I am excited to present my new book,“A Son’s Journey: Taking Care of Mom and Dad.” The book entails my personal journey as my brother and I dealt with our aging parents. The stories told are heartbreaking at times, but also joyful with love and laughter. It illustrates how love and loss is simply the cycle of life we all must endure sooner or later. The lessons my brother and I learned are the gems in the book I would like to share, so that when faced with this inevitable part of life, it can be filled with more positive experiences.

The book provides a wealth of resources that I learned and gathered from being the owner of Homewatch CareGivers, a personal care home health company in Plymouth, Michigan. The stories and lessons from the thousands of families my agency has cared for has also contributed to hundreds of resources and helpful tools on aging and end of life issues. Use this as a tool and gain something of value in your experiences and interactions with your aging parents.

The 7 Chapters cover a range of topics, from how to talk with your parents about age related matters, “the talk about driving,” accepting a caregiver in the home, and knowing the signs of caregiver abuse to assure the safety of your loved one. It also discusses those special cases prevalent among seniors, like Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. I also address the gift of hospice and all its myths. Finally, the book ends with how my relationship with a beautiful Russian woman led to the opening of my home care company in Moscow.

Why read this? I wrote this for the adult children in need of guidance when making tough decisions for their loved ones. Forget the boring textbooks… My lessons can be applied to any personal situation. I hope you are as excited about the book as I am. Stay tuned for more!

~ Kurt Kazanowski, MS, RN, CHE