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| Foreword | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Bringing Up the Subject | |
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| The New Touchy Subject | |
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| Competing Agendas | |
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| Ghosts in the Room | |
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| Beyond Either/Or | |
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| The Pre-Talk Talk | |
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| What Could They Be Thinking? | |
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| Breaking the Ice | |
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| Organizing a Family Meeting | |
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| The Actual Talk | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Decisions for the Future | |
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| The Best-Laid Plans | |
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| Practically Speaking | |
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| The Sibling Balancing Act | |
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| Resentment, Take 2 | |
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| Opening the Lines | |
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| "To Bring Them Together Again" | |
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| Old Family Scripts | |
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| Cultural Imperatives | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Caregiving at a Distance | |
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| Choosing a Geriatric Care Manager | |
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| VSS: Vanishing Sibling Syndrome | |
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| But Who Will Care for Me? | |
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| Eight Is Just Enough | |
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| Your Parent's Best Advocate | |
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| The Organized Advocate | |
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| Managing Health Care | |
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| Hospital Bills and Insurance Claims | |
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| Dealing with Nursing Homes | |
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| Scam Alert! | |
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| Lawyering Up | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Laying the Groundwork | |
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| Questions for the Doctor | |
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| Decoding a Prescription | |
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| Issues of Race and Class | |
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| A Patient's Bill of Rights | |
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| Coping with Hospital Bills | |
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| A Nursing Home Resident's Bill of Rights | |
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| Shred, Don't Pitch | |
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| Money Matters | |
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| Sizing Up the Situation | |
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| And the Bottom Line Is... | |
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| Things Look Good for Now-What's Next? | |
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| The Question of Long-Term Care | |
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| Do Your Homework | |
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| Reality Knocks | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Key Questions | |
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| Should You Worry? | |
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| Making Ends Meet (Sort of) | |
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| Be a Fraud Detector | |
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| Choosing a Financial Planner | |
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| Long-Term Care Insurance Costs | |
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| A Small Family Relying on Friends | |
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| The Body | |
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| What Is "Normal" Aging? | |
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| Choosing a Doctor | |
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| A Pound of Prevention | |
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| The Changing Senses | |
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| Common Ailments | |
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| Didn't Sleep a Wink | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| A Test in Time | |
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| Mountain Man | |
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| Preventing Falls | |
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| The Unsinkable Wally Ristow | |
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| Warning Signs 1 | |
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| Warning Signs 2 | |
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| Getting Some Shut-Eye | |
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| The Brain | |
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| The Truth About Depression | |
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| No Turning Back | |
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| "Everything Has an Air of Strangeness" | |
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| The Road Ahead | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| My Father's Blog | |
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| Signs of Depression | |
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| Is It Alzheimer's? | |
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| Minimizing Stroke Damage | |
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| Routine Therapy | |
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| Design for Living with Dementia | |
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| At the Crossroads | |
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| The Medicare Maze | |
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| The ABCDs of Medicare | |
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| Medicare Part A: Hospital Insurance | |
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| Medicare Part B: Medical Insurance | |
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| Medicare Part C: Medicare Advantage | |
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| Medicare Part D: Prescription Drug Benefit | |
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| Filling in the (Medi)Gap | |
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| Blinded by the Fine Print | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Names and Numbers You'll Need | |
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| How to Decipher a Summary Notice | |
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| Check List of Choices | |
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| Medicare Surprises: Pleasant and Otherwise | |
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| Who You Gonna Call? | |
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| Lose Some, Lose Some | |
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| Making a Medicare Appeal | |
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| And Sometimes You Win One | |
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| Living Arrangements | |
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| Staying Put | |
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| Day-Tripping | |
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| Making Room for Mom or Dad | |
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| Independent Living 101 | |
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| When a Nursing Home Makes Sense | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Who Lives Where | |
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| How Safe Is Your Parents' Home? | |
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| Choosing a Home Health Aide | |
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| Tradition vs. Reality | |
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| Two Parents, Two Arrangements | |
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| Build Your Own Village | |
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| Caring for the Caregiver | |
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| The Hidden Patients | |
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| The Stress Factor | |
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| Making Yourself a Priority | |
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| Lightening the Load | |
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| Give the Pros a Chance | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| The Art of Self-Preservation | |
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| Rewrite Your Inner Script | |
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| Take a Breath | |
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| Share the Care | |
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| Choosing Adult Day Center Programs | |
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| Saying Good-bye | |
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| A New Intimacy | |
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| Making Arrangements Ahead of Time | |
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| Achieving Closure | |
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| The Hospice Solution | |
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| Getting Down to "What Was Good" | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Managing Pain | |
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| Choosing Hospice Care | |
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| Letting Go | |
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| As the End Nears | |
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| Not Quite Ready Yet | |
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| The Last Details | |
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| The Shape of Tomorrow | |
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| The Phases of Grief | |
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| Variations on a Theme | |
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| Yourself and Others | |
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| The Rightness of Ritual | |
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| The Stages of Healing | |
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| A New Way of Being Together | |
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| Resources | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| When to Seek Help | |
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| The One Left Behind | |
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| Children and Grief | |
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| Facing the Holidays | |
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| Grieving Well | |
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| Rock-a-Bye Baby | |
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| Afterword | |
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| Appendix | |
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| Glossary | |
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| About the Authors | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Index | |
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| Photography Credits | |