Tagged with aging parents …

Caregiving: Gail Sheehy-Diane Rehm Show Podcast

If you are, have been, or will be involved in caregiving for a parent, spouse, or other family member, listen to author Gail Sheehy, discuss her new book, Passages in Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence, on the Diane Rehm Show, a syndicated public radio program produced by NPR Station WAMU in Washington, DC. The program … Continue reading →

iPad for Dad, #3 – After the First Lessons

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 →

Dementia: Will I Catch It?

W8J8SJ5DBYR5 Last week, after the publication of Greater Risk of Dementia When Spouse Had Dementia? The Cache County Study (abstract), practically every newspaper health section and blog was featuring this type of headline: If Spouse Has Dementia, Your Risk Rises, Too (MSNBC.com) Dementia Risk Higher if Your Spouse Has Dementia (WebMD) Spouses Who Care for … Continue reading →

More on Seniors and Falling

Yesterday, May 13, 2010, the Los Angeles Times Booster Shots Blog reported yet more research on seniors and falling. This time the research comes from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, investigated how aging seniors in California follow their doctors’ medical recommendations after a fall. Check out the blog posting by Jeannine Stein for additional  information … Continue reading →

Aging Parents: Emergency Department Texting

According to the May 11, 2010 Washington Post, the Reston Hospital Center emergency department in Northern Virginia has added a texting service. The article, Reston Hospital Uses Cellphone Texting to Announce Emergency Room Waiting Time, explains how the hospital has enabled cell phone texting so that patients and their families can learn how long the … Continue reading →

Aging Parents: Best Doughnut (Donut) Hole Explanation

I’ve been searching for a news article that best explains how the new health care legislation changes the doughnut (donut) hole prescription medication problem. The most comprehensive explanation that I have found was published by the LA Times on March 26, 2010.  Written by Christopher Weaver, the article, Health Plan Closes the Medicare Doughnut Hole, … Continue reading →

Aging Parents: Facebook Privacy Settings

My mother and a lot of her friends, including many seniors, are on Facebook. Recently I checked her account and discovered that she did not have the privacy settings adjusted appropriately. Too much information was available to too many people whom she did not know. So we went through the settings at Account-Privacy Settings (top … Continue reading →

Aging Parents: Happy Mother’s Day!

Last January I wrote this post about my amazing mother. Not too many people read it then, so I am recycling it because I had so much fun writing it. It is also pasted in below. What an amazing woman! Besides being one of the Obama super-volunteers in the Shenandoah Valley last year, she is active in … Continue reading →

Aging Parents: Dehydration Dangers

Warm weather brings increasing concern about dehydration, and it is especially worrisome for older seniors. I am thinking more about this today after reading an update at the Life With Father blog that describes how difficult it can be to get an elderly parent to drink enough liquids. Dehydration is a huge concern for elderly … Continue reading →

iPad for Dad, #2 – Getting Started

I took the iPad to my parents’ house on Monday. I live about 100 miles away, so Dad and I worked together exploring the iPad while keeping in mind that we will be apart  for a couple of weeks. Of course I will provide technical help by phone. He is intrigued and interested and tried most of … Continue reading →

Late-Stage Dementia, Hospitals, and Feeding Tubes

A professor at the Brown University Medical School was the lead author on a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Hospital Characteristics Associated With Feeding Tube Placement in Nursing Home Residents With Advanced Dementia (abstract). Joan M. Teno, MD, used Medicare data from 2000 to 2007 to evaluate how … Continue reading →

iPad for Dad, #1 – Getting the iPad Ready for Dad

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 →

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 →

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 →