THE CARE & FEEDING OF YOU. FINAL TALE FROM THE NURSING HOME
By Karen Strickholm 03/21/2026
My motto ~ Never, ever give up.
Critical Illness can turn one into a human potato! Drugs. Pain. Fatigue. Low stimulation. Low movement.
Activities?
We do have a weekly visit from evangelicals, an assortment of coloring books, crafting with Popsicle sticks and glitter, the ubiquitous TV tuned to game shows and old sitcoms, plastic building blocks, a jigsaw puzzle of cats.
Many here have dementia, are nonverbal, non-ambulatory.
Video of Jacob Collier creating live
It is in this nursing home chain hellscape that I find myself (and, this is one of the better places). Emerging from this lengthy medical affair, I’m revving up for more life. Upping my “stim quotient” is a big piece of care and feeding, as it speeds up recovery in all domains. Some recent faves here…
For your spirit (above) ~ Who is this confident young man in electric orange pants, weaving and bobbing on this auditorium stage?
It’s Jacob Collier, musical polymath, discovered by no less than Quincy Jones. Collier composes music live with orchestra and audience. Prepare to be enchanted, so worth the watch! Bonus – Music critics are moved here, here and here.
A masterful, short (15 min.) tutorial on exactly how to use AI… I learned so much from this.
For your mind ~ What a time to be alive! We are living through truly cataclysmic days. Old structures are churning and burning. The media landscape is shifting dramatically. Unrest and instability are everywhere. What can one do to be ready?
Me, I’m using this down time to embrace AI. Check out the MIT Monk. He takes your hand in the gentlest of ways, and walks us through this short tutorial on understanding and using AI.
Dance like there’s no tomorrow!
Lastly, our brains quite literally work better when we move.
Physical therapy is not just about lifting weights and stretching colored bands (soooo boring). Even in a wheelchair, I can and do dance to stuff like this. It’s silly in all the right ways.
Give it a try, friends – Your body-brain axis will be so grateful.
I thank you so much for your participation in this journey – bearing witness is a powerful thing.
Next missive, will have survival strategies for stints in the nursing home, the practical stuff. With much love, Karen
PS: Victory! One of the nastiest wounds has completely healed! The others will be closed in just a few more weeks. My motto ~ Never, ever give up. 📣
PPS: Amuse Bouche… Death masks! Metal braces! Makeovers! Weird eyes! And with AI, how Marie Antoinette would appear were she to walk amongst us today… Enjoy!
Editor’s note:
This was Karen Strickholm’s last “missive,” as she called her stories.
Ten days after she published this missive to her mailing list she entered hospital, for what would be the final time, with sepsis and pneumonia.
Her obituary states she died peacefully, with her dear friend Sazi by her side. I hope her final moments were as she described in her amazing story THAT NDE, NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE & ME.
https://theicarian.com/blog/that-nde-near-death-experience-me/If you came in here at the end of this series, I suggest starting with part one, Karen Strickholm: A Will To Live When Health Issues Take Everything.
https://theicarian.com/karen/karen-strickholm-a-will-to-live/Karen’s unflagging optimism inspires me, and kept me going during my own recent health issues. Right up to, and including, her last illness, Karen was in love with life and excited about the future. She even liked AI.
Karen never got to complete her ongoing tales from the nursing, which opened a window into a world no one wants to inhabit, but many of us will.
“It is in this nursing home chain hellscape that I find myself (and, this is one of the better places). Emerging from this lengthy medical affair, I’m revving up for more life,” she wrote in this final piece.
She had many words of wisdom, love and support and enjoyed the support of a huge community of people, many of whom never met her in person. She was grateful for these relationships and to be alive and she said so.
“I thank you so much for your participation in this journey – bearing witness is a powerful thing. Next missive, will have survival strategies for stints in the nursing home, the practical stuff. With much love, Karen.”
Her last words in her last missive: My motto ~ Never, ever give up.
My hand-made Karen Strickholm Emotional Support Chicken. I’ll treasure it always.
Previously:
THAT NDE, NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE & ME
Return To Substack
About this series…
Karen Strickholm had a hidden brain tumor on her pituitary gland. The tumor she didn’t know she had until she was about 50, wound up taking her health and all she had built in life. Her tumor, diagnosed in 2008, caused a tsunami of symptoms and eventually forced her into long-term care in a nursing home and a series of hospitals.This is America, the only developed nation that does not have universal healthcare, and the only developed nation where medical debt can force you into bankruptcy.
Karen became one of the financial statistics due to her medical debt, and the fact that she couldn’t get Medicare unless she was literally penniless.
What made Karen different from many other people was her relentless optimism and belief that she was going to get better, would walk out of the nursing home to build a new life. She was smart, a good writer and she left behind a number of digital artifacts, which have been collected into this series. Karen relates, in her own words, her journey through the American healthcare system and the reality living penniless in a nursing home long term.
Karen Strickholm died 6 April 2026 in a hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of sepsis and pneumonia. She was 67.
This multimedia documentary series is her story.
Medical bankruptcy
• Approximately 66.5% of non-business personal bankruptcies in the U.S. were attributed to medical reasons in 2019.
• 1 in 10 U.S. adults (10.5 million) have experienced medical bankruptcy since 2001.
• 78% of bankrupt individuals in 2022 cited medical expenses as their primary cause.
• Medical bankruptcy rates increased by 21% from 2010 to 2020, even as overall bankruptcy rates declined
• The average interest rate on medical debt from bankruptcies is 21% (2022)
https://worldmetrics.org/medical-bankruptcies-statistics/
Nursing home stats
• On any given day, more than 1.3 million individuals receive care in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility, and a total of more than 4 million receive care each year.
• 6 out of 10 residents (64%) are short-stay patients who remain in a skilled nursing facility for an average of 25 days.
• Nearly four out of 10 residents (36%) are long-stay residents. These individuals often have multiple health conditions. Their average age is 76.
• Nursing homes employ about 1.5 million people.
• Nearly 90% are women, and 60% are people of color.
• One out of every five nursing home workers is an immigrant.
• There are around 15,000 nursing homes in the United States.
• The average size of a nursing home is 109 beds.
• Medicaid covers the cost of care for nearly two out of every three residents (63%).
https://www.ahcancal.org/Data-and-Research/facts/Pages/default.aspx