This March 12, 2010 New York Times article, Deciding on Care for Elderly Parents in Declining Health, made me think about the process my husband and I experienced with his mother following a stroke. This is the third of several postings describing our journey. Read Part I of Moving Mother. Read Part II. Getting Started — the … Continue reading
Posted in March 2010 …
Moving Aging Parents, Mother’s Move, Part II: Where?
This March 12, 2010 New York Times article, Deciding on Care for Elderly Parents in Declining Health, made me think about the process my husband and I experienced with his mother following a stroke. This is the second of several posts describing our journey. Read Part I of Mother’s Move Part III Part IV Preparing … Continue reading
Moving Aging Parents, Mother’s Move, Part I: When?
This New York Times article, Deciding on Care for Elderly Parents in Declining Health, made me think about the process my husband and I experienced with his mother following a stroke. This is the first of several postings describing our journey. Read Part II of Moving Mother Series Part III Part IV Why/When We Decided … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Alzheimer’s First Case
A few weeks ago the New York Times Health section mentioned the Neurophilosophy blog, though I cannot remember what post the Times was highlighting. When I explored a bit I found this interesting history of Alois Alzheimer’s first case, posted in November 2007. If you are interested in neuroscience there is a lot to read … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Caregiving and Saying Good-bye
Caregiving, especially helping to care for an aging parent who is ill and nearing the end of life, is arduous. One never stops asking questions about “doing the right thing.” Throughout this challenging time an aging child has lot of things to say, memories to review, and good-byes to be arranged for family members near … Continue reading
Aging Parents, Caregiving, and Medicare Physicians
What happens if an aging parents needs or wants to go to a doctor that does not participate in Medicare? This situation has came up for us, and it may also be an issue for others. While most Medicare health claims are submitted by a person’s doctor or health provider, navigating the Medicare highway can … Continue reading
Aging Parents and Dementia: JAMA Study Redux
Wow! I discovered the JAMA article about dementia, hospitalization and the elderly and mentioned it here on the blog several days ago, on March 4, 2010 — before the Vital Signs blog at the NY Times discussed it on March 8th. How exciting to once-in-a-while be ahead of the Times (which by the way I … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Asking Questions After a Death
A friend whose mother is seriously ill asked, “What do you think about after your parent is gone, the services are over, and you are moving on with life, but without the person?” My answer? We share memories and we ask questions. The memories are easy, because they come to us. No matter what … Continue reading
Aging Parents and Medication Side Effects
Recently my dad, who takes a number of blood pressure and heart medications, began to experience nosebleeds –they seemed to begin out of the blue. Family members and friends kept offering explanations for why the nosebleeds were occurring. Twice, when he had difficulty stopping the bleeding, Dad went to the emergency room at the local … Continue reading
Aging Parents, Boomer Children, Lifelong Learning – TED
I am planning to share a site that features lots of intellectual content with my 86-year-old father, a retired college professor and minister, the next time I visit. During the past several months an occasional posting on this blog has linked to a video presentation on the TED site. This organization, devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading,” … Continue reading
Hospital Stays, Seniors, and the Possibility of Dementia
…or Disorientation We have taken parents to the hospital and discovered that the hospitalization process seems to facilitate disorientation. We have also observed incidental dementia. In essence, a frightened aging parents is sick, frightened, and disoriented and loses touch with reality. One of our parents, who was already experiencing some dementia but was living securely … Continue reading
Update on My Parents’ Blog
My parents worked hard to figure out (outwit?) the eccentricities of the Blogger site, and they managed to get their new blog up and running. They only needed a bit of help from me. I have made a mental note to think about writing some technology tutorials and attaching them to a technology tutorial posting … Continue reading
NIH Senior Net – A Senior Friendly Site
…and Tips for Making a Website Senior Friendly Take a few minutes to visit this NIH Senior Health site. Bring an aging parent along. Notice the great care that has been taken to make the site easy-to-read with large type and navigation links that are clear and uncluttered. This site is full of information on … Continue reading
Baby Boomers, Aging Parents, Caregiving Observations
About a month ago we attended an out-of-town gathering with fifteen or sixteen friends plus spouses, all in the 50’s – 60’s age group. Every single person we met that evening had at least one aging parent who needed caregiving and support. The variety of caregiving arrangements was interesting, and after a long evening of … Continue reading