Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “A Hospital Bed at Home” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Read Excerpt

A Hospital Bed at Home

Janene Carey (Goodreads Author)

4.17 · Rating details · 6 ratings · 3 reviews

A Hospital Bed at Home is a linked collection of true stories about the experience of being a carer during the weeks, months and years that can stretch between the day someone you love is diagnosed with an incurable, fatal disease and the day of his or her death.

Couples facing separation after forty years together; a workaholic with three small children and a dying, angry ...more

Get A Copy

ebook

Published 2014 by Tablelands Press

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about A Hospital Bed at Home, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about A Hospital Bed at Home

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-14

Average rating 4.17 ·

Rating details

· 6 ratings · 3 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of A Hospital Bed at Home

Mar 21, 2014 Ruby rated it it was amazing

I can't remember a book that has had such a strong emotional impact on me. Maybe it is knowing the author, or having a sick dad myself, but I was floored by this book. I finished it a few days ago, but it has taken me that long to figure out what I want to write about it. Carey has written about a subject that needs to be talked about. Caring for loved ones to their deaths is a task just about all of us will face one day, but nobody talks about it. It's not easy to know what to say, really.

The I can't remember a book that has had such a strong emotional impact on me. Maybe it is knowing the author, or having a sick dad myself, but I was floored by this book. I finished it a few days ago, but it has taken me that long to figure out what I want to write about it. Carey has written about a subject that needs to be talked about. Caring for loved ones to their deaths is a task just about all of us will face one day, but nobody talks about it. It's not easy to know what to say, really.

The book begins with several different accounts of caring for dying relatives. Carey has found a really eclectic group of people to explore the a range of experiences of nursing loved ones to death. While in some ways, there are universal threads running through their stories, Carey also highlights the incredible diversity of experiences and emotions people have when they support a loved one to die at home. Her sensitive re-telling of their sacred stories also highlights the enormous impact death has on family dynamics in the lead-up to death and beyond. She explores the impact of impending death on a mother with young children. I was particularly moved by an account of death by a Buddhist family, who saw the whole process as a spiritual practice that was enriching as well as harrowing.

Carey writes about the extreme stress, love and emotional upheaval caring for her mother until death, and the result is raw and confronting. She does a great job of describing the extremes of exhaustion and the mess of emotions when her mother was dying. She also explores the impact it had on her whole family, the guilty juggle of caring for children and attending to the rest of the family while supporting her mother. The ongoing impact on family dynamics is probably not something people tend to think about until it actually occurs.

This is a subject that needs to be written about, but it takes a writer of great courage and skill to tackle it. Carey is blessed with both courage and skill as a writer and she has written an amazing book. I will be recommending it to anyone facing a death in the family, as a source of solidarity, understanding and support. A very special and valuable resource for those of us who are facing this difficult universal milestone. Books like these are not only valuable, they are well overdue. In a world that can be saturated with information, this book is outstanding and I will not soon forget it. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 30, 2014 Lynette Aspey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Janene Carey’s “A Hospital Bed at Home” is a collection of six personal accounts of caregiving from diagnoses to death. Together, these stories blend into an insightful, heart-felt narrative and provide a window into the lives of every-day Australians who found themselves the carers of their dying loved ones.

This collection opens a dialogue that is so needed in our society and it is journalism at its best: transparently written accounts of real people. It makes for sad, often funny, and complete ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2014 Edwina Shaw rated it really liked it

This book is a wonderful resource for those who are caring for a loved one with a terminal illness, especially if they are choosing to do so at home. As is shown through these true stories, caring for someone who is dying is an exhausting process, not just emotionally, but also physically. Carey writes in depth about what it is like to be one of these carers, using her own experiences and those of others. In her own section she writes with brutal honesty reminiscent of Helen Garner about the emo ...more

flag Like · see review

Idefix rated it it was amazing
Feb 26, 2020

Em rated it liked it
Oct 30, 2018

Anna rated it really liked it
Feb 26, 2015

Jennifer Spencer marked it as to-read
Mar 26, 2014

Deanna marked it as to-read
Mar 26, 2014

Christine marked it as to-read
Jun 27, 2018

Lwin marked it as to-read
Mar 06, 2016

Jennifer Perry marked it as to-read
Oct 08, 2019

Bonnie Bryce marked it as to-read
Apr 06, 2015

Sheri Wallace is currently reading it
Apr 23, 2018

Julie Weiss is currently reading it
Sep 20, 2019

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
THE Group for Aut...: Book launch queries	8	42	May 21, 2014 10:58AM

About Janene Carey

Janene Carey

3 followers

Janene Carey is a freelance writer, editor and academic. Previously, she was employed as a journalist, sub-editor and acting editor with her local newspaper, The Armidale Express. She has a PhD in writing, and her work has been published in national newspapers, magazines and literary journals, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, OUTBACK magazine, Australian Book Review, TEXT and P ...more