Adult children should all know the location of the closest stroke certified hospital, and no one should hesitate to get to the hospital if any potential stroke symptom causes concern. Oddly enough, research recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), finds that the rate of people who experience symptoms and call … Continue reading
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When an Aging Parent is Sick: Where to Get Reliable Information
So your parent is in the hospital or just returned from a big deal medical appointment. Or maybe it’s you, the adult child, in this situation. Physicians have diagnosed a new condition, they are prescribing medications and tests, and you are hearing — and trying to absorb — lots of unfamiliar medical information. Where does one … Continue reading
Caregiving and Mobile Technology: We Need to Learn More
Mobile technology is moving into our lives — whether it’s the phone we carry, the newspaper we read, the heart monitor we must wear for a few days, the smart pass we use at tollbooths, or the gadget that helps to monitor a senior parent with balance issues but who lives alone. Increasingly, mobile gadgets … Continue reading
Aging Arthritis Patients Should Keep Moving
I’ve observed quite a few people, seniors and not quite seniors, who are diagnosed with arthritis and then gradually slow down and stop moving. They stop climbing stairs and taking walks. According to a recent study this may be precisely the wrong thing to do. In 2000 the Department of Health and Human Services came … Continue reading
Brain 101 for Seniors and Adult Children
If someone in our families experiences a brain disease — depression, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s — the illnesses transport us into the complex world of neurons, plasticity, neurotransmitters, serotonin, hemispheres, and much more. Despite all that is known, the large and complex organ that determines who we are and how we think is a foreign universe. Even the … Continue reading
Cardiac Procedures and Surgeries – Good Descriptions
Last summer my father’s internist referred him to a cardiologist who found an abdominal aneurysm. Dad underwent several cardiac procedures. Understanding an enormous amount of information in a short time was difficult for everyone in our family, and especially for my parents. While the physicians’ explanations were clear and helpful to our family, many questions … Continue reading
New MedlinePlus Website – Terrific!
Visit the new, more user-friendly MedlinePlus website. As an advocate for aging parents, not to mention other family members, I find this new site terrific, easy to use, and well laid out. It’s colorful with carefully selected typefaces, and a user can get anywhere on the site with just a few clicks. After you explore a … Continue reading
