Role Reversal: Dreams of retirement are altered when a husband’s wife is diagnosed with dementia http://ow.ly/BMhHi  #caregiver

A Little Bit Of Wisdom For This Friday

 Happy Friday to all of our Caregivers! To all of you who are getting back into the swing of things at school with your children or yourself – You amaze us! Your ability to balance school, work and your family & friends is truly remarkable! Have a great weekend! 

 

Finding A New Perspective

                                                            

In the wake of Robin William’s untimely passing this week millions of people were moved and touched by the legacy that he left with us. He was a creative and brilliant man who captured the world with his loving eyes, his amazing characters and comic genius. It has been shocking for many of us to see that a man who shown so brightly could also have such darkness and torment while battling Depression & Parkinson’s.  

In the days following his passing it was most poignant to see the statements made by his family who were the closest to him. When someone close to you passes away it is natural to remember all of the wonderful times with that person and the legacy they leave behind. It allows you to have a new perspective of your relationship with that person and who they were as an individual. 

Changing our perspective as Caregivers is difficult when you are in the moment. You are constantly reacting to what the mood and behavior is of the person you are caring for and navigating how to think ahead in order to create as peaceful of an environment as possible. It is easy for others to say that you should take care of yourself more and not take the moods of the person you care for so personally….BUT that is a very hard!

What is so poignant about this quote is that in our everyday life it is difficult to gain a new perspective unless something physically changes. The individuals we care for are dealing with their illness both physically and mentally. In many cases there is nothing we can do to change what the person we are caring for is going through. We can not take the pain away & we can not even relate to what they are experiencing.

Robin Williams memory is a beautiful reminder that sometimes the only thing we can do as Caregivers is to find a way to get a different view of how to care for our loved one in even the smallest way. We can smile more, play cards & games, engage when watching t.v & just do anything we can to keep the mood light, for them and for ourselves. We can also take time and think about how we can gain a new perspective in a bigger ways. Life is short and uncertain and when we look back on our relationships with people who have passed we will want to remember those good times. 

A Case Of The Mondays!

Mondays!!!! Monday is the day of the week where set out with a plan, hopeful that everything will be completed and all of our goals for the week will be completed smoothly. We will be able to have time to take care of ourselves, others, and get our to do list completed. 

As Caregivers, we start our week out with these goals but are almost always curtailed by a number of incidents that happen with our aging parent or if we are a professional Caregiver, our week could change if there is a need for us to care for additional clients as the week goes on.

When caring for a someone at home it is necessary for our sanity that we learn to go with the flow and expect the unexpected. Second to that, it is also important to be gentle with yourself. It is human nature for us to want to feel accomplished and feel as if we are being productive. Sometimes in home care and home health care our main goal should just be to be easy on ourselves and know that we are doing the best we can – no matter what the week has in store for us.

At Help Unlimited, we have a number of clients who have a variety of changing conditions that require us to guide our Caregivers in a different direction on a weekly basis based on what is the best method of care and safety for the client. Our goal, like many of the family caregivers we work with is, to have our clients be free from stress, anxiety and worry. As experienced caregivers, we all know that this is not something we can guarantee that we can fix every day. Some days our goal is just to know that we are doing the best that we can.

Making Something Yummy When It Sounds Yucky!

Doesn’t this look delicious?! As a Caregiver you take a lot of pride in creating recipes that are nutritious and healthy. There are not a lot of aspects of someone’s health that you can control. Cooking and creating meals that someone will love is something that Caregivers hope to be able to have some control over.

Illness can play tricks on a persons taste buds & appetite. Everyone can relate to just having a cold  or the flu and wanting only specific foods. For example, I know that when I am sick the last thing I want is a salad. Generally, my favorite food is salad but when I am sick – salad just sounds gross and unsatisfying.

 

When an individual has a chronic illness, cancer for example, they might not be interested in food because of nausea from medications and not feeling well in general. As, a Caregiver you want to help them keep their energy up and their Doctor & Dietician have given you a list of foods that are good for them to eat but your loved one has no interest! You spend hundreds of dollars shopping at the store for food they might like that is in the nutritional guide and they just aren’t interested.

 

Don’t worry there is a way to rectify this common problem! First of all, take a deep breathe.You are doing the best you can and your loved one is lucky to have you. Secondly, listen to what they want.  One of our clients was not interested in any plates of food that we prepared. They were on all liquid diet and they were depressed about that. One of our Caregiver’s had a great idea and purchased a couple of magazines for the caregiver and client to look at – one of them was Food & WIne magazine. The Caregiver started leafing through the magazine and the client began to make comments about the different things she found that looked good and gross. Pie and potatoes were things that she mentioned that made her eyes light up. The caregiver had tried to make her a bowl of potato soup earlier in the week but she barely had a bite. Seeing how excited she was about the food though made the Caregiver want to give it another try. This time she when she prepared the soup she did not talk about it before, she just made it. She put the soup in a much smaller dish so that if she wanted more she could, but so that the initial portion looked small. She also added some flair! She added a touch of whipped cream to the pureed pie and sour cream to the mashed potato so that the topping was just a a cute little garnish – similar to what she saw in the magazine. The Client loved it, and the Caregiver loved doing it. Ordinarily, the idea of serving someone a tiny portion of pureed pie and mashed potatoes does not sound nutritious or really filling but the point was to meet the client where they were and to get them to begin to have a better relationship with food. 

This article from Caregiver.com has been the inspiration for this blog and has a number of great tips for helping provide nutritious meals that your loved one will enjoy. http://bit.ly/1tWaCkM    

Do you know what your parents Alzheimer’s medications are used for?

The #1 reason for individuals to go back into the hospital within less than 90 days of their original visit is having problems with the medication prescribed. As advocates for our parents it is important to understand exactly what our parents are taking and why.

 

All medications have their positive and negative effects and beyond understanding what the benefits of the drugs are it is also important to understand if the drugs offer side effects such as constipation, diarrhea, increased blood pressure, etc.    

 

There are a number of I-Phone Apps available now to not only track medication usage but also inform you about the positive and negative effects so that you can be better prepared to speak with your parents doctor if you feel as if there might be warnings signs of a potential problem.

If your parent is at home, it is a great thing to speak with your parent’s home care Care Manager and Caregivers about. They are able to be your eyes and ears and can update you by tracking the day to day patterns of your parents and how they are reacting to new medications.  http://1.usa.gov/1sjWhgj

Who makes you happy?

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marchel Proust

You’re Braver Than You Believe

One of the most amazing things about Help Unlimited is the dedicated Caregivers we have on our team. We have many Caregivers who have worked with us for almost 10+ years.

These men and women always seem to have a smile on their face and a story to share with us. They are humble, kind and have dedicated their lives to caring for others. We have gotten to know these men and women throughout the years and have had the opportunity to witness them in long term relationships with our clients.

There is one thing that seems to be a common thread about our dedicated long term caregivers and that is their humble and giving spirit. For example, we have a woman who has been a caregiver for 15 years and has worked with many of our long term clients. She has a sweet and welcoming smile that makes you instantly comfortable with her. She is very personal and light hearted and you fell special when she speaks with you. She is a treasured part of our team and an awesome person.

This quote is particularly pertinent to her and anyone else who has this kind spirit because they do not recognize how brave, strong & smart they are to be doing such a difficult job for such a long time. Our caregivers are professional & compassionate & part of being compassionate is caring about who the other person is and imagining yourself in their shoes. It is a beautiful thing to watch these Caregivers develop the strength of heart to give it their all every day with these clients. We would be lost without them.

If you are a family caregiver and have dedicated all of your free hours to taking care of a loved one – this reflection definitely pertains to you as well. Your dedication to your family is brave and admirable.

Have a great weekend!

Enjoy Every Moment Of Your Weekend!