Caregiving is often described as a sacrifice. One individual bears a burden to care for another. There’s a connotation of drainage, evocations of burned-out batteries and tired limbs.

I was a premedical student. I was aggressive in pursuing an MD. I wanted to be the best doctor I could be. I did not realize that required me to become a much a better person.

I left school to care for my grandmother. …

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My grandmother’s room is silent, save for the plucks of sitar strings and Pixar movie soundtracks I try to stimulate her with. Instead of books, we fill the shelves around her bed with mouth swabs, drab hospital gowns and vials of baby powder. My grandmother — who walked an hour every day, who thrashed me in gin rummy, who rose before sunrise every morning to read — now lies bedridden …

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