We see you, Family Caregivers. We know your days are filled to the brim. You manage prescriptions, attend doctor’s appointments, help with meals and hygiene, advocate with the insurance company, and celebrate your loved one’s wins, both big and small. And that’s just an average Tuesday.
Millions of Americans are heading back to the office. For many people that means planning childcare, plotting out commutes, and (yikes!) wearing clothing that is more than pajamas.
While there are different opinions about where this quote comes from, these words of wisdom are hard to dispute. If you are the parent or caregiver to a child or adolescent with a chronic illness, including the approximately 210,000 Americans under age 20 estimated to have diagnosed diabetes, these words can be particularly meaningful.
Susan was on her way to visit her daughter when a simple bathroom break landed her in the emergency room. She simply stepped out of the car and tripped as she stepped up onto the curb. It could have happened to anyone, but the fact is falls like this are common among older adults with as many as 1 in 4 older people taking a fall each year.
If you are living with a chronic health condition, you may spend lots of time “doing” your disease. Maybe that means giving yourself insulin shots if you are living with diabetes or changing an ostomy pouch if you have a serious bowel problem such as Crohn’s disease. All of that busy-ness is an essential part of keeping yourself healthy.
Of all the personal topics out there, fecal incontinence is one of the toughest to discuss. The condition is also known as bowel control problems, fecal incontinence, or accidental bowel leakage (ABL). By any name, living with this condition is a pain in the backside (if you’ll forgive the pun), often causing distress and embarrassment.
You’ve probably heard this before: Exercise is the secret sauce that helps keep older adults healthier, happier, and more independent. However, like anything that delivers so much value, it doesn’t always come easily.
