maybe someone’s mind is not what it used to be or their body is failing them in too many ways but if you just listen you will hopefully find many treasures – if you allow yourself to truly quiet everything and not worry about where you should be but be exactly where you are, there [...]
Gotta, get a POLST
A POLST is a physicians order for life sustaining treatment often referred to as a POLST. If you have not completed one with your physician, next you time you visit her ask for one and get it into your medical record. The POLST is a document which specifies exactly what you do and don’t want [...]
I could be …..93
I learned a very long time ago that the number of years you have lived has sometimes little to do with how old or young you really are. I spent most of an afternoon last week in the delightful company of a very young 93 year old, my sweet friend Ellen. Lively, feisty liberal, with [...]
I will happily go to the dogs
Read this lovely article by geriatrician Louise Aaronson about the choices we can make for our pets at the end of their lives versus those available to people. http://http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/weighing-the-end-of-life.html?_r=0 I only wish that I and those I love could be gently held by someone we love when we are ready to die and injected so [...]
passages
When someone you love is navigating through dementia and or Alzheimer’s there are so many passages and little deaths along the way. When they move out of their home, can no longer drive, must use a walker or wheelchair, move into a care facility, become incontinent or afraid for no reason we can see. All [...]
Fathers -and mothers- Be Good to your Daughters
As John Mayer says in his song, being good to your daughters is a very good thing, especially as you age. The number one predictor of how well you will be cared for in your golden years is whether or not you have a daughter. Which means I am doomed, as not only do I [...]
Welcome to Grace in Aging
Welcome to this new blog which will explore, discuss and help us find some grace in aging for our parents and perhaps ourselves. Throughout the past eight years my mother fought valiantly through dementia and died this past May and now my sweet father has Alzheimers. To say the journey has been hard would be [...]
