Caring for a Spouse: Navigating the Financial, Legal, and Emotional Journey with Sandy Moss Moder (Ep. 58)
What happens when love meets life-altering diagnosis and financial pressure?
For Sandy Moss Moder, it meant stepping into the unknown and documenting every step of the way.
In this episode, I talk with Sandy about her raw and revealing story as a caregiver for her husband battling frontotemporal degeneration. She opens up about the emotional, medical, and financial hurdles she faced—and how her journaling eventually became a published memoir. This conversation shines a light on caregiving, planning ahead, and the power of art and community.
Key takeaways:
- The early behavioral changes that led to her husband’s FTD diagnosis and the lack of awareness among medical professionals
- The emotional toll and day-to-day unpredictability of caregiving for a spouse with cognitive decline
- The financial planning steps she took—including setting up a trust, adjusting Social Security, and building a support team
- Her process of documenting the disease through journaling, which turned into her memoir
- The importance of finding the right care facility, asking the right questions, and leaning on senior living advisors
- And more!
Resources:
- Get Your FREE Simply Retirement Roadmap
- #21: Navigating Senior Living Decisions with Joyce Logan
- Book: If I Have One More Brain Thing…
- Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD): theaftd.org
- Essay: Heal the Heart, Sort Out the Truths, and Find a Way
Connect with Eric Blake:
- www.TheSimplyRetirementPodcast.com
- Join the Simply Retirement Newsletter
- Ask a Question or Suggest a Topic for the Podcast
- Blake Wealth Management
- YouTube
Connect with Sandy Moss Moder:
- Personal Website: sandymossmoder.com
- Email: author@sandymossmoder.com
About our Guest:
Sandy Moss Moder, artist, art instructor at Calumet Art Studio, and now author. I found my creative side at a young age, drawing and painting on found paper and book reports, which led to art classes and writing a drawing curriculum I continue to teach. I have a love for interior design, an extension of color and placement. I began writing in junior high through poetry, journals, essays and stories, which led me to write a memoir, “If I Have One More Brain Thing…” I live in McKinney, Texas, with my two spaniels, “the girls”.
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