Grief Therapy in DE · NJ · MD · VA · FL · SC
Grief Therapy in DE · NJ · MD · VA · FL · SC
Anticipatory grief doesn’t always look like sitting at a bedside. Sometimes it looks like a phone call with test results, and a feeling you’re not proud of. This is also a story about caregiver guilt — the kind that shows up not because of what you did, but because of what you couldn’t give. My …
Anticipatory grief shows up in the smallest moments — long before a loss actually happens. This is one of mine. I walked into my mom’s hospital room and immediately noticed her bald head. No one warned me. There was no gentle heads-up in the hallway, no “before you go in, just so you’re prepared.” I …
What you’re feeling has a name: anticipatory grief. And it’s real, even when the people around you can’t see it. You told someone you love about the diagnosis. Or about the fear. Or about the phone call that changed everything. And they said something like: “At least they caught it early.” “You have to stay …
When you or someone you love receives a devastating chronic illness diagnosis, the immediate focus goes where it should — to the medical team, the treatment plan, the next appointment. You’re in logistics mode. You’re managing information, making decisions, showing up. What often doesn’t make the list is your emotional health. Not because it doesn’t …
Maybe you were sitting in a doctor’s office when it happened. Maybe it was a phone call you almost missed, a voicemail you had to replay twice because the words didn’t fully land. However it happened, what you experienced in that moment could be chronic illness grief. However it happened, you remember it. There is …
A few weeks ago I picked up the phone and called my dad’s doctor. He didn’t know I was doing it. He would have been furious if he did. I did it anyway. What Was Happening My dad has a heart condition. He’s on Lasix — a diuretic meant to keep fluid from building up. …
I visited someone I love recently. The anticipatory grief visited too. I noticed his collarbone first. In fact, he pointed it out. The way it’s become hollow. He asked me to grab it…to put my hand in the hollow space. He also pointed out his bicep. Asked me to feel it. It’s a fraction of …
This past weekend, I took a ferry ride across the Delaware Bay. It turned into an Ocean of Grief. It was overcast. The kind of gray sky that doesn’t feel threatening — just heavy. The water was surprisingly calm. Maybe the most calm I ever remember that ride being. I stood on the deck watching …