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How Many Kids Do You Have?
Opening the door to the neighborhood brewery, I was greeted with a gust of warm air. I stepped into the warmth and out of the snow, rubbing the cold out of my hands. It was February, and Minneapolis was still in the thick of winter. Surpris
Grief Without God
My grief journey would be easier if I believed in God.
The Endless List of Therapies
When my son Declan was really young, before I had truly learned that I couldn’t control the course of his disease, I dragged that kid to every kind of therapy I could get him into. I bought into the hype.
Sibling Grief
My ten-year-old son, Nash, woke up one morning crabby as can be. He had been a bit off the night before too. Overly sensitive to things that normally roll right off him. His dad is a nickname guy. And man oh man does Ryan come up with some
Waivers: A Misunderstood Lifeline in Medically Complex Care
I had heard of waivers for years, but I didn’t really look into them until Declan was in school. I knew they provided funding, but money wasn’t the problem. Or so I thought. Our insurance covered nursing, and I was still doing everything I
Not a Babysitter: The Clinical Reality of Pediatric Home Health Nursing
Home care in pediatrics is far more complex than many people realize. During my time working in pediatric home health, I was often told that the role was essentially that of a “glorified babysitter.” It is anything but that. Pediatric home
The Nurses Who Carried Us
I’ve written articles critiquing systems, and a handful have come down fairly hard on the nursing profession. While I’ve been careful not to come across as anti-nurse, because I’m not, much of my focus has been educating families that nurse
What I Learned Investigating Child Abuse: What Parents Should Know When Others Care for Your Child
My name is Bill. I was a police detective assigned to child abuse investigations for more than ten years. I worked cases involving serious physical abuse and sexual abuse of children and adolescents by family members and caregivers in the o
When Grief Finds Oxygen
My grief journey continues to evolve, as people warned me it would. When Declan first died, I think I was in shock. I was numb. People would cry and bawl their eyes out in front of me... and it made me uncomfortable. Because wasn’t I suppos
Hypoventilation and Decoding Blood Gases
This post is more technical than most of my writing. I’m sharing it because I wish I had understood these concepts sooner. If you’re caring for someone with chronic respiratory failure, I hope this helps you ask better questions, and potent
Home Care Nursing: What I Wish I'd Known Before Welcoming Nurses into My House
When Declan was in the NICU, the nurses felt like my therapists and friends. They advised me, coached me, and cheered for us as we stumbled through those early days.
The Impossible Trade-Off
Ashley and I have known each other since college, but it is the shared journey as special needs parents that has kept us in touch over the years.
They'll Take Your License! A Nursing Board Myth Families Can't Afford
Now Published on KevinMD and featured on his Podcast
ADA Compliance and Why You Should Care
ADA Compliance Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
Disability Inclusion
I think most people want to do the right thing and be kind to others. It can be hard though when you don’t know how to interact with someone. Disabilities can show up in all kinds of ways. Physical differences, unusual mannerisms or behavio
Thanksgiving in DC: Traveling After Loss
We went to DC for Thanksgiving this year to see my mom. It was the first time in about 7 years that we took Nash, and obviously it was Beckham’s first time out there.
Navigating Grief and the Loss of a Medically Complex Child
There are so many cliches when it comes to grief. The ones I have heard the most from well-meaning people wanting to help: “It’ll hit you at seemingly random times”, or “It’ll get easier with time, but it never really goes away”. And my fav
Human Composting
Any time there’s a death, a fundamental logistics question has to be answered. What to do with the body?
Abuse of Vulnerable Children and Other Vulnerable Populations
For some of my writing, specifically for the author’s note for my book, I did some digging into statistics. One of the things I looked for was whether there were any statistics around how likely it is for someone to be abused by a caregiver
The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Homecare Nursing, From a Nurse
When I first met the Youngdales, I was a night-shift nurse working with three different kiddos. I was used to being one of ten to fifteen nurses rotating through each case. It was a good system—efficient, organized, predictable. You got to