Feelings

I was able to substitute teach again today. I always enjoy that, and it makes for a nice break. I love interacting with children. I love their freshness and exuberance. Also although some people know about my husband’s condition at the school where I mostly sub, I usually am not bombarded with questions like, “How’s Wayne?” (my husband) Last night at church I think I was asked...

Tax

Image via Wikipedia What’s taxing for you? The worry? The unrelenting work? The constant needs? The piles of recently-laundered clothes in need of a home? The casserole dishes crying for a home-cooked meal? The dust bunnies bouncing about your slippers? Or, is is just getting your taxes done that you find taxing? When you have the responsibility for the health care needs of another, everything else can...

They Won’t Listen!

Dear Denise: Where to begin… My mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with ALS; she is approx. 75 years old (none of us know her real age, this should provide a good hint to where the rest of this is going). She has four daughters (one in Florida, the rest here in Indianapolis) and one son and lives in her home with her husband who can get around fairly well. The family dynamics are too detailed to get into...

Happy Easter!

Image via Wikipedia Hello, today I wanted to remember all of us and wish everybody celebrating Easter that they and their caregivers or caregiven have as special and as tranquil a holiday as is possible. And for those here of us who do not celebrate Easter, still I wish for you the realization of the rebirth, new beginnings, life, and confirmation of hope which make up the spirit of this holiday. It’s a...

Fairly Unfair

Image via Wikipedia If you think long and hard enough, you’ll know precisely the moment it started. Most likely, it started over a bike, a mitt or a doll. Or, two of the three. Or, perhaps all three. You remember the unfairness of it all—how one sibling got just what you wanted. And, you? Well, you got the ugly flannel pajama set. Or, the complete set of encyclopedias about bugs. The feeling of...

Five Steps to a New Reflection

Image by cmefish via Flickr When I’m in a good mood, it’s amazing how many others feel as grateful and happy as me. When I’m in foul mood, it’s disturbing how many feel as crappy and mean as me. All these crabby and mean people have it in for me, too. I just know it. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Consider your caregiving relationship. Your care recipient takes a loooooooong...

She Won’t Help Herself

Image via Wikipedia Denise, This is the first time for me to “write-in” to ANYONE, for advice. But, when I was searching for “caring for aging”, I came across your site and decided to ask you for some advice. I have been “caring” for my mother-in-law for the past few months. Mostly, I drive her and go in with her, to her doctor’s visits, (in which I usually ask the...

HBO to Air “The Alzheimer’s Project” May 10-12

Image via Wikipedia One of the most devastating forms of memory loss is Alzheimer’s disease, an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. Today, Alzheimer’s is the second most-feared illness in America, following cancer, and may affect as many as five million Americans. As the baby-boom generation reaches retirement, that number could soar to...

The Flow of Life

I have had some nice breaks from caregiving of late. On Thursday night my husband and I went to our son’s family home for supper, as we often do on Thursday evening. It was a chance to hold my newest little grandchild and also interact with his sisters. Then on Friday evening I went to a high school play with my daughter-in-law and their two oldest daughters. I enjoy live plays, and it was fun...

Dry

Are you caught in a flood? Your flood may be too much to do and too little time to do it. So, how do you keep dry? Keep in mind: 1. Set priorities. What’s important to you? What are the most pressing events, relationships and responsibilities? Your priorities take preference. 2. Say “no.” You honor every request made to you, even those to which you say “no”. You honor them by being...

10 Steps to Ensure a Successful Emergency Department Visit

Image via Wikipedia Helping Your Care Recipient During an Emergency Room Visit By Wayne Guerra, MD, MBA and CMO, Healthagen LLC (Editor’s Note: On a regular basis, we invite health care professionals and family caregivers to share insights as a guest blogger on Caregiving.com. In light of last week’s study results about hospital readmissions, we invited Wayne to share his tips to help you and...

7 Traits of a Hope-full Family Caregiver

A friend last week told me about a book–The Seven Desires of Every Heart by Mark Laaser and Debra Laaser. The authors tell us what every heart wants: to be heard, affirmed, blessed, safe, touched, chosen. (We’ve selected this book to be our Caregiving Book Club read in June; I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of these seven.) This book’s title reminded me of Stephen Covey’s...

Preparation For The Present Valley

Caregiving for my husband can get emotionally heavy at times, but I feel my past experiences has helped to prepare me somewhat for this experinece. One of these recent past experiences was my fight against breast cancer. Yesterday marked the first anniversary of my freedom from breast cancer treatment! In July of this year the Lord willing I will be a two year survivor of breast cancer, as survivorship...

Call for Nominations for 2009 Family Caregiving Awards Program

The National Alliance for Caregiving and MetLife Foundation are accepting applications for the 2009 National Family Caregiving Awards Program. Now in its fourth year, this program is intended to improve the quality of life of family caregivers by recognizing and supporting the important work of community agencies and other organizations that support family caregivers as a significant part of their mission. The...

Random Thoughts

Monday I took a little break for a few hours. I did some shopping and got a much needed haircut. I was able to buy a little boom box which is a combination casette player, CD player and radio for my husband to use to listen to his audio books that he is into right now. It is difficult to find a casette player of any kind these days, so this was a good find. A lot of the library audiobooks are still on...

What’s Your Hospital Discharge Horror Story?

Results of a study released today prove what you probably have experienced first-hand: Patients discharged from the hospital often return to the hospital simply because they (and their family caregivers) arrive home ill-prepared to manage treatments and care. Key findings of the study show: Almost one fifth (19.6%) of the 11,855,702 Medicare beneficiaries who had been discharged from a hospital were rehospitalized...

Incontinent Mars Vs. Incontinent Venus

How quickly incontinence supplies become a comrade in your caregiving role. And, who better to judge the effectiveness of a new ad campaign on an incontinence products than you–the ultimate expert on managing incontinence. Kimberly-Clark, makers of Depend, created two videos that illustrate the difference between men and women, which leads to the point of the campaign–new incontinence products for just...

Helping Older Adults Find Work? Nominate Yourself…

MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose, opened nominations for the Encore Opportunity Awards today. The winners will be nonprofit and public sector organizations using innovative strategies to employ older adults to better accomplish their mission, or help people find encore careers combining continued income, personal meaning and social impact. The Encore...

Walgreens Offers Free Care to Unemployed

Walgreens issued the following press release yesterday: Walgreens and Take Care Health Systems Announce Offer of Free Healthcare Services for Families that Suffer Job Loss and Have No Health Insurance - ‘Take Care Recovery Plan’ to provide Take Care Clinic patients and their families peace of mind for basic healthcare services - Companies cite goal of healthcare not taking backseat to economy as driving...