Love the New Old Age blog at the New York Times. This July 1, 2008 New Old Age posting, Our Parents Ourselves by Jane Gross, sums up the perspective of aging children confronting the aging parent experience — anxiety, love, concern, frustration, respect, and more. So much to learn. So much to give back.
Filed under senior parents …
Health Information on the Web, Part II: Evaluating Web Sites
I am enormously frustrated when I speak with people, aging adults or otherwise, who go online seeking medical information without using effective search and evaluation skills. In this day and age, the most important web task for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren, is to learn how to evaluate the information we find on the … Continue reading
Census Information and Aging Parents
I’ve written about seniors and aging parents and how they can interact with technology, computers, urban legends, and scams, but one aspect that I have not touched on is the upcoming census. Dale over at the Transition Aging Parents blog, has written an excellent post about helping aging parents avoid census scams. Census information gathering … Continue reading
Questions to Ask Your Physician When Medicine is Prescribed
(from the “Caregivers’ Guide to Medications and Aging” document at Family Caregiving Alliance) I have made a MS Word document with these questions so I can easily jot down answers in the space next to the question. I’ve also color-coded the questions so that some are for the doctor and others are for the pharmacist. … Continue reading
Thoughts on Medications and Seniors: Part I
Protonix, Synthroid, Lasix, Lopressor, Altace, Fosamax, Vitamin D, KDur, Coumadin and others … all medications prescribed for my husband’s mother in the last several years of her life. Mother took some of these in the morning after breakfast, others in the evening after dinner, and one was prescribed for just before bed. The Fosamax was supposed to … Continue reading
Washington Post Health Section – Aging Well
Today’s Washington Post Health and Science section has a theme, The Aging Well Issue. Article topics include Alzheimer’s/memory, aging-in-place villages, and geriatrics experts discussing “good things about aging.” The Post also has a feature on Medicare with lots of information to help children of aging parents who are helping their parents with health issues.
As Time Goes By — a Great Blog
I expect to have aging parents for some years to come, so I am always on the lookout for other blogs that cover senior issues, especially those that feature great writing. The other day I mentioned Life with Father because it is wonderfully written and fun to read. Check out the most recent post, Love is a … Continue reading
Seniors, Exercise, and Preventing Falls
Once again a fall. This time it is a friend’s mother who fell, and today I heard that her mother’s health is continuing to decline. Senior falls are frustrating and sad, occurring frequently and causing physical problems, discomfort, outright pain, and unhappiness. Over the last four months I keep returning to the topic of seniors … Continue reading
My Mother (Mom)
I spoke on the phone with my mother tonight. What an amazing woman! Besides being one of the Obama super-volunteers in the Shenandoah Valley last year, she is active in politics, a book club, and church, and she is always ready to get in touch with a Congressperson or Senator about an important issue (right now … Continue reading
Technology and Seniors: Practice Makes It Easier
If you are an aging child and you have parents who use or want to use computers, check out this great web site. The Senior’s Guide to Computers, run and updated by Jeff Mayer, features wide-ranging advice, ideas, illustrations, tutorials, and much more. His explanations are in simple plain English, and it’s possible to choose … Continue reading
Caregivers: Looking Back, Giving Back
We were fortunate to have people and places who helped us care for my husband’s mother. During the last year of mother’s life, things were intense, and sometimes we wished that we could be taken care of, too. Choosing to help with mother’s care and to have her near us, especially before she needed substantial … Continue reading
Mother’s Memorial Service
Other Posts Relating to Remembrances: After a Parent’s Death: Obituaries and Remembrances, After a Parent’s Death: Writing a Remembrance, Part II, After a Parent’s Death: Writing a Remembrance, Part I Our goal was to plan a memorial service that celebrated the life of my husband’s mother. As she was two months shy of her … Continue reading
Senior Parents: Canes and Walking Sticks
I’ve been thinking a lot about walking sticks and canes and how they help prevent falls. After certain age, a fall almost guarantees that the activities of daily living (ADL’s) become more and more difficult thereby leading to other health problems. I mentioned in a recent posting how I worry about my mom falling, so … Continue reading
Making Our House Safer: For Aging Parents and For Ourselves
My husband and I keep hearing about people who fall inside their homes, some of them older seniors and some in our age range (50’s – 60’s). Most people trip over an area rug or lose their balance in the bathroom or on steps. Check out this online PowerPoint lecture at the University of Pittsburgh Supercourse … Continue reading
Overcompensating After a Parent Dies
We are now in the second week after the death of my husband’s mother. The two of us are taking it easy and accomplishing the most important tasks. Also, we are breathing a bit easier because Mother is no longer in such extreme discomfort. The last few weeks were tough for her. However, I’ve noticed … Continue reading
After Death Details, Part III: Mother’s Library
In her assisted living apartment mother lived with her well-loved library of books. Though she parted with many possessions and books when she moved from her larger South Carolina condo into a smaller assisted living space, her most prized volumes traveled with her to Northern Virginia. We chose more than a few to keep since … Continue reading
After Death Details, Part II: Moving Through Routines
On the day mother died, last Monday, there were basic things to do, and because they did not require a great deal of thinking, they were easy to accomplish, especially because my husband is an only child. We had to: Call our daughter. Arrange for the hospital bed, wheel chair, and oxygen to be picked … Continue reading
After Death Details, Part I: Grief
Grief … It has been a week since my husband’s mother died. We miss her, though we are glad she is not in the extreme discomfort that she experienced at the end. We’ve laughed and we’ve cried, more of the former, because she lived a long and rich life. Saying goodbye takes time. Photograph albums … Continue reading
Dementia: The Hair Salon
Several weeks ago, my mother-in-law stopped going to the hairdresser. She and her caregiver had been walking down to the small salon at her assisted living facility once a week. Then one day she got up and after being dressed did not want to go. Or maybe she did not understand or we did not … Continue reading
Retrieving Info from My “Aging Child” Brain
I’ve been thinking a lot about how the brain learns and unlearns. As we observe my husband’s mother, who is deep into the latest stage of dementia, we see that she is unlearning on a daily basis. Unlearning seems to mean that she has lost the ability to retrieve and process much of the information … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 