I was quite interested in the news headline “ER Visits for Senior Citizens Rise at Thanksgiving.” Their premise is that this occurs because the aging relative’s family members haven’t seen them in quite a while and/or they underestimate the effects of normal aging.

Their overall thought process does make sense. If you only see an aging relative once a year, it can be quite a shock to see how their health may have deteriorated considerably since the last visit. And, while Thanksgiving has passed, the same points would be true for the whole holiday season through Christmas or even the New Year, as many of us don’t get all of our visits finished until then.

Then again, several members of my family have dealt with various legitimate trips to the ER in the last 20 years. We actually had one trip to ER the day before Thanksgiving but it was NOT a false alarm. My senior dad developed pneumonia and, shortly after that hospital trip, he was put on hospice. Other relatives have been admitted to the hospital during the holiday season, ending plans for holiday travel. In some cases, the planning process itself could have been a small part of the problem. In other cases, the fact that it was cold and flu season was a definite factor due to complications from bronchitis, pneumonia, etc. Often, our immune systems are weakened due to stress, travel, not sleeping well, not eating healthily, and other reasons.  I know many families who have dealt with similar circumstances.

While I don’t necessarily agree that unfamiliarity is the only reason for the increase in emergency, the article does make some excellent points and contains good advice of what TO do throughout the year as well as what NOT to do in these circumstances. I totally agree with them that, while it could be a false alarm, if you have any concerns about the health of your beloved senior, it is vital to take them to the doctor’s office, urgent care or, if serious, the Emergency room to have them checked out. With the holiday season now in full swing, I would encourage you to pop on over and read the article. And have a healthy and peaceful holiday season.

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were born

Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting,

You are God.

Psalm 90:1-2

I love these Words of Encouragement from God. Whether senior home care is keeping us busy, or grandchildren, or both – as is often the case for the Sandwich Generation, we can have peace of mind that comes from knowing that God is there from everlasting to everlasting!

For more pictures and words to encourage your heart, pop over to Penny Raine’s blog.

Many of us in the Sandwich Generation are providing dementia care for aging parents. One big concern as the disease progresses is the safety of our senior parents. Every few days you read about a patient with dementia who has wandered off and is lost. Currently, there is no national system in place to help find them, such as the Amber Alerts which help find children. As I wrote in my original post on silver alerts and in my Twitter updates about Silver Alerts,  it’s vital for us to contact our elected representatives and ask that they support H.R. 632 which would provide an inexpensive and easy way to send Silver Alerts out across the nation. Since it is not uncommon for a dementia patient to be found many miles and several states away from home, this is a definite need.

Since I recently moved, I just contacted my new senators via email. It took me about ten minutes to find their email addresses and type short notes. Thanks to RefDesk, you can do it even faster for this and other issues of importance to you. They just sent me a great link that did NOT turn up when I was doing my Google search. It would have made it much easier and faster for me! As busy Senior Home Care Givers and grandparents, we all need as much help in that area as we can get.

The website is a government site, USA.gov. You’ll find email and snail mail addresses, phone numbers, website addresses, and even info about being able to “tweet” your representative. While you’re there, be sure to send an email to each of your senators to support H.R. 632 to provide help finding missing dementia patients, and any other cause you support.

As I wrote yesterday at SandwichINK Real Estate Info, I also highly recommend RefDesk. You can visit there daily to see their latest “Site of the Day” or sign up to have it mailed to you daily. I do find the most interesting sites from them. It’s one of my favorite resources! 

Once you’ve contacted your senator, you can check here often to see if there has been any movement on this bill. I have a button on the far right side that shows what is (or is not) happening. And do sign up for the SandwichINK free email so you don’t miss out on any of the resources provided here for great Sandwich Generation Senior Home Care Givers and Grandparents like you!

SENIOR HOME CARE GIVING

“I Still Do: Loving and Living With Alzheimer’s.” A new book by the wife of an Alzheimer’s patient was written by Judith Fox and featured in Richmond Magazine.

Deep brain stimulation, developed for those with Parkinson’s symptoms, eases tics in Tourette’s syndrome.  Per @ParkinsonsInfo

Alzheimer’s Association Comfort Zone is a new Web-based GPS location management service that can help families
stay active. Thanks to @Caregiving for the info!

A great article by Wisconsin Senator Mary Lazich supporting the Silver Alert bill to help find missing Alzheimer’s Disease patients! Please call your legislators to support this bill!  Thank you @silveralertbill

When Should You Use Adult Day Care Services for Caregiving Help?

Is it really Alzheimer’s or something else?

Encouragement – Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

GRANDPARENTING

A Jar of Fun idea for grandparents and grandkids – discovered by @heartofwisdom.

@PrepSmart lets us know that CPSC Urges Parents, Grandparents & Caregivers to Stop Using “My Baby Soother Pacifiers Due to Choking Hazard.”

National Sensory Awareness Week is Oct 25-31. Joan Graves has written an interesting article about Sensory Integration Disorder also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SI) and Sensory Processing Disorder.  Per @lisajcopen

A powerful article to share with your teen and young adult kids / grandkids – Nothing Casual About Sex -   Thanks to @JulieArduini for the link!

SANDWICH GENERATION:

Obama Declares H1N1 Flu / Swine Flu ‘National Emergency’ per Fox News.

Amazon Prime is GREAT for senior home care givers  and grandparents who help family and friends who live far away. And just in time for the holidays and sick days, they are returning to 2-day delivery for Thursday orders by delivering on Saturdays! Not only that, they are also offering a free one-month trial to check out the service!

Good analysis of the health care situation from a baby boomer generation viewpoint!

Encouragement – In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, dost make me to dwell in safety. Ps. 4:8

Moving is a tough job! Moving also tends to cause us to get behind on important details and such is the case this week as I JUST realized an interesting new Boomers & Seniors: News You Can Use came out last week! Not only that, EldercareABC had two informative blog carnivals on October 7 AND 14! The fact that I was caravanning cross country during most of this time period, with limited web use, could have something to do with this lapse on my part.

Well, now that I’ve discovered all this interesting info, here’s a brief review of each to whet your appetite, along with the encouragement to join me in exploring them fully to help us on our joint journey of Sandwich Generation senior home care giving and grandparenting!

Boomers and Seniors: News You Can Use

I especially enjoyed the article by Patty Grace on hospice and palliative care. As I commented there, we were very blessed by both of these during my dad’s last few weeks on earth. They were wonderful, and walked us through everything step by step, but her article is an excellent overview of both systems.

Another article that caught my eye was Memory Triggers, a book to help us communicate better with our aging parents who have dementia.

You’ll find interesting articles dealing with fun ways to exercise which can help lower your cholesterol, ways to communicate with aging parents who have dementia, tips on coaching, social security and retirement, and more at Ageless-Sages, who wonderfully hosted this particular Boomers and Seniors!

EldercareABC Blog Carnival – October 7

The October 7 issue has a fascinating pair of articles by Derrick Grant explaining what SLUMs is and how it can help us with parents who may have started struggling with dementia, along with versions of this test in several different languages.

You’ll also find articles on the lack of a cost of living raise for Social Security, how to deal with senior assistance resistance, and more!

EldercareABC Blog Carnival – October 14

I found several interesting articles about caregiver stress and coping strategies in this post. I was also especially encouraged by the personal essay, The Two Millies. It was so sweet to read about this sweet friendship that developed in a care facility between two aging mothers and their families.

All in all, three interesting blog carnivals with plenty of useful information! Which was your favorite article?

My grandkids and I are well into Autumn and Awanas so this week we’ve been busy memorizing “The Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” and “Great is our Lord and mighty in power,” among other verses.

We’ve also continued reviewing our Fruit of the Spirit songs and verses during the occasional bath times I participate in. That is such a great time to sing verse songs about the Lord combined with plenty of laughter, hugs, and joy!

They got to spend the night last night so this morning we were busy having our shower and song-fest. As I sang to them and with them, I was amazed at how God used their little verses to encourage me and lift my spirits over some of the Sandwich Generation issues I’ve been grappling with!

It has always been a blessing through the years as I taught God’s love and Word, first to my kids and now to my grandkids. He has so richly blessed me with the fruit I see in each of their lives. I love how He also uses my teaching of His Word to nourish and strengthen me as well!

This truly is a gift that keeps on giving – even into the Sandwich Generation and Senior years.

How about you? What ways does God use you to teach your grandkids and yourself? We’d love you to share them!

It’s an oldie AND a goldie idea that I know well, yet often forget. When my grandson and I came up with it together today, I thought I’d share it with you as well.

Story writing and story telling have an excellent track record for helping our grandkids of all ages. It takes work and time but both are usually quite enjoyable.

Sit down with one grandkid at a time, along with some pencils, colored pencils, markers, and/or crayons. You’ll also need some paper, lined or unlined or both.You can start with the picture they draw, a story they tell you, or even a story starter you give them.

Our first project consisted of my grandson drawing pictures of his favorite superhero. Then he told me about the picture and I printed out what he said. We put together a four-page story, along with a title page, dedication page to his secretary – yours truly, and the date. This not only gives us a fun memory together and a great project for homeschooling programs; it also gives us a baseline each year of the changes in his writing, drawing, and creativity skills.

For our second project, we reversed the process. This time my grandson told me his story. I wrote it out and he decorated it with pictures. When done, we numbered the pages, stapled it all together and sat down to enjoy it as we read it.

All three grandsons enjoyed both books for their nap time story time, along with their daily Bible story. As “editor,” I did make an occasional suggestion. Some they loved, some they turned thumbs down on. I was very pleased they liked my ideas of adding a spiritual component to their superhero tale. By talking about their hero loving God and drawing on His strength in their quest to help others, they realize that God is even BIGGER than any superhero ever could be and it becomes a springboard to a wide variety of important discussions.

All in all, this project was great educational fun for all my grandkids and myself and helped us accomplish some of Deuteronomy 6:7, “You shall teach [God’s Word] diligently to your [grand]sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

Traveling with a variety of generations can be fun and interesting. It can also be a bit frustrating as your aging parent deals with your grandchild’s uber-exuberance and as your grandkids adjust themselves to great-grandpa’s slower pace. This becomes especially apparent in a long drive by car. My senior mom, young grandson, and I discovered some fun “tricks of the trade” that helped make a long drive shorter and more interesting.

We had both the luxury and the need to take things slower due to simplified schedules and arthritis issues. We wound up stopping about every 1 1/2 – 2 hours giving us a chance to stretch our legs, head for the restroom, and fill up the driver (me ) with more caffeine!

I don’t know if this would be true for everyone, but on our particular route, we discovered that there was a Wal-Mart close to the freeway every time we got off! Each Wal-mart had nice restrooms – one even had a delightful bouquet of fresh flowers! They all had a restaurant of some type in them – either McDonald’s or Subway. They had fun craft sets, including one that kept my grandson busily working all day in the car as well as a new DVD movie he enjoyed – on sale. We even had fun picking out a few more Harvest decorations. All of this at Wal-Mart’s wonderful budget-friendly prices (they are another of my favorite ways to save money) AND they had plenty of caffeine to keep me perkily driving on.

At the end of a very long day of driving and “Wal-mart hopping,” my grandson commented that it had been a fun day that went really fast. My senior mom totally agreed. Now that’s a success in anyone’s Sandwich Generation book!

The great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Rev. 12:7-11

As a Sandwich Generation senior home care giver and grandmother, doing a sit down Bible study daily is both a vital necessity and a luxury. Many times I opt instead for a great sermon or two on my ipod as I drive on various errands.

Today I was blessed to spend solid time reading through Revelation as I continue to work on Kaye Arthur’s Revelation Precepts course. As I read the passage above, I realized my lamp was shining right into my eyes. At first it was more of a subconscious thought that led to a feeling of irritation. Then I focused on the issue and realized that all I needed to do was turn my chair a bit. Problem solved.

Another example was a game my grandkids and I enjoyed. They loved it, but it was a bit too frustrating for them at their age. We brainstormed and adjusted the rules. Problem solved and positive new lessons are now being worked on as we play it.

Then again, some things can NOT be changed. When an aging parent is placed in the Hospice program or has developed dementia, you can change many of the circumstances, but some things are difficult and even downright unchangeable.

When nothing else can be changed, we have to choose to submit it all to God and rest in His promises. Not that I shouldn’t have submitted the first two issues as well. I’ve learned I need to submit everything and all of me to Him.

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:7

When I’ve hit those solid walls of a one-way situation and feel like I am wedged in tight – no way in or out and the walls are getting closer and closer – that’s when my submission takes on even deeper meaning. When we can’t look anywhere else it makes us look at Him. If we are already looking at Him, it makes us look deeper into His eyes.

Sometimes these occasions will be huge, like hospice. Sometimes tiny, like a room arrangement we can’t change that is driving us nuts. Regardless of size, we will be blessed when we hold it out to God and let it go to Him. I’ve even done that physically and dramatically to help myself. I’ll hold out my hands and tell the Lord, “Here is my situation. I give it to You. Please make sure I leave it with You!”

As John points out in Revelation, we in the Sandwich Generation will be blessed when we choose to submit everything to God even when faced with unchangeable circumstances including death.

As senior home care givers and grandparents we stay plenty busy. Except during those white hot crisis times, many of us do have time for reading, crafts, and hobbies. We may also have lots of down time waiting. Waiting at the doctors’ offices, waiting at the dentists’ offices, waiting at the hair salon, waiting by a bedside, etc. Magazines have often been a great lifeline to keep me up-to-date on what’s going on plus get fun new ideas for projects to share with grandkids or aging parents. They are especially easy to pick up and put down.

I just discovered a new-to-me magazine that I really enjoyed and it’s one that is especially good for those of us in the Sandwich Generation. It has articles of interest for all ages. When I’m done with it, I’ll be passing it on to my adult daughters and my senior mom, while enjoying some of the fun activities with my grandkids. It’s full of home-style crafts, organic gardening ideas and tips for making meals interesting (when I have the time! ).

MaryJanesFarm, the American Organic Original, refers to itself as “The Everyday Organic Lifestyle Magazine.” I found an older issue, February-March 2009, in a friend’s magazine basket. Some of the headlines included:

• 18 Organic Honey Recipes
• Bee Mine Homemade Valentines
• Kitchy Embroidery Patterns
• My favorite – No Knead Artisan Breads in Minutes a Day – Doesn’t that sound yummy! And do-able even for a busy senior home care giver and grandma. And think how much our aging parents and grandkids would love to help us eat it!

A more recent issue, August-September 2009, also has plenty of interesting articles for a wide variety of Sandwich Generation issues. I especially enjoyed the “Grandma’s Wisdom” column, Cooking with Cast Iron. All about Barbie cabbages, it has a terrific and fun suggestion for encouraging our grandkids to eat a less popular but very healthy vegetable. You and your senior parents will get a good chuckle from it as well!

For the crafty Sandwich Gen group, there were knitting and crocheting patterns including some really cute “Mary Jane” style slippers and several great looking projects using twisted sisal twine, including a gorgeous, easily crocheted up-cycled market bag, that could easily double as a beach bag, grandkids’ diaper bag, etc. If any of our senior parents enjoy handwork, they’ll probably want to borrow your magazine as soon as you are done!

With tips for those in homeschooling programs, down-on-the-farm articles such as Bringing Home Your First Horse (your grandkids would LOVE you even more for that!), and some green recipes for a variety of cleaning products including carpet deodorizer, toilet bowl cleaner, and laundry softener which is great for all ages, this issue is full of wonderfully useful and delightful-to-read articles and ideas!

I’ve found it at the bigger book stores in my area or you can subscribe to it by calling 1-800-476-4611. Of course, a gift subscription for your senior parents might be a great idea as well.