Causation vs. Association – the Basics
To those of us who are not scientists or epidemiologists two of the most confusing concepts in the universe are association and causation. Many of us are helping parents age as gracefully as possible in the midst of devastating diseases and are deeply frustrated that we cannot sort out the factors associated with an illness from the factors that cause it. For example, age is associated with many of the conditions that our parents face, dementia, for instance, but it doesn’t cause these diseases outright.
Aging Parents: Mom’s Office -Too Much Paper!
A Favorite Flower of Mom's
Although she probably doesn’t always feel like it, my mom, age 82, is a whiz with the computer, with organizing things in general, and with all the daily tasks one needs to do (bills, calendar, etc.) to live securely in today’s world. If you have ever dreamed of getting someone to put together your yearly receipts at tax time, you would want my mom to help you. Although she pays someone to fill in the blanks on the tax forms for the two of them, she has already done so much — compiling, adding, totaling — that she should qualify for a discount.
What she is growing tired of, however, is the paper. My mom is irritated about all the paper that arrives, the requests for contributions (they give generously, but so many arrive in the mail), and the other pieces of paper that come from utilities, banks, credit card companies, and other places. If she pays online, she feels like she needs to print out the confirmations. Mom knows that there is no need to keep most of it, but sometimes she is doubtful, so she files it anyway.
Caring for Aging Parents…Balancing Life… Podcasts
Take a few minutes to read the post Striking a Balance: Eldercare and the Workplace over at Changing Aging, the blog of geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas (his bio at As Time Goes By). The post discusses how to balance parent caregiving with the rest of life. He was joined in a presentation by Dr. Judah Ronch (both men are on the faculty with the Erickson School at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, UMBC), and a short video provides some highlights. I’d definitely like to attend a presentation like this in my area.
Also at the post is a link to an hour-long Baltimore NPR radio show, hosted by Dan Rodricks, during which Thomas and Ronch discuss family dynamics of caregiving and answer questions from listeners. I listened to the entire program, finding it compelling and definitely worth the time.
Dr. Thomas is the founder of the Green House Project. Here is a link to another podcast with Thomas discussing the Green House Project ideas on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.
Aging Parents: Medical Technology for Aging in Place
On April 22, 2010, the US Senate Special Committee on Aging convened a hearing, Aging in Place: The National Broadband Plan and Bringing Health Care Technology Home (view webcast of the hearing at bottom of committee page). The concept of Aging in Place is becoming a mantra, not only for our aging parents but for people my age (boomers) who are thinking about retirement even as we help to support our parents.
The Senate hearing is compelling because the people who testified (testimonies are available here as PDF files) are all deeply committed to developing and using broadband technology tools that can help people age with grace as well as monitor medical conditions, all in the comfort of their homes. Three of the witnesses are involved with the development of these wireless broadband medical devices: Read more »
Aging Parents: Disposing of Unused Medications
If even one of your parents takes medications for a chronic condition, you know that it is not unusual for a switch or a dose adjustment. Changing medical conditions, drug interactions, and side effects in older adults require physicians to make changes, and each of our parents has experienced the need for a medication adjustment at one time or another. As a result of these changes a range of unused, expired or unexpired medications accumulates on parent’s shelf, and only rarely does a physician re-prescribe something.
What should we do with all of these old medications?
Aging Parents: Hospital Acquired Infections
This year alone I know five people who entered the hospital for surgery and then became terribly ill with hospital acquired infections (HAIs), also called nosocomial infections. One person I know had a second HAI after surviving the first one. Is it unusual to know this many people, or is the problem getting worse and worse?
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a part of the Department of Health and Human Services, recently reported some interesting facts about nosocomial infections. The new statistics in this annual report are scary for anyone spending time in a hospital setting but especially for elderly patients: Read more »
Aging Moms, Boomer Daughters, and Granddaughters: Estrogen?
Many of our aging moms took estrogen for significant periods, and many adult daughters — like me — have taken estrogen and then stopped and started and stopped again. Some boomer adult women continue to take the medication. I keep hearing from older women, including my mom, that they did not feel as good after stopping estrogen (Read this Mayo Clinic article about pros and cons.), commenting about things such as sharpness, energy, and general well-being. I know I feel different when I am taking some variation of the medication. Cynthia Gorney’s article, The Estrogen Dilemma, in the April 12, 2010 New York Times Magazine, presents current surmises about estrogen, its possibilities as a medication, and scientists’ rethinking about who should be taking it. In essence, our mothers were the experimenters, and though they may not have known it at the time their legacy may benefit their daughters and granddaughters. How much will we be able to learn and benefit from our mothers’ estrogen experiences?
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Becoming A Grown-up Child
One day in April 2007 my husband and I were the adult kids in our families — we are the only adult children
— and the next day we became what we laughingly call “real grown-ups,” helping first one, then two, and increasingly all three of our parents. It’s time to give back, and we do so willingly and happily. However the process is not easy, and it is not free from anxiety and tension. Check out the As Our Parents Age About page to learn more about the mission of this blog.
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As Our Parents Age by Marti Weston is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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