Twelve years after his diagnosis, my dad experienced some new and major Parkinson’s Disease symptoms. One of the more noticeable things he experienced was a dramatic change with his voice, going from a fairly normal volume down to almost a whisper. It turned out that was a fairly common problem for Parkinson’s Disease patients.

Now researchers are working on various ideas to help with that and Jessica Huber has found an interesting technique that is helping many. As Redorbit’s article explains, [Parkinson's Disease patients] are being retrained to speak louder using an interesting recording called “multitalker babble noise.”  Well worth reading the article! That’s something I would have asked our doctor about immediately.

Uh Oh! I must admit I’m not happy about this story from CNN. “Heart Group Urges Daily Limit on Added Sugar.” Apparently, not carefully limiting our sugar intake not only hurts our weight, which in turn can lead us straight into being diagnosed with Diabetes which then requires a Type 2 Diabetes diet which has even less sugar! Added sugar is also

“’associated with risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure, high levels of triglycerides, and high levels of C-reactive protein, which has been linked to oxidative stress and inflammation,’ says Linda Van Horn, a registered dietitian and chair of the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee.”

Of additional importance for those of us in the Sandwich Generation is the example we are setting for our grandkids. I have to confess I am bad about my sodas. I have started using more diet sodas, though there are concerns about those as well. I will have to think about this. How about you? Are you ready to give up on sugar?

Last but definitely not least is the news that the latest Boomers & Seniors: News You Can Use blog carnival is out. With articles on such topics as what the Baby Boomer Generation is doing to accommodate aging parents who want to stay in their own home along with the other side of the coin: info about geriatric care managers as well as non-profit nursing homes vs. for-profit nursing homes, you’ll find plenty of useful news! There’s even an interesting post about AARP members who are upset with AARP’s stance on the health care proposal and have left AARP and turned to a brand new option, meaning we have choices. I’m definitely going to be looking closely at that! And be sure to keep your eyes open for a couple of articles from SandwichINK.   See you there!

Woo Hoo! It’s that time again. A brand new edition of the Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival with a wealth of information for you. Let’s take a peek, shall we?

Under the topic of Boomer Issues, you’ll find articles:

• with ideas to help grandparents stay in touch with grandkids, even from a long distance
• with a different spin on the controversial survey comparing daycare vs. Grandparent care
• on Grandparents raising their grandkids.

Moving on to Senior Care/Caregiving :

• there’s an interesting article, How to Stay Centered After Lilah’s Stroke , to help you understand your feelings better
• also a good article on Dementia Up Close
  
• and yours truly’s SandwichINK article on Caregiving.com’s Progressive Party as well as the two-part Power of Attorney series.

Senior Housing covers such topics as:

• retirement communities that are going high-tech (it sounds wonderful!)
• things to look for when you select an assisted living community – sounds like two excellent articles to save!
• Downsizing – to a condo or to a prefab home

Of course, they also cover Retirement and financial issues :

• Making sure you’re getting all you’re entitled to from Social Security & what forms you should save FOREVER!
• Tapping your 401k with no penalty
• More excellent advice on the Power of Attorney
• Safety for liquid savings
• Tips on what your savings plan should focus on.

Feeling healthy ? I hope so, but either way, be sure to read:

• 100 Best Wellness Blogs for Women!
• What the signs of a stroke are
• Fighting your metabolism. They have some easy ways to help you in that battle
• Regular walking breaks can help fight depression
• Healthy living tips for Seniors
• A good reminder of the importance of forgiveness – for you as well as the one you forgive

And last, but hilariously not least, be sure to check out the Hot Flash Barbie – it’s a hoot!

Well, there you have it. The latest edition of news you can use from the Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival . Check it out, leave them notes to let them know what you liked, and I’d love to hear from you as well. Comments are always wonderfully welcomed in the space below.

Caregiving for those with chronic illnesses can be especially difficult. Most of us can handle helping for a short term. But chronic means long-term, on-going. It can mean months, years, or even decades of helping a loved one with health issues that can get worse, and rarely get better.  When I helped my mom and dad as they dealt with his Parkinson’s Disease progressing, they had already been dealing with it for over ten years. We worked together as a team for another five years: helping him, encouraging him, advising him, and finally, nursing him, alongside his hospice nurses, in his final months here on earth.

I recently discovered a brand new blog carnival specifically for those with chronic conditions, Christians With Chronic Illness Blog Carnival. There you can find articles by and about Christians dealing with a wide variety of chronic illnesses.

For those suffering from chronic conditions, I think you will be comforted and encouraged as you read. I know I tend to feel better knowing that others feel like I do and understand what I’m going through. For those who are caregivers to loved ones with chronic illnesses, you will find excellent advice, encouragement, and wisdom in how to help them, minister to them, and even to understand them a bit better.

I enjoyed reading all the articles. One in particular that I especially appreciated was the James 1:5 Journal. The writer shared how her suffering has led to a deeper prayer life in Christ. She writes, “I often hear people say, “Well, I guess the only thing we can do is pray.” WHAT???? The armies of heaven are dispatched when the children of God hit their knees!! Prayer is not the last resort when all of our resources have been exhausted….after all of our best efforts have failed. Prayer is the source of all power.” Isn’t that the absolute truth!!! Be sure to read the rest of the article. It will definitely motivate you to spend some serious time in prayer today!  One of the best things about prayer – you can do it anywhere and anytime! Perfect for caregivers of any kind!

I also really enjoyed an article at Lisa Notes. I’ll have to confess, I liked it for two reasons. One, it was a great devotional about God’s power and provision in times of suffering. The other, not quite so noble sounding, is that it appealed to the Baby Boomer in me. The title, alone, will give away the reason why: “The Cracker Jack of Pain – A Surprise with Every Body.” I still remember loving Cracker Jacks, even though I haven’t had one in years! Both the toys AND the snack. The whole article put a smile on my face which is still there as I type this. 

Read both of these great articles and several more that are just as enjoyable at Christians With Chronic Illness Blog Carnival . And if you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out Caregiving’s Progressive Party as well. Both the carnival and the party are sure to put a smile on your face as well as encourage you mightily.

CAREGIVING’S PROGRESSIVE PARTY PARTICIPANTS: Welcome to SandwichINK . This site is written with the Sandwich Generation in mind. My goal is the encourage you and inform you as you go about your daily tasks. If you are a caregiver for an elderly parent, still taking care of a child and/or helping take care of grandkids, you will find articles of interest for all those needs.  SandwichINK has articles about caregiving in general, the wide variety of needs of the elderly , Alzheimer’s Disease , Parkinson’s Disease , products to help you deal with all these needs, and more. You will also find articles with suggestions for fun projects to do with grandkids (and kids), games to play with them, ways to encourage them and help them learn , creative things to do at the different holidays , long distance ideas , etc. As a regular participant in the Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival , a daily Twitter user, and a continual internet researcher, I’m constantly on the lookout for useful , frugal , and interesting information for you. I’d love to have you join us on a regular basis by bookmarking this site and signing up for the free email or RSS feed option on the right.

If you are not part of the progressive party but would like to join in, pop over to Caregiving to find out all the details. It’s open to all and wonderfully FREE

Now, to quote Paul Harvey, “it’s time for the rest of the story:”

CAREGIVING VS. HOSPITALITY

Are you a caregiver for someone in your home? A spouse, elderly parent, child or grandchild? Do you want to be able to invite friends over to your house for a meeting, maybe for a Bible study group, a Neighborhood Watch meeting, or a book club? Do you feel frustrated because you or your patient don’t feel that is a viable option? Perhaps it makes your beloved uncomfortable or there just isn’t enough room for it. You’ll be glad to know there are other options available to you that you might not have thought of.

1. Restaurants – This is one of my favorites. Depending on the size of the group, you can either sit in the regular section at a booth or table or you could find one of the many restaurants with a private room available for groups to use. I’ve seen these in everything from fast food, such as McDonalds and Chick-Fil-A, to sit-down restaurants, such as Denny’s and Marie Callendar’s. Of course, you’ll probably need to make arrangements in advance. Just be sure if it is a restaurant where you would normally tip, that you tip an appropriate amount for the size of the group AND the time you spend there. If you take up a server’s table for more than 45 minutes, you should tip the full amount for every 45 –60 minutes you are there. Let them know that you will be tipping extra. They should be happy to know they are getting their normal tips, keep the water and coffee flowing, and welcome you back with open arms. Your group gets a pleasant place to visit with no clean-up afterwards. That’s always a win-win situation that makes me smile.

2. Apartment Community Room – Do you, or one of the other members, live in an apartment? If so, check to see if there is a community room available that you are allowed to reserve in advance. Most apartments make these available for free or for a small charge to cover extra cleaning. Check the room out in advance to be sure it will work well for your purposes. I visited one complex that was delightful, but it was set up for theater watching. This is fine if your meeting is more of a class setting, such as a guest speaker for Neighborhood Watch. If you are planning a time where everyone is sharing and getting to know each other, a less formal set up where everyone is in a circle would work better.

3. Business Community Centers – Check with your local businesses to see if any of them have a meeting room that they make available for free to community groups. When I was a neighborhood watch captain, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my local grocery store had one available for reservation to all local groups.

4. Churches – Many churches allow members to reserve a room for use for a community meeting as long as it is not already being used at that time. We held Neighborhood Watch meetings at one of our members’ local church and appreciated that the pastor often joined us for the meetings since his church was in the area. Obviously, your own church would be the best place to start. If they don’t have a viable option, check other churches near where you live.

5. Schools – Many schools have rooms available for community groups to use on a first-come, first-served, reservation basis. Some charge a small fee for the use while others make them available for free. Call the secretary at a local school to ask what the policies and availabilities are.

6. Libraries – Being a confirmed bookaholic, I always get to know my libraries well. One of the things I discovered is that many of them also have community rooms available. Call your local librarian to find out their rules and requirements.

7. Trade Services for Space – If your group prefers a home environment, see if one or more of the members would be willing to have it in their home, if you will agree to lead it. The pastor in charge of our home Bible study groups was wise enough to realize many people love to share their homes, but hate to be in charge. Others love to be in charge, but don’t have a home available. He set up his Bible study sign-ups to always have a person who volunteered to host and another who volunteered to lead. If your church or group doesn’t have that as an option, you can set up a group on your own with that as the plan.  You could even split the duties three ways. One person could host the event at their house, another would commit to bringing the cookies and coffee, and a third person could agree to lead. That makes it a lot easier for everyone. If you aren’t the only caregiver in your group, others will also be very grateful.

8. Virtual Meetings – Sometimes, no matter how much you need to get out and about, it just isn’t an option. I went through a season like that during the last two months my sweet father was on hospice. There was too much going on, and too many crises, to allow me to get out at all, let alone hostess any get-togethers. For those times, the caregiving community online becomes even more valuable and vital. Just a few minutes of the the normal visiting of sites, chatting on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter can be a big encouragement to an overwhelmed and exhausted caregiver. If there is a blog carnival or “progressive party ” going on, such as the one going on right now, that can also be a blessing. These are the moments when, instead of being the one giving the hospitality, you get to be blessed by others’ virtual hospitality. One excellent site to help with that, (in addition to SandwichINK ), is Caregiving . And as you read above, they are hosting a Progressive Party to introduce you to other great sites and give you some extra encouragement along the way. Bookmarking some of those sites that especially interest you and revisiting them in normal times will provide you with interesting and informative updates. Spending a few minutes at one or more in the midst of a crisis can give you that much-needed break you need, even if you can’t get away to take that break.

Caregiving is hard work , no matter how much you love the person you are caring for. It’s important to make sure you do have some time to yourself for something you are interested in. Hopefully, these eight ideas will give you a great launching pad to a fun outing on a regular basis. If you have other creative ideas, please share them with us in the comments section below.

Providing wise care for your aging parents when using a Power of Attorney was discussed in yesterday’s post . Today, I want to follow that up with some additional information that is especially relevant in today’s economy.

With all the changes in the marketplace, including banks buying out other banks, merging, and sometimes even closing, it’s important to stay on top of the elderly care we provide our parents by monitoring their financial situation in regards to what is happening with those banks.

A good friend inadvertently discovered this when he had to call a bank on behalf of his grandfather. They had done all the paperwork required by the bank a few years ago, including filing and notarizing the bank’s required forms on top of providing the Power of Attorney their own attorney had prepared. Now the bank has merged with another bank and has a new name. You can imagine his shock when he called the new bank’s primary call center regarding a letter he received, only to be told they couldn’t talk to him as he didn’t have Power of Attorney.

He called the branch where they had originally opened the account and discovered the manger was no longer there. Fortunately the new manager was very helpful. He discovered that the new bank had implemented a plan to have all the paperwork scanned into computers. For some reason, his grandfather’s paperwork had never been scanned in. It took them over an hour on the phone while she tracked down the original paperwork, and another hour on her part to completely solve the problem. She finally called him later that night with the good news that all was fixed. Wisely, he waited a week, then called the primary call center back where he was able to confirm that they did, indeed, show that he had Power of Attorney.

Can you imagine if that had happened in the middle of a crisis? I learned to:

1. Call any bank that has recently made a change to verify all of our information is still showing accurately. It might be wise to wait about three months after the bank changes hands, to give them time to complete their paperwork processing.

2. Keep a copy of all documents in a file at home.

3. Keep a copy of the Power of Attorney (reduced in size) easily accessible at all times in case of an emergency.

4. It might even be wise to call each bank your senior parent uses every year or two to verify that all is in order.

Even when banks don’t change hands, mistakes do happen. It’s always easier to sort these issues out when there isn’t a problem, rather than discovering a mess in the middle of an emergency situation.

Power of Attorney. Doesn’t that sound powerful? You watch TV, someone produces one of those, and they have total power with no problems. Now try that in the real world. You’ll probably find it’s not quite that easy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s vital to have one. I highly recommend asking an attorney for the state your aging parent lives in to prepare a Durable Power of Attorney. Different states have different rules, so that can be very important. If you are not sure what a Durable Power of Attorney is, you can read an excellent article about it at ElderGuru.

Once you have the power of attorney (poa) and it is signed and notarized, it’s then VERY important to contact each and every company your elderly parent does business with, especially the banks and financial companies such as Charles Schwab. You will discover that many, if not all, of them require their own Power of Attorney form in addition to or instead of your senior parent’s own Power of Attorney. Plan on spending a day or two (or more) working on this. Each one often requires an hour or more as you fill out the forms, provide any necessary documents, etc. If it’s a bank, they should be able to provide the notarizing for you. If you are doing any of it by mail, then you will have to find your own notary public. I even ran across one company that required something different than a notarization, which my own bank had to provide. Fortunately, they knew how to do it as I had never heard of it before.

Preparing a Power of Attorney isn’t difficult, but it is time consuming to begin with. It is a vital part of eldercare, though, so be sure you look into this well before you think you will need it. Once you do need it, it may be too late.