Twenty-Four Seven: A Podcast About Caregiving

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What happens when you become your parent's parent? That's what longtime NPR journalist Kitty Eisele had to figure out when she became a full-time caregiver for her beloved dad. After moving back to her childhood home, she finds herself bewildered by the medical, legal, and emotional challenges of elder-care, to say nothing of the time her dad headed off on a 300-mile road trip without telling her. Kitty's dad was experiencing cognitive decline, but she felt like the one losing her mind. Twenty-Four Seven explores how we help our loved ones live—and die—and what they mean to us. Support for this podcast comes from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and its Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases.

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Recent Reviews
  • eralbertson
    Heartfelt and Helpful. Highly recommend!
    It’s easy to feel alone in your experience as a caregiver, and this podcast can really help you see that other’s are experiencing similar situations. As a daughter to 90 and 92 year-old-parents who are doing well yet still need caregiving and support, I found this podcast informative and helpful. It’s also incredibly well produced and engaging.
  • Lainikins
    The Most Helpful!
    This is the most helpful podcast I have come across. Each is short and succinct and approaches real issues with individual experiences and solutions. I listened to all of the episodes in 1 evening. I feel so much better having heard other caregivers’ experiences with their loved ones and crazy-making dementia.
  • oregonbc
    From One Caregiver to Others
    I was my late mom’s caregiver on a 10-year Alzheimer’s journey until she passed away in February 2013. Kitty’s Twenty-Four Seven podcast is one of the best I’ve heard. Like us, she’s been there. Especially her recent conversation with Patti Davis Reagan, it is touching, powerful, and informative. I highly recommend this podcast for any current or former caregiver or anyone seeking to learn more, personally or professionally.
  • Sine Metu 2022
    Incredibly informative and personal.
    Kitty’s personal experience as the daughter of an Alzheimer’s patient coupled with her skills a reporter make this podcast informative and comforting. We are grateful Kitty Eisele decided to put her journey into a podcast and shining a light on Alzheimer’s disease that most do not want to discuss.
  • Elaine Díaz
    My fav podcast
    This podcast is wonderful. It’s touching, sensitive, and everybody should feel related to. Thanks a lot, Kitty.
  • TJones5598
    Great podcast
    This podcast was extremely helpful for me I look forward to more episodes to keep me company!
  • lucylu6
    Relatable and well told
    Several of my in-laws have dementia, and it is so hard to watch and help them through the later years. This podcast brings some humor and lots of honesty. My husband, who’s not a big podcast listener, really appreciated it, too.
  • Bankers-Anonymous
    Thank you
    Lost my dad to dementia ~3 years ago. Extremely relatable!
  • JASchmalz
    Great!
    Thank you for sharing your story on what it is like to become a caregiver for someone you love but also how challenging it is.
  • Hulahoop@52
    i never felt lonely
    this was so touching
  • Tim Fall
    The Relief of a Parent’s Death
    I truly appreciated your interview on Weekend Edition. When you mentioned a feeling of relief, I knew I’d run across a person who understands. I was the person primarily responsible for my father when he suffered a subdural hematoma in his 90s. From the emerge surgery in 2016 to 2019 I carried that burden, and felt the relief when he died. The toll on my mental health was unending, and led me to medical help for years. I ended up writing about it in an ebook On Not Missing My Father; the Relief of a Parent’s Death, and then included that season in my judicial/mental health memoir (published by Wipf and Stock). Thank you for giving voice to this for the rest of us.
  • Kat Milch
    Kitty Eisele author of Demented (I wrote a pervious one but I think it disappeared)
    Thank you for this insightful podcast from the caregiver’s view of helping a loved one and how hard it is to navigate. I cared for my father at first in his home, but soon after in a nursing home as his Alzheimer’s progressed quickly over a three year period. I felt lucky as I had a supportive husband and my brother, although he lived out of state, was my rock. Wish I could have listened to something like this 14 years ago. I’ll look forward to more episodes. Sincerely, Kat Milch
  • GratefulAussieMom
    Thank you
    Thank you for sharing your story. I recently began caregiving for my mother and hearing your experience has brought both tears and laughter. I appreciate knowing that there are other adult children in this same role.
  • KarenJohn+
    Demented
    I loved this podcast and could totally relate to Kitty’s stories, as I was the caregiver for my aging father and disabled sister, simultaneously for 2 years. Oddly enough, both died within 2 months of each other and then I became the executrix of their estates. It was a lot to handle. I searched for a book to help me keep all of their personal and medical information straight, to no avail. So, I wrote one myself that I now sell on Amazon. It is entitled, Quick Access to Your Important Information: A means of gathering and compiling your important information so that you have it all in one place” I used it for both of them while they were alive and after their death. Now I use it to keep my own records every day. It made my life so much easier as a caregiver.
  • Xgynf
    Comforting and thought-provoking
    I look forward to more from Kitty and this podcast. I especially liked the advice from the Hospice Chaplain. My mom was “in hospice” for only a few hours, but I was so grateful for the support offered me. It was nothing like I thought it would be. Now facing a future with my 90 year old dad, many of the issues brought up here are increasingly relevant.
  • MissyMatildaGunn
    Looking forward to the series!
    Eldercare doesn’t get enough attention.
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