Hospice Care, Part 3: Meet Baxter, a Hospice Therapy Dog
I could try to write a post about hospice and therapy dogs, but no words I write would come close to illustrating the intertwined human and dog worlds that are revealed in this beautiful video. Kleenex Alert — this is sure to touch your heart! If you have trouble viewing the video, click here. Baxter [...]
A Lesson on Positive Thinking for Pessimistic Aging Parents
On Wednesdays at TLeC I usually provide inspiring quotes, photos and/or stories for caregivers. Today for a change of pace, I am presenting words of wisdom about aging from a 90 year old man to share with your pessimistic aging parents. Because along with caregivers, our senior citizens (or Golden Oldies as I prefer to [...]
Family Caregivers Communication Class — The Language of Dementia, Part 3
This is Part 3 in a 3-part series. Please click here to read Part 1 which contains the background ideas these lessons are built on. Also read my brief “Word of Warning” in Part 2 to keep from “shoulding” all over yourself and for a prior lesson in the language of dementia. I hope you [...]
Inspiring Quotes for Caregivers — 4/15/09: Smiles For You
Smiles for You Smiling is infectious; you catch it like the flu, When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too. I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin When he smiled I realized I’d passed it on to him. I thought about that smile then I realized its worth, A single [...]
Family Caregivers Communication Class — The Language of Dementia, Part 2
This is Part 2 in a series. Please click here to read Part 1 which contains the background ideas these lessons are built on. It isn’t easy to change our way of communicating with our memory-impaired aging parents, but in order to make their lives (and ours) easier, it is helpful to follow some basic [...]
Family Caregivers Communication Class — The Language of Dementia, Part 1
Many of our aging parents (or Golden Oldies as I prefer to call them) will eventually develop some type of memory loss. It usually starts as the forgetfulness we have come to expect with normal aging, but then it may progress to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease (AD for short, which is the most common type [...]
Please Don’t Ask Family Caregivers This Question!
There is a question I am asked very often when I tell people my mom has Alzheimer’s disease. They ask, “Does she know you?” I don’t know how to answer them. And it is a very hard question for all caregivers of dementia or Alzheimer’s patients to answer. People ask that particular question because it [...]
Tips for When Aging Parents Say Mean Things
Thank you to the reader who recently sent me this question: “My elderly mother-in-law has gotten mean in the last few years. She’ll say mean things to people — mostly family members, but also others sometimes. I don’t think she even realizes how hurtful she’s being. Does this happen to elderly people often?” In my [...]
Family Caregivers Communication Class — Part 5: How to Talk with Aging Parents When They Can’t Speak
This is Part 5 in a series. Please see the bottom of this article for a link to the first four parts of the Family Caregivers Communication Class. We take talking with our parents for granted . . . until our aging parents can’t speak any longer. My mom gradually stopped speaking and since October [...]
Family Caregivers Communication Class — Part 4: Talking with Hearing Impaired Aging Parents
This is Part 4 in a series. You can read Part 1 “Think Before You Speak” here. You can read Part 2 “Speaking Easily About Difficult Topics” here. You can read Part 3 “Dealing with Pessimistic Aging Parents” here. I recently spent eight days traveling with my cousins and one Golden Oldie aunt, age 90, [...]
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