11 Caregiving Memoirs That Get It Right

The American Society on Aging (ASA) lists "11 Caregiving Memoirs That Get It Right" here. You'll find some bittersweet, poignant, practical reading in this list. The webpage also mentions Ann Patchett's article in The Observer that sounds worth looking up.

Wound Care by Jennifer Bradley

Another helpful article in Caregiver.com, this one on wound care in the elderly. Author Jennifer Bradley lays out reasons for different types of skin issues and gives solutions. She discusses skin tears, pressure ulcers, infections, and diabetic skin care. She also addresses prevention.

Pressure ulcers are especially tricky, in my parents' experience, because there comes a time when they just couldn't avoid sitting or lying in the same position for long periods of time. And caregivers pulling tight compression stockings on and off tear the skin if they are not extremely careful and well-trained.

To read Jennifer Bradley's practical "Wound Care" article, click here. 

Loving on Empty

Have you pondered what keeps you going day after day, month after month, year after year? Psychotherapist Mike Verano considers the complexity of caregivers' energy sources in his Caregiver.com article Loving on Empty. His analogy of "taking a sleeping pill and an energy drink at the same time" rings true for me. Here is a link to Loving on Empty. Check it out!

Home Care Versus Assisted Living

What kind of help does your loved one need? If you would like to see a succinct comparison, pros and cons, of in-home assistance versus an assisted living facility, please check out this Caregiver.com article by Spencer Harris: Home Care Versus Assisted Living.

My family has experienced both. Plus, my siblings and I are all at an age where we are mulling these decisions for our own older years. This article handily breaks down this critical decision.

Some Things I Have Learned

What we learn in the caregiving role is invaluable. We grow. We give love in new ways. We protect and defend. We don't let "the system" stop us as we provide for a loved one's needs. We rely on God.

In a Caregiver.com article, John Patterson expresses these positives better than I ever could. Here is his article, Some Things I Have Learned.

A Nice Touch by Cyndie Goins Hoelscher

To pass along helpful hints, I frequently post links to Caregiver.com posts and Today's Caregiver articles. Today I would like to share with you one of their posts that is simply beautiful. Beautiful language, creative presentation of grief's hues, and powerfully encouraging.

Here is the article, "A Nice Touch," by Cyndie Goins Hoelscher.

To Panic ... Or Not?

Panic might not be the right word. Perhaps strong worry is better. When the issue is your parent’s potentially life-threatening condition, your chest squeezes out your breath and your stomach knots into a rock. I suppose it’s a combination of dread, helplessness, and hope. It took my 99-year-old mother’s nursing home three weeks to diagnose her cough as pneumonia. I was so scared, panicked even, that this time, pneumonia might do her in. But I have to say that my mother seems stronger now, so I needn’t have worried. After they finally did diagnose it, these conversations occurred:

Me: I’m concerned about my mother’s cough.

Mom’s nurse: She’s not coughing.

Me: She just had a coughing jag that rocked her whole body.

Nurse: When the aide wheels her by the nurse’s station to go to lunch, I listen and your mom is not coughing.

Me: Would you please come to her room to listen now?

Me: I have read that pneumonia is contagious; is my mother’s?

Mom’s nurse: No, but wash your hands a lot.

My conclusion: Caution is advised. Thank God for diagnosis and proper medication, but know that the nurse probably has so many residents to look after, her attention to my mother will be scattershot. Follow my gut sense on when to clue her. And yeah, wash my hands a lot. No need to panic. As the British World War II mantra goes: Keep calm and carry on.