A Heart To Heart Chat With My Wife Barb Lewis

·44 min·4 clips

Barb faced an 80% chance of widowhood when Steve's disease had a 20% mortality rate.

Steve Lewis hosts his wife Barb Lewis in a heartfelt interview on the Relevance for Today podcast. Barb introduces herself as from New Brunswick, Canada, having moved to the US nearly 30 years ago. She recounts meeting Steve in 1990 and marrying in 1991, with Steve serving in the Gulf War at the time. They have two children, Samantha and Stephen, and a grandson named Xavier. Barb details how Steve's diagnosis with mixed connective tissue disease, with an 80% morbidity rate, led her to pursue nursing school while working full-time. She describes an accelerated 13-month program, studying overnight and working 12-hour shifts, graduating in the late 1990s. Barb explains her role as a geriatric nurse, caring for the elderly and post-hospital patients. She shares personal experiences, including caring for her mother until her passing in 2014 and Steve's mother in 2019, where she used her nursing skills at home. Steve mentions using the Mozart effect with meditation music to help control his mother's seizures. Barb discusses the challenges of being the breadwinner, missing time with her children but providing through jobs like Home Interior parties, where she earned $1,100 for braces, and couponing to save money. She offers advice to mothers, encouraging self-care, empowerment, and resilience against discouragement. The episode ends with a prayer and a call for women to support each other.

As heard by us

A nurse reflects on how caring for her own mother tested the boundary between professional knowledge and family love.

Steve Lewis speaks with his wife, Barb Lewis, about the difficult shift that happens when a nurse becomes family at the bedside. Barb, from New Brunswick, Canada, reflects on nursing, family, and her mother, who died in 2014.

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Press play for a candid visit with Steve Lewis and his wife, Barb, as nursing, family, and the limits of fixing someone you love come into view.

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