Aging parents, we should all understand, have frustratingly aging bodies, yet many are seeing and perceiving the world just as they always have. In fact, I’ve heard them say how curious it is to look in the mirror and see themselves staring back. Some wonder, “Who is that old person looking back at me?” About 25 … Continue reading
Filed under Frustrations When Growing Older …
Aging Parents: Lengthy and Possibly Arduous Caregiving
Take a few minutes to read Long Goodbye of the Elderly Can Create Crisis for Family Caregivers in the April 6, 2010 Washington Post Health section. Abigail Trafford describes what we experienced during three years of aging parent caregiving. She writes, “The long goodbye is a predictable chapter in our lives. Giving care — and receiving … Continue reading
Aging Parents: A Conversation About Dying with Dad
It seems like a lot of elderly people we know — all in mid-80’s or older — are dying or have died recently. My parents, also in their 80’s, are doing well. Yet each time I share information about a relative with my parents I ask the question, “Should I be talking about this?” Usually … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Explaining Congestive Heart Failure
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a common diagnosis for seniors, and many of us will have more than one aging parents with this condition. The diagnosis, indicating a progressive disease, often requires multi-year medial care and can require invasive cardiac procedures, many medications, lifestyle and diet changes, and medical supplies such as compression stockings which … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Needed Emergency Information
Do you have all the information you need to assist your aging parents and even run their household during a health emergency? If a parent gets sick and is hospitalized, or one parent dies and the other is too grief-stricken to deal with real life for a while, do you have the necessary medical and … Continue reading
Moving Aging Parents, Mother’s Move, Part IV: Possessions
A 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 fourth of several postings describing our journey. Read Part I of Moving Mother – Part II – Part III Gently Dismantling 66 Years … Continue reading
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 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
Helplessness and Aging
Watching all four, now only two of our senior parents over the past ten years, I’ve been intrigued that a certain amount of helplessness seems to surface when they encounter the medical system. When a person becomes ill or develops a chronic condition, the medical world usually goes into high gear. This is especially true … Continue reading
Senior Citizens and End-of-Year Giving
Help aging parents be excited about technology and to use it, but also counsel them to be skeptical, savvy, and ask questions. It is the time of year when many scammers make telephone calls or send e-mails asking for contributions to charity. I have a rule. Unless it is my college or one of the … Continue reading
Dementia: Mobility, Falling, and Perception
This morning mother fell. Until now she has stayed in bed until one of the nursing assistants arrives to help her get up and get dressed. Today it was a different story — for the first time she tried to get out of bed. The nursing assistant found mother on the floor in the living room a bit … Continue reading
Senior Medicare Patients Return to the Hospital After Discharge
HEALTH in NY TIMES | December 08, 2009 Groups Try Simple Steps to Avoid Hospital Rebound By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) — Talk about unnecessary misery: One in five Medicare patients winds up back in the hospital within a month — even worse, one in four patients with heart failure. Read more @ … Continue reading
Oxygen!
Mother is winded whenever she walks a short distance. She breathes heavily and her heart races. So hospice has delivered two oxygen containers, one that stays in place and another portable device that can move around with her. The permanent one stays in one place, but has a huge tube that reaches to all of the … Continue reading
Assumptions About Being Old
Too often seniors who have been successful and productive individuals, are trivialized in their everyday interactions. Most often this occurs unintentionally because of unconscious assumptions about people who are growing old. But it occurs everywhere, and I believe the assumptions that greet a person of any age can often evolve into self-fulfilling prophecies. Negative assumptions … Continue reading
Thanksgiving and Dementia — Redux
Our family member with dementia arrived at our Thanksgiving celebration sometime around 2:00 in the afternoon. Her afternoon caretaker took Thanksgiving afternoon off, and we planned to be responsible for her care until bedtime. Things went quite well, however, we now realize that if we are entertaining family and hosting festivities at our house, we … Continue reading
Scary or Urgent E-mail — Don’t Be Fooled
E-mail is the best communication tool for seniors, kids, and grandchildren and is so easy and convenient! This interconnectedness is even more important at times of family illness and when family members live far away from one another. All family members, but especially seniors, need to master some important skills and understand some key concepts, … Continue reading
Senior Adults and Falling
From the November 11, 2009 New York Times in an article by Steve Lohr … “FALLS are so harmful to the elderly and so costly to society that if falling were a disease it be deemed an epidemic.” Almost every week or so an over 70-year-old acquaintance or friend falls. According to the Centers for … Continue reading
Stages of Dementia, Part II
Keep in mind that these stages are general guidelines that help people understand dementia’s progression, and that some professionals do not use them as disease guideposts. I am applying them to the dementia that is occurring in my family. Another family may not have anywhere near the same experience. By the time stage five of … Continue reading
Stages of Dementia – Part I
When you read about dementia you learn that the disease presents itself in stages. The literature seems to describe six stages, seven if you think of stage one as the “normal” range in which most of us function. I am reconstructing these stages, attempting to understand the progression of the disease in our family. In … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 