live over
Improving end-of-life care
Independent living, Devices to enable
Independent Living, Products for (assistive and practical devices, healthcare products, Pat McNees site, Great and unusual shopping)
Index for Comfortdying.com site
Index for Pat McNees's website
Index for Writers and Editors website
Infectious diseases
Infectious diseases, General information about
INFORMATION SOURCES
---Basic health care explanations
---Document storage sites for essential information
---Cancer, information about
---Electronic health records, information in
---Essential medical links for patients, families, caregivers, and reporters
---Finding prices for medical procedures
---Good e-resources for patients/consumers
---Information about medication and drug prices
---Information about hospitals (including ratings, costs)
---Information, organizing (as part of decluttering)
---Information to keep in one place (household, health, insurance, etc.)
---Patients sharing info and opinions about health care services
---Social Security, Essential information about
---Various vaccines, vaccinations, information about
---Where journalists get their medical news and information
Incontinence (bladder control)
Insect control (Pat McNees site)
Insulin (for diabetes)
Insurance and retirement calculators
Insurance, Disability
Insurance, Health and Medicare and Medicaid
Insurance, Long-term care
Insurance, Travel
Interview questions for the family
Intimate relationships, the new landscape of
Invisible diseases and conditions (a page with several sections)
J
Journalists' coverage of medical beats and health care (Writers and Editors)
Journalists' coverage of public and private tragedy and trauma (Writers and Editors)
Journalists' coverage of the opioid crisis (Writers and Editors)
***Journalists' sources for up-to-date medical news and information (Writers and Editors)
Juul and vaping (are e-cigarettes killing people?)
K
Kidney cancer
Kidney disease, kidney failure, dialysis, kidney transplants
Knee replacement and other fixes for body parts
Knee replacement surgery
Kraft, Bayla Helping a dying friend
Kratom is an opioid
Kristie Miller’s Letter of Intent
L
Late-stage Lyme disease (getting diagnosed and treated--equally difficult stages)
Late-stage Lyme disease, The truth about (a controversial disease)
Lead poisoning
Legacy letter, What is a (See Ethical wills)
Leprosy
Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and other blood cancers
Lifelong learning (MOOCs, OLLI, Great Courses, TED talks, and the like)
LIFE STORY WRITING (THE HEALING POWER OF NARRATIVE)
---Dealing with variance from "normality"
---Good interview questions for the family
--- Healing stories and storytelling organizations and sites
--- Memoirs of illness, crisis, disability, differentness, and survival (a reading list)
---Narrative medicine and medical narrative
---Stories, healing, and self-understanding (a booklist)
Literary estate, Your
Living arrangements for seniors and disabled (including new housing models, equipment, services)
Living wills
Living wills--when they are not enough (Norman Bauman)
LONG-TERM CARE AND LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
---Long-term acute care hospitals
---Long-term care insurance-- What you need to know
---Planning for long-term care and end-of-life preferences
---Long-term care, long-term care insurance, and public policy
---Organizations focused on long-term care and long-term care insurance
Losing weight
Lung cancer
Lyme disease, Late stage (getting diagnosed and treated--equally difficult stages)
Lyme disease. The Truth About Chronic (Late-Stage) Lyme Disease
Lymphoma, leukemia, and other blood cancers
M
Macular degeneration
Making and keeping friends
Malaria vaccine
Managing a healthy weight
Managing body and mind
Managing chronic pain
Managing modern life (and electronics)
Managing ordinary (not chronic) pain
Managing pain medications
Managing your health, pain, medications, health care costs, and reproductive rights
Managing your household
Manic depression (bipolar disorder)
Manpower shortages in the health care system
Marijuana, Medical use of
Mass shootings
Maternal mortality rates in U.S.
Measles and measles vaccine
MEDICAID and MEDICARE
---History of, and legislation affecting, Medicare and Medicaid
---How Medicare and Medicaid fall short (End-of-life talks and other issues
---Medicaid issues and Medicaid reform
---Medicaid and Medicaid's Unwinding: What you need to know
See also Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance
Medical aid in dying
Medical alert devices
Medical assistance (financial)
Medical bills: hospital, ER, urgent, and "surprise extras"
Medical choices
Medical costs, Reducing
Medical debt, Reducing
Medical devices, The truth about faulty
Medical error, The anatomy of
Medical errors, Reducing
Medical errors, Reducing preventable
Medical links for patients, families, caregivers, and journalists
Medical malpractice
MEDICAL MYSTERIES (stories of patients with difficult-to-diagnose illnesses and conditions)
***Medical news and information, Journalists' sources for
Medical procedures, Finding prices for
Medical professionals' stories
Medical records, HIPAA, and patient privacy
Medical records, Issues with
Medical use of cannabis (marijuana) and cannabis-derived products
MEDICARE
---Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Medicare and Medicaid
---MACRA: Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act
---Medicare Compare search pages
---Medicare coverage of hospitalization
---Medicare coverage of prescription drugs (Part D)
---"Medicare for All" compared with universal health coverage and single payer insurance
---Medicare issues and Medicare reform (and reform proposals)
---Medicare: What you need to know
---Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage
See also MEDICAID
Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance
Medical news, Where journalists get their (Writers and Editors site)
Medication assistance program
Medication-assisted treatment for addiction (MAT)
MEDICATION
---Buying drugs and procedures smartly, cheaply, safely
---Doctors' incentives to prescribe expensive medications
---Drugs, Big Pharma, conflicts of interest, and why U.S. patients pay too much for medication (blog post, updated)
---Fighting drug price gouging and making drugs more affordable
---Managing medications, tests, procedures, and treatments
---Medications, tests, procedures, and treatments to question or avoid
---Orphan drugs: the good, the bad, and the greedy (in the section on Chronic, rare, and invisible diseases)
---Questioning drug claims and managing medication side effects
Medicine, healthcare, and medical science, Podcasts about
Melanoma and other skin cancers
MEMOIRS (See also Stories and storytelling)
---Memoirs about eating disorders
---Memoirs about struggling with cancer
---Memoirs and fiction about drug abuse and various forms of addiction
---Memoirs and reflections of surgeons and about surgery
---Memoirs of coping with chronic, rare, or invisible diseases, including mental health problems
---Memoirs of illness, crisis, disability, differentness, and survival (organized by authors' names)
---Memoirs of illness, crisis, disability, differentness, and survival (organized by category)
Memory (how it works, how it declines)
Memory care
Memory loss (Alzheimers and other problems and diseases)
Meningitis (various forms)
Meningitis vaccine
Mental illness, problems, and resources
See also SUBSTANCE ABUSE (addiction and recovery)
---Approaches to treatment
---General help and information
---Substance abuse and recovery (addiction as a medical problem)
---The system: Issues affecting the treatment of mental illness
---Mental health organizations
MENTAL ILLNESSES AND DISORDERS
---ADHD, ADD, and other problems with inconsistent (sometimes hyperfocused) attention
---Anxiety and phobias
---Bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness)
---Borderline personality disorder
---Children's mental health
---Cutting and self-harm
---Depression, including Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
---Eating disorders
---Narcissistic personality disorder
---Obsessive-compulsive disorder (O.C.D.), including hoarding behavior
---Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
---Schizophrenia
Mesothelioma
Methadone (medication-assisted treatment for addiction)
Methamphetamine addiction on the rise
Migraine
Military discounts
Money (financing retirement)
Monkeypox
Montgomery County, MD practical resources (covid and more)
Mourning the loss of a significant other
Mourning the victims of coronavirus (virtually)
Movement disorders (see also Parkinson's, Tourette's)
Mortgages, reverse, pro and con
MOVIES, FILM, AND TELEVISION
---Films about aging and elders
---Movies about death and dying, loss and grief
MRSA, superbugs, and antibiotic-resistant diseases
Multigenerational living
Multiple myeloma
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Mumps vaccine
MUSIC FOR FUNERALS AND MEMORIAL SERVICES
---Classical music
---Funeral anthems
---Hymns, gospel, and inspirational music
---Patriotic and military funeral music
---Popular secular music, including blues music
Music to play for hospice visits (Steve Litwer's site and book)
"My Mother, The Lion" by Ruth Little
N
Naltrexone (medication-assisted treatment for addiction)
Narcissistic personality disorder
Narrative medicine (and medical narrative)
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (brief profile, McNees site)
Naturally occurring retirement centers, or NORCs (aging in place)
Near-death experiences (crossing over)
Needle exchange programs
NIH Clinical Center (Building 10, National Institutes of Health)
No Surprises Act
Nursing homes, old-style and new (including Green Houses)
Nursing homes, Ratings for
Nutrition
O
OBITUARIES
Obituaries and other forms of tribute to the dead
---About obituaries and obituary writing
---Articles about obituary writing
---Books on (and of) obituary writing
---Eulogies and video tributes
---Examples of moving, memorable, amusing, or interesting obituaries and other kinds of tribute
---Lessons from Obit, the documentary
---Online obituary and memorial websites
---Self-written obituaries
---What's happening to the obit page?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Online grief, bereavement, and mourning sites, forums, and discussion groups
Opioid addiction treatment with a dark side
Opioids and psychoactive drugs, Addiction to
Opioid crisis, culprits in the
Opioids settlement
Oral health and dental care
Order DYING: A Book of Comfort
ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATIONS
---Donating your body or body parts
---Organ and tissue transplants
---Organ, tissue, and whole-body donation
---Organ and tissue donation and transplant organizations
ORGANIZATIONS
---Addiction-related organizations and publications
---Artists with disabilities, organizations that assist
---Autism-related organizations
---Cancer research, education, and advocacy organizations
---Caregivers, Organizations helpful for
---Death- and burial-related organizations
---Healing stories and storytelling organizations and sites
---Long-term care and long-term care insurance, organizations focused on
---Mental health organizations
---Organizations serious about improving U.S. healthcare
---Organizations and online resources related to right-to-die, suicide, and other life-ending choices
Orphan drugs: The good, the bad, and the greedy
Outrageous medical bills
Ovarian, cervical, and other gynecological cancers
Over-the-counte pain relief (aspirin, tylenol, etc)
Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs
P
PAIN MANAGEMENT
---Managing ordinary (not chronic) pain
---Managing chronic pain
---Home remedies for managing sciatica pain (separate blog post)
---Managing pain medications
---Organizations associated with pain management and relief
---Sciatica pain, Home remedies for
---The medical use of marijuana (cannabis, psychedelics)
---Managing pain and improving health with yoga
Palliative care
Pancreatic cancer
PAN/PANDAS (difficult to diagnose disease)
Pandemic, The
Parasites
Parkside Village coronavirus resources
Parkinson's disease
Part D, Medicare
Patient advocate programs
Patient assistance programs
Patient privacy and related issues
Patient safety, Improving
Patients sharing info and opinions about health care services
Patient stories
Patient stories, Harnessing the power of
Peeproof pants and other devices for urinary problems
PENSIONS
---Pension funds and issues
---Pensions and annuities, Being smart about
---Pension rights, elder law, elder protection
---Social Security and veterans benefits
Pest control
PETS
---End-of-life planning and choices for pets
---Grieving the loss of a pet
Pharmacy benefit managers
Philanthropy, practicing--giving to make a difference
Podcasts about healthcare, medicine, and medical science
Police, protest , and racial justice (blog post, links to various resources)
Polio and post-polio syndrome
Polio vaccine
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Practical aspects of end-of-life care and decision-making
Practical devices, medical equipment, housing, resources, sources, tips
Prayers, poems, and meditations
Precision medicine. See Chemotherapy.
Prescription assistance programs
Prescription coverage under Part D, Medicare
Preventing and dealing with frailty
Preventing elder abuse and scams (and being aware of senior guardianship problems)
Preventing falls
Preventing 'forgotten surgital items' (aka 'unintentionally retained foreign objects')
Preventing fraud, elder abuse, guardianship problems, and romance scams
Preventing medical error
Price gouging in the pharmaceutical industry
Prices for drugs and procedures, Tools for comparing
Price transparency: Decoding health care prices
Price transparency: Orphan drugs--the good, the bad, and the greedy
Price transparency: Understanding the problems health reform must address
Price transparency: Why U.S. medical costs are so high and where the system needs fixing
Primary care, Issues with
Privacy issues. See HIPAA.
Private screening tests, the truth about
Problems with urinary tract or gut (too much, too little, too fast or too slow production)
Positive aging (finding fulfillment in the golden years)
Prior authorization, The trouble with (blog post)
Prostate cancer
Pros and cons of various medical tests, treatments, habits for cardiovascular problems
Purchase Dying, A Book of Comfort
Q
Quality data: Ratings for hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, doctors, surgeons, home health agencies, nursing homes (blog post)
Questioning drug claims and managing medication side effects
R
Rabies
Rabies vaccinations
Ransomware attacks on hospitals
Rape and sexual assault
Rare and undiagnosed diseases (a page with several sections)
Ratings for hospitals, doctors, surgeons, home health agencies, nursing homes
Real ID (new federal requirements)
Recommended reading, viewing, and listening
Reducing medical costs
Reducing medical debt
Reducing medical errors
Reforming the U.S. health care system
Reminiscence, life review, and life story telling
Repeal, replace, and various Republican alternatives to Obamacare ("inside the sausage factory")
Retainer or concierge medicine and other new models for paying doctors
RETIREMENT
---Retirement 101 (what you must know)
---Being smart about pensions and annuities
---Not talking about retirement can cost you
---Retirement and insurance calculators
---Retirement Finances 101
---Retirement funds and issues
---Reverse mortgages, pro and con
---Second Chances: Retirement as a second act
---Traveling in retirement
'Right to try' laws: 'compassionate use of experimental drugs' (pro and con)
Road Scholar and other educational trips
Robots, chatbots, and other virtual cleaning technologies
RSV vaccine (against respiratory syncytial virus infection)
Rural health care (including primary care)
S
Savant syndrome (See Autism.)
Saying goodbye
Scams and the elderly
Scanning family photos (your most important in-case-of-fire plan)
Schizophrenia
School shootings
Sciatica, home remedies for alleviating
Screening for cancer
Second chances: Retirement as a second act
Selections from DYING: A Book of Comfort
Senior discounts
Senior housing options (the big picture)
Sensory overload and sensory fatigue
Sepsis
Service dogs, therapy dogs, and other types of assistance dogs, Resources for finding
Sexual assault and sexual abuse
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
Shingles (herpes zoster)
Shingles (herpes zoster) vaccine
Sickle cell disease
Side effects, Managing medicine's
SINGLE PAYER AND OTHER MODELS FOR HEALTH CARE FINANCING
---Single-payer system, pros and cons of
---Differences between single payer insurance, universal health coverage, and "Medicare for All"
---Manpower shortages (shortages of physicians and other healthcare professionals)
---Retainer or concierge medicine and other new models for paying doctors
Sjögren's syndrome
Skin cancer
Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders
Smartphones, the internet, online technology, Addiction to (aka "dependence syndrome")
Smoking and smoking cessation
Sober living housing options
SOCIAL SECURITY
Social Security and veterans benefits, pensions, and annuities
---Basic information about U.S. Social Security
---Being smart about pensions and annuities
---Disability benefits
---Helpful blogs, websites, organizations, and citizen lobbies about Social Security, Medicare, and pension rights
---History of (and threats to) Social Security)
---Problems with, and proposed changes to, Social Security
---Research about Social Security
---Safety net programs for the poor
---Stories and analysis of, explanations and arguments about Social Security
See also Retirement 101
Spirituality for beginners or doubters
Sports for the disabled
Sports journalism (Writers and Editors site)
The stages of grief (“The only way out is through”)
The statin wars
Statistics about death, mortality, long-term care, hospice care, and palliative care
Stem cell therapy for cancer (including treatment at quack clinics)
Stillbirth or perinatal loss, Grieving
STORIES AND STORYTELLING
---The beneficial effects of life story and legacy activities
---Caregivers' stories
---Eulogies and video tributes
---How putting events into a story may aid the healing process
---How storytelling can help dementia patients (blog post)
---How storytelling is changing the way doctors treat illness
---Medical professionals' stories
---Military records, history, and archives
---Narrative medicine and medical narrative
---Obituaries and other forms of tribute
---Patient stories
---Stories of autism , individuals with
---Stories about autism, from parents and siblings
---Stories, healing, and self-understanding (a booklist)
---Stories of courage, inspiration, and other coping attitudes (short pieces, online)
---Telling your story (writing our memoirs, creating a family history, genealogical resources, oral histories, books to get started writing your own or someone else's life story--on the Pat McNees website)
---Writing personal stories about war (blog post)
The stages of grief (“The only way out is through”)
Street medicine ("providing care where people live")
Stroke (or cerebrovascular accident, CVA)
Stuttering (Stammering)
The statin wars
SUBSTANCE ABUSE (ADDICTION AND RECOVERY)
Substance abuse and recovery (addiction as a medical condition)
---Addiction, treatment, and recovery
---Addiction-related organizations and publications
---Alcoholism and approaches to treatment
---Drug courts, The problems with
---Eating disorders
---Gambling, Addiction to
---Opioids and psychoactive drugs, Addiction to
--- Opioid crisis, Culprits in the
---Smartphones, the internet, online technology, Addiction to (aka "dependence syndrome")
---Smoking and smoking cessation
---Sober living housing options
---The war on drugs
Substandard drugs' appeal (and danger) for patients who can't afford real drugs
Sudden death, including sudden death of children
Suicide and surviving a suicide (Books about)
Suicide help lines, hotlines, and lifelines
Suicide, suicidal thinking, and suicide prevention
Superbugs, drug-resistant
Superspreaders and superspreading events (COVID-19)
Supplements, vitamins, and "natural products"
SUPPORT GROUPS and ONLINE COMMUNITIES
---Dementia support groups and research organizations
---Grief support groups
---Online communities for caregivers
---Support groups for patients with chronic, rare, and invisible diseases
---Support groups for those who have lost a spouse or partner
SURGERY (helpful information about)
---Brain surgery
---Heart surgery
---High costs, adverse events, bad practices, and other problems with surgery today
---How to help children deal with surgery
---How to research your surgeon and hospital
---Knee and hip replacement surgery
---Memoirs and reflections of surgeons and about surgery
---What do know and do before surgery
Surprise medical bills (especially hospital, emergency rooms (ER), and "extras")
Surprise medical bills, Pulling back the curtain on
T
Taking the mystery out of drug prices
Tapeworms and other parasites
Teaching the next generation about charity and volunteering
Teen substance abuse
Telemedicine and virtual medical visits
Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Disorders
Testing--for cancer
---DNA
---for Covid
---or dementia
---Genetic
Therapy dogs, service dogs, and other types of assistance dogs)
Thomas, Justice Clarence (under Justice search links)
Throat cancer
Thyroid cancer
Ticks
Tinnitus
Tiny houses, minimalism, and the small-home movement
Tips on how to improve your life, home, bottom line, and credit card selection
Tourette syndrome
Transient global amnesia (TGA)
Transient ischemic attack (TIA)
Trans in America, On being (blog post)
Transportation assistance
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)
Traveling in retirement
---Home exchanges, housesitting, and home sharing
---Road scholar and other educational trips
---Travel insurance and other defensive measures
---Travel tips and resources
Tuberculosis
Turner syndrome
Tylenol
21st Century Cures Act: What's wrong with it
U
Universal health coverage, compared with single payer insurance and "Medicare for All"
Urgent care and emergency care
Urinary tract problems
V
VACCINES AND VACCINATIONS
---COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy
---COVID-19 vaccine trackers
---COVID-19 vaccines: when?
Vaccines and vaccinations (general)
---Anti-vaxxers
---Autism and vaccines
---Basics about vaccines
---Books about vaccines and immunization
---Conditions for which increasing immunization is important
---Measles and measles vaccines
---Vaccine information for medical professionals
Valvular heart disease
Vaping: a modern horror story (Juul e-cigarettes)
Veterans and veterans benefits, issues with (U.S. veterans)
Veterans benefits and Social Security
Veterans death, burial, and survivor benefits
Veterans discounts
Veterans, Farewells to
Veterans healthcare
Veterans healthcare, disability, death, and survivor benefits
Veterans, Services for (and for veterans' families)
Veterans writing about war (blog post)
Village movement, The
Viruses See also Vaccines
Vision problems and conditions
"target="_blank">Vision problems
Vitamin D, the "sunshine vitamin"
Vitamins, supplements, and "natural products"
Volunteering
W
The war on drugs
War, Writing personal stories about (blog post)
Water crisis, Covering the (on Writers and Editors site)
We are what we eat? Read this, get healthy, feel better! (links to good articles)
Weight, achieving and maintaining healthy
Weight loss
Wegovy, Ozempic, and other 'weight-loss' drugs
West Nile virus
What Not to Throw in the Trash or Garbage
What to know and do before surgery
What to say (or not say) to someone who has cancer
What to say (or not say) to those who are dying or grieving
When is someone legally dead?
When you die, who owns your online legacy?
Where journalists get their medical news and information (Writers and Editors site)
Why U.S. medical costs are so high and where the system needs fixing
Widows and widowers -- mourning the loss of a spouse, partner, co-parent, significant other
Wills, trusts, legacies, and estates
Will you die from medical error?
Women's specific health care problems
Women's reproductive health
Worst practices in charity world
Writing personal stories about war (blog post)
Wrongful conviction
X
Y
Yoga(scroll down in Exercise)
Z
Zika virus
Zoom (Getting started, and problems with)
I started this site as a supplement to my anthology, Dying: A Book of Comfort, which was published to help both people who were dying and those who care for and survive them and who (like the dying) have to deal with grief. Then my friend Harold, whose heart was in lousy shape, read the book (a dozen years before his death) and told me he was much less anxious about dying after reading it. What bothered him more than fear of dying were the multiple chronic conditions that came with aging, which made life more difficult than it used to be. And then there were the caregivers -- they needed help too. And the people with conditions like cancer (once a death notice) now had (along with the consequences of treatment) chronic conditions to deal with.
So this site has expanded in directions the original website title (Dying: A Book of Comfort) didn't fit. It is mainly a gateway to information that can help you in practical and sometimes powerful ways. And the title is pretty bad (suggestions welcome). Technology, altruism, curiosity, and obsessive behavior have made the site grow way beyond what I have time for. As time becomes available, I'll try to make it more presentable. Meanwhile, explore.
This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to earn site owners advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com (mostly for books). By all means, shop in a bookstore, but Amazon is a useful source of information, and if you buy books using this site's links I earn a small (indeed, minuscule) commission. (After getting a lot of us signed up for linking to its site, Amazon radically reduced the amount of earnings we got from each sale. Still, the site has a lot of useful information.)
INDEX FOR SPECIFIC DISEASES, DISORDERS, AND CONDITIONS
See also INDEX FOR SITE
and SITE MAP
Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)
Addiction and substance abuse disorders
Addiction, including alcoholism
ADHD, ADD, and other problems with inconsistent (sometimes hyperfocused) attention
Allergies
Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia
Antibiotic-resistant diseases
Asthma
ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia
Aneurysm and arteriovenus malformation, or AVM
Anxiety and phobias
Arthritis
Asperger's syndrome
Autism spectrum disorders
Autoimmune diseases
Autism spectrum disorders
Back pain, chronic
Bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness)
Bladder control and related timing problems
Black lung disease
Blindness, macular degeneration, and other vision problems and disorders
Blood disorders, including Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Borderline personality disorder
Brain injury
Camptocormia (aka bent spine syndrome, or cyphose hystérique)
Cancers, various types
Cardiovascular disease (heart and coronary conditions)
Celiac disease
Cerebral palsy
Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease
Children's mental health problems
Chronic, rare, and invisible diseases and disorders
Crohn's disease, colitis, and other gastrointestinal disorders
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)
Clostridium difficile (C. diff or C. difficile)
Coronavirus
Cutting and self-harm
Cystic fibrosis (CF)
Deafness and hearing loss
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Depression and other forms of mental illness
Depression, including Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Diabetes
Digestive diseases and disorders
Diverticulosis and diverticulitis
Dysautomnia (POTS)
Dyslexia
Eating disorders
Ebola virus
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
Endometriosis
Epilepsy
Eye diseases, blindness and vision problems
Flu (influenza)
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
Fungal infections
Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease
Glaucoma
Graves disease
Guillain-Barré syndrome
Hashimoto's disease (Hashimoto's thyroiditis)
Heart conditions and disease
Hepatitis C virus (HPC) and Hepatitis A
HIV/AIDS
Human papillomavirus (HPV)
Infectious diseases, General information about
Influenza (flu)
Knee replacement and other fixes for body parts
Kidney disease, kidney failure, dialysis, kidney transplants
Lead poisoning
Leprosy
Lupus
Lyme disease, Late-stage (getting diagnosed and treated--equally difficult stages)
Lyme disease, The truth about (it's controversial)
Macular degeneration
Medical mysteries
Meningitis (various forms)
Mental illness and mental health (bipolar disorder, depression, OCD, schizophrenia, and other conditions)
Migraine
Monkeypox
Movement disorders ( see also Parkinson's, Tourette's)
MRSA, superbugs, and antibiotic-resistant diseases
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcolepsy
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
PAN/PANDAS (difficult to diagnose disease)
Parkinson's disease
Polio and post-polio syndrome
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus)
Schizophrenia
Seborrheic dermatitis
Sepsis
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
Shingles (herpes zoster)
Sickle cell disease
Sjögren's syndrome
Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders
Smallpox
Stroke
Stuttering (Stammering)
Syphilis
Tinnitus
Tourette Syndrome
Transient global amnesia (TGA)
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)
Tuberculosis
More links to diseases and conditions (on other websites)
• Blood disorders (National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute)
• Infectious Disease Information, A to Z (CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases)
• Conditions & diseases linked to environmental exposures (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences)
See also
INDEX FOR SITE
and SITE MAP
Dying: A Book of Comfort
(healing words on loss and grief)
“This remarkable collection, coming from personal experience and wide reading, will help many
find the potential of growth through loss.” ~ Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the hospice movement
in Washingtonian magazine
"A beautifully crafted collection of life-affirming passages from more than forty celebrated writers, thinkers, and religious voices of various faiths. These voices combine to speak eloquently to the heart of the reader about the nature of dying, and offer a way to provide words of Comfort for those who remain behind."
“...about dying and grief, yes, but more importantly, it is a book about understanding and healing. The deep truths and exquisite beauty will bring solace to many grieving hearts. A gem to be treasured.”
“A friend gave me a copy of Dying: A Book of Comfort when my son-in-law died. I passed it on to my grieving daughter, bought a copy for myself, and then bought five more copies, so I would have something meaningful and healing to give to friends who were facing their own or others’ deaths. We never know when death will come to those we love. This valuable resource deserves a place on everyone’s shelf as a compendium of thoughtful reflections — by famous and lesser-known writers — that affirm life even as they help us cope with death.”
I was originally asked to do this book by Barbara Greenman, who was then editor of Doubleday's Literary Guild book club. Her long-time friend was dying and she wanted to know how best to help--wanted something positive. I knew, from my experience helping my father when he was dying from lung cancer, that there was little help available for people trying to do this on their own. Hospices are wonderful, but they aren't there late at night when you're on your own and flying blind. So this project was a labor of love for both Barbara and me.
Nobody teaches us how to die, or how to help someone die; nor how to grieve, or how best to help the grieving. My emphasis in collecting material for this anthology was on the emotional, not the practical, aspects of death and grieving. I looked for selections that offer meaningful insights and experiences, comforting words and stories, some guidance, much reassurance.
This is not a how-to book, but I chose selections around several basic themes: the intensity with which life is experienced by people who are dying (and those who help them die), what it is like (emotionally) to die, how to help someone die, how to say good-bye,what to expect from grief, and how to console the bereaved. There are special sections on mourning the death of a parent, the death of a child, a death by suicide, or a violent, unexpected death. There are selections about near-death experiences, about life after death, and about life and death. There are prayers from many faiths as well as selections to comfort those with no religious faith. There are also selections suitable for reading at funerals and memorial services. All of the selections are short, because people who are grieving (including people who are dying) are often unable to concentrate on anything long.
This book was first published as a Literary Guild original, in an edition so lovely that both Barbara and the art director felt that of all the books they had worked on, this was the one they were proudest of. (You can't imagine how rare an experience this is for an author.) The Guild edition is not available in bookstores. Warner Books brought out a trade paperback edition, which was available in bookstores, and which adapted the original Guild design to a slightly larger format (and a heavier book).
Frankly, although the book was fine in its paperback format, it wasn't as perfect a gift book, and as my Warner editor pointed out, Warner did not specialize in "back list" titles (those that sell quietly, year after year). When the Warner edition went out of print, the Guild agreed to print a special edition, because I was getting e-mails of frustration from people who were used to buying copies of the book to have on hand for when a friend experienced a death in the family. I am happy to be able to make that original Guild hardcover edition, with the lovely jacket (a soft yellow matte finish, with a small shining work of art, a bridge across water, center front), available again. The content is the same in both books. I have copies of both the paperback and the Guild hardcover for sale, but personally, I prefer the Guild edition.
The cover art is The White Bridge by John Henry Twachtman, courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Nanna Tanier, creative supervisor of the Doubleday book clubs by which DYING was first published, wrote: "I grew ever more surprised while reading Dying, A Book of Comfort. I was expecting depressing or clichéd material, but I found, instead, thoughtful, peaceful, even inspiring passages on this difficult subject. Pat McNees has helpfully organized specific topics in each chapter -- from the experience of dying to saying good-bye, to mourning a parent or child, to the journey through grief. There is even a sensitive chapter on mourning a suicide or sudden death. Additionally, there is a chapter of “Prayers in Many Voices,” where regardless of faith, you will find passages that truly speak to, and comfort you. Of the books I have designed, this is the one I am most proud of. I have given it to family and friends, all of whom have found comfort and peace in its pages."
I am happy that the lovely edition for which Nanna was art director (Debbie Glasserman was designer) is now back in print.