A Christian Caregiver: May 2017

It Could Be Easy to Lose Your Cool, but...

Ephesians 6: 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Sometimes my dad is just in a cranky mood and nothing is going to sit well with him. It's got to be extremely difficult to have to contend with having Parkinson's Disease, not being able to use your legs the way you want, having to leave your home, your freedom, your life that you knew.

Sometimes Dad's frustration can come out toward me or toward his caregivers. Fortunately, it doesn't happen often, so there's time between this type of interaction. Dad's usually very patient and tolerant, but there are those times, especially at times when someone's giving him medications, that he gives you a run for your money.

Fortunately, God reminds me during times like this, that I don't need to respond in kind when Dad's being critical and angry. We have been blessed with having this extra time with my dad and that includes taking the high road and not giving way to Satan's temptations to say angry things back. I trust God to continue to remind me of this when confronted with angry remarks. I pray that all the care providers who deal with my dad and others in facilities have a deep abiding faith in the Lord and know this as well.

Since these are examples of how I've applied these Bible verses to my experience, they may not reflect the whole meaning of the verse.

I'm including You Tube Video clips on caregiving that I found interesting, inspirational, or might be helpful to others, but am not responsible for the content in the videos. Always check first with a physician before trying any suggestions mentioned.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:

Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life

Bible Study: Relating the Bible to YOUR Life!

Types of Christians

Creation: What's It Matter?

How to Know Jesus Is God's Son

Free 2 Share VBS (Free VBS Curriculum)

Christian Overeaters Past and Present Blog

Christian Overeaters Past and Present Support Links

Jesus Calls, But Do Your Actions Say You Don't Desire Him?

Caregiving Video: Elderly Aggression-Anger Management in an Aged Care Setting
by: Dr. Hume Rendle-Short, HP Connections via You Tube

Temporary Dementia and Medication Changes

A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. Proverbs 15:5

I recently saw a video where the elderly relative was aggravated. It reminded me of the time when my dad had called another family member and asked them to bring his guns to the facility he was staying. When I went to visit him, he thought people were in the adjoining room plotting harm.

My dad doesn't have Alzheimer's and only has signs of Dementia when something is wrong with his body like pneumonia or a urinary tract infection. Unfortunately, some medical professionals think that when they see a patient with signs of Dementia that the patient has Alzheimer's Disease and will tell you so. It saddens me to think that many people may have put loved ones in Memory facilities, because a medical professional said that the patient had Alzheimer's.

In this case, the P.A. (Physician's Assistant) that saw my dad for his Dementia like symptoms found that it was related to a change in medications some time earlier. Dad had been taking two different anti-depressants and the P.A. had stopped one of them. Dad was taking one for Depression which can accompany Parkinson's Disease patients like Dad and the other was to help increase Dad's appetite. The P.A. didn't see that Dad needed two different anti-depressants, so he had stopped the one that helped Dad deal with having Parkinson's Disease. Fortunately, Dad's P.A. identified immediately what was causing Dad's aggravation and put him back on that medication. Once that medication was back in Dad's system, the aggravation went away.

I tell you these things, so you can try to find out if there are other underlying causes for Dementia or Ahlzeimer's symptoms before putting loved ones in a Memory Facility on the recommendation of physicians and other medical staff.

Since these are examples of how I've applied these Bible verses to my experience, they may not reflect the whole meaning of the verse.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:

Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life

Caregiving Video: Aging & Depression: What We Should Know and Look For

By: Kati Morton, Healthy Mind, Healthy Body! via You Tube

Dad Loves Bingo!

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well please unto the Lord. Colossians 3:20

Some of the times when we go to the Veteran's Home to see Dad, we time it right to take him to go play Bingo. You never saw so many retired and disabled people get so into an activity. My dad has Macular Degeneration, so he quite often needs someone to keep an eye out to make sure he doesn't miss any tabs to pull closed or to make sure he doesn't close any he shouldn't have.

There is this one man there that gets angry every time he doesn't win and lets everyone in the room know how disappointed he is. He's famous for saying, "I never win!" The regular players tend to remind him of that when he does win!

There was a short period of time, when my dad let that negative guy rub off on him and my dad started complaining that he never wins. I hated to see him take on that guy's negative attitude. Then, my dad wasn't complaining any more. I'm not really sure what happened, but am pleased that he doesn't let the negative comments of one spoil his game. He loves playing Bingo! I think it's an empowering game for him to play with his peers.

I think that my dad's not letting the negative guy rub off on him makes my dad a role model. We all have times that we want to complain about things, but life is much better when we don't. I am so blessed to have this extra time with my dad.

Since these are examples of how I've applied these Bible verses to my experience, they may not reflect the whole meaning of the verse.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:

Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life

Christian Overeaters Past and Present Blog

Bible Study: Relating the Bible to YOUR Life!
Types of Christians
Creation: What's It Matter?

Caregiving Video: C.O.A. Bingo Volunteer Retirement
By: Larry Gianetti, Thaddeus Stephanak via You Tube

Dented, but that Didn't Slow Down Dad

A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother. Proverbs 15: 20

Within days of Dad's moving here for us to help him with his health conditions, there was a major hail storm. It walloped Dad's car and left major dents all over it. In fact, it looked like his car had been hit by a baseball bat, but that didn't slow Dad down!

If my car had gone from being in pristine condition to badly dented within days, I'm not sure I would have taken it in stride, as did my Dad. He has served as a role model in so many ways through his patience, despite what happens in life.

Dad gradually lost the use of his legs in the months after he moved here, because he has Parkinson's Disease. Did Dad have a fit and go around yelling at everyone, because he could no longer be as independent as he once was? No, he took it in stride.

Dad fell quite a few times, and broke bones during several of the falls. He never got angry or hateful with whatever frustration he must have felt when these things happened. The doctors said that Dad needed skilled nursing, although he would have liked to have been more independent, he has handled it pretty well, for the most part. We have been very blessed by the opportunity to have this extra time with my dad and to learn from his example.

Since these are examples of how I've applied these Bible verses to my experience, they may not reflect the whole meaning of the verse.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:

Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life

Christian Overeaters Past and Present Blog

Bible Study: Relating the Bible to YOUR Life!
Types of Christians
Creation: What's It Matter?

Caregiving Video: Parkinson's Exercise Strategies for the Trainer or Physical Therapists

By: Patrick LoSasso via You Tube

About the Blog Author:

I feel really blessed to have my dad here with us for whatever length of time that God allows. When I first felt led to write these blog posts, I realized that there will be a point when my dad will no longer be living here. I think in order to get through that period, I’m going to write as many posts as I can now and schedule them to come out in the future. Additionally, the posts won’t be in the same order that they occurred to allow me to address things as they come to mind. Thanks! Debbie Seiling