Being the primary caregiver for a loved one at home isn’t for the faint of heart. Recently I spoke by phone with a woman—I’ll call her Jane, as she wishes to remain anonymous—who has spent the past 18 months caring for her failing husband in their apartment. Her dedication and her trials during this time, especially during the pandemic, offer us both inspiration and some warnings about what we may expect if we find ourselves caring for someone at home. Jane is 77 years old, her husband 91. This year, they’ll celebrate their 27th year of marriage. Jane’s husband—we’ll call him Sam—spent his life in the radio broadcasting industry, first behind the microphone and then in management; Jane worked in the corporate world. In 2019, Sam suffered an illness that left him temporarily immobile, which was later diagnosed as a urinary tract infection. After almost a week in a hospital, …