Caregiving can cause major changes in a family. Physical, emotional, social and financial issues can arise, affecting the roles, responsibilities and feelings of each family member. Such widespread change to the family dynamic can lead to increased tension and frequent disagreements. The constant friction can be frustrating, but learning what goes into healthy, two-way communication [...]
Your aging parent may be keeping secrets from you. Not necessarily lies, but withholding of information that may be important to their health, safety or general well-being. Sometimes, when elderly parents keep secrets, its because they feel their Independence slipping away. They might be embarrassed to ask for help. They might fear their family's reaction. [...]
The responsibility of providing care for an aging or ill loved one is a challenge in its own right. But when a care recipient is domineering about how and when every single task is done, it’s bound to exasperate those who are in charge of their daily care. Maybe Mom demands that you keep her [...]
Imagine trying to have a conversation and constantly having to ask your companions to repeat themselves; or not being able to participate in a group discussion in the common room because the TV is on and six people are chatting around you. Sadly, this is the harsh reality of many seniors. According to the Hearing [...]
Adult children often experience major relationship role-changes as their parents get older. These role changes are at times uncomfortable, unfamiliar and can leave us feeling isolated and unsettled. As we come into the holidays, many of us will spend more time with family and feel the tensions that naturally come when the “closeness factor” changes. [...]
Almost twenty years ago, I finished writing “Where’s my shoes?” My Father’s Walk through Alzheimer’s . It was released in hardcover in 1999. My father observed: This Alzheimer’s must be an important subject to have such a big book about it! I had already written four books and this was the most difficult. It was [...]
Recently a very articulate, very independent older friend of mine did some rehabilitation time in an assisted living home (probably the best one in town, and we know all of them), and though younger than she, I have always had a Nancy Drew kind of brain, and so I impertinently asked Marge, “What was it [...]
Lisa Genova, neuroscientist and author of Still Alice, gave a TED talk early last year in Vancouver. Her remarks began with: Let’s project out into the future, to your future “yous,” and let’s imagine that we’re all 85. Now, everyone look at [the person beside you]. One of you probably has Alzheimer’s disease. [Laughter] Alright… [...]
Starting Oct. 18, the VA will review not just current assets, but records from the previous three years when deciding a veteran’s asset-based eligibility for VA Pension benefits -- commonly called Aid and Attendance (A&A) benefits. However, transfers of assets completed before Oct. 18 will not be counted against veterans or their surviving spouses. A&A [...]
Your confined-to-home (or assisted living or nursing home) parent, just wants to have fun! You are focused on their safety, finances, medical treatment, medications, privacy, nutrition and therapy. You busy yourself with monitoring their progress (or decline) and doing everything in your power to keep them comfortable. You worry about their reduced energy level, increasing [...]
