If you like this post, read some of the other descriptions of our Father/Daughter iPad for Dad adventures — iPad for Dad, #1, iPad for Dad, #2, iPad for Dad, #3, iPad for Dad, #4, iPad for Dad, #5, iPad for Dad, #6, iPad for Dad, #7, iPad for Dad, #8, iPad for Dad, #9, iPad for Dad, #10, iPad for Dad, #11, iPad … Continue reading
Posted by Marti Weston …
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 … Continue reading
After a Parent’s Death: Paying Bills
Four months after Mother died her bills have continued to arrive. While we were prepared to pay her final utility bills as well as the end-of-life and memorial service costs, it felt a bit strange to receive so many others, and doubly so more than four months after her death. Yet all of the bills … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Mom’s Office -Too Much Paper!
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
End of Life Decisions
My post, Aging Parents: Research on End-of-Life Decisions, discussed the University of Michigan study that evaluated how a person’s end-of-life decisions are taken into consideration by hospitals and medical personnel. Pauline Chen, MD, in her regular New York Times column, also wrote about this research, sharing a personal story about her father-in-law’s death. The article … Continue reading
Aging Parents, Atrial Fibrillation, and Dementia
New research, published last week in the April 2010 edition of the journal Heart Rhythm, reports an association between atrial fibrillation and all types of dementia. The article, Atrial Fibrillation Is Independently Associated with Senile, Vascular, and Alzheimer’s Dementia (abstract and full text available), describes the study, which included 37,025 patients already a part of … Continue reading
Aging Parent Technology: American Memory Project
@ the Library of Congress Take parents who like to use the Internet, are interested in history, and have lots of memories from earlier times in their lives, on a visit the American Memory Project. This amazing site at the Library of Congress has digitized exhibits — pictures, postcards, letters and music, and much more. … Continue reading
Baby Boomer Brains: Aging Parent Focus Making Us Worry
Today’s NPR Morning Edition, April 20, 2010, features a story about middle age brain ability and development. Barbara Stauch, author of The Secret Life of the Grown Up Brain (Politics and Prose in Washington, DC, Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble), discusses what she has learned about the brains of 40-65 year-olds — the age-range of my brain. Stauch … Continue reading
Aging Parents-Untold Stories: Grandma, Why Didn’t You Tell Me?
Sometimes an aging parent unexpectedly shares a story from years ago — in this case nearly 75 years. Long before Mother’s stroke my husband went to Cincinnati on business, staying downtown at the Netherland Hotel, a National Historic Landmark recently restored to its 1930’s grandeur. A few months later we traveled to South Carolina to … Continue reading
Dementia: Choosing Her Own End-of-Life Strategy
Take a few minutes to read a post at the Intrepid Paper Girl blog about the life and dementia-related death of journalist Lynn Forbish. Forbish’s last years of life demonstrate how people with dementia continue to think, feel emotions, and make decisions. Her end-of-life experience illustrates the cognitive model that researcher Justin Feinstein and University of Iowa … Continue reading
Dementia Patients and Inner City Teens: Friendship
People experiencing dementia, even those with loving family members nearby, are often bored, frightened, and agitated. Rarely do they get enough socialization. An April 14, 2010, Chicago Tribune article by Ted Gregory, Elderly Dementia Patients and “At-risk” Students Create Friendships, describes a successful activity in Chicago that builds relationships between teens and elderly people living with … Continue reading
Aging Parents, Dementia, and Driving Safety: New from Neurologists
This past week the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) held its annual meeting in Toronto. At this meeting neurologists revised and updated guidelines about driving and dementia. Adult children and physicians can use the information to help determine if and when an aging parent with dementia should stop driving. Here is a list of news … Continue reading
NIH Alzheimer’s Conference Reminder
NIH Conference, Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline If you are anywhere near the DC area on April 26 – 28, you may want to plan to attend an NIH conference on Alzheimer’s, Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline. The conference is open to the public and there is no registration fee to attend. Register online. … Continue reading
Elderly Patients: Nurse Practitioner? Physician’s Assistant?
Last night, April 13, 2010, the Associated Press article, Doctor Shortage? 28 States May Expand Nurses’ Role, by Carla K Johnson, appeared online, discussing the changing roles of nurse practitioners in the delivery of today’s health care. The article reminds me that my parents and others their age can be confused about the roles and … Continue reading
Dementia – Emotions May Continue? PNAS Research
So interesting to read the about the research, Sustained Experience of Emotion After Loss of Memory in Patients with Amnesia (abstract), published in the April 12, 2010 early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The University of Iowa researcher, Justin Feinstein, found that patients, while they could not retrieve memories, were … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 