#like that actually just happened with another dementia patient of mine | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rowenah1974 · 4 years

Text

Most terrible blogger in history

Yes, its official. I am THE WORST at blogging!

So.... what’s happened since I last deemed to post about my totally boring life here? Let’s just make a bullet list shall we?

1. My Dad died. On my son’s 14th birthday. That sucked. It was totally out of the blue and unexpected. The coroner’s report said he had pulmonary emboli and deep vein thromboses - so multiple of both. Apparently there’s not enough research being done into the link between blood clots and vascular dementia because if there had been, maybe the doctors would have known to look for them rather than think the breathlessness he’d had on and off for months was related to his heart!

2. I moved house. We’re no longer live in a shoe box. We now live in a normal sized house across the road from my Mum. My brother moved in with her after Dad died so our old house (which belongs to my brother) is empty but still has a lot of our stuff in it because this house still has a lot of my brother’s stuff in it! Dad’s stuff needs to be sorted so there’s room for my brother’s stuff so it’s a knock on thing. Hopefully, I will have access to the two spare rooms in the house at some point though!

3. I had a pelvic x-ray last October which was ordered by the lady doctor at the GP practice (which has since been shut down by the Quality Care Commission and the head GP forced to retire! We now have a new GP practice but in the same place. Go figure!) and when I phoned for the results of it two weeks after it was done, I was told that the head GP said it was fine - no changes from the previous x-ray that I’d had years before. It was only because I reminded the receptionist that the doctor had said she wanted to see me to follow up that I found out that it wasn’t actually fine at all! She told me that there had been evidence of joint deterioration on the x-ray I’d had years before and that the new x-ray showed that this had progressed in both hips and that the right hip was worse than the left. So, osteoarthritis. Oh joy! No news on my back pain though. She referred me to a physiotherapist for treatment that turned out to be utterly useless. He had NO knowledge of M.E. or how exercise affects the condition even though I told him in the initial consultation that I could not do exercise as it makes the condition worse. In fact, the whole manipulation therapy he insisted on doing because ‘the muscles around your spine are in spasm’ (yeah, no shit Sherlock!) made everything worse & I managed to do one round of the exercises he gave me, just once, before ending up in agony and in bed for several days. My mother, a retired physiotherapist, said she would have used some kind of electrotherapy to reduce the inflammation before doing anything because of the M.E. but it appears that the modern physio doesn’t bother with things like that. Obviously not trendy enough. I gave the physio some information about M.E. and my symptoms. He promptly decided that physio was not helping and referred me back to my GP! So that was a total waste of time! Last week, I spoke to someone from the clinical assessment service (whatever that is - basically another bloody physio!) who was supposed to sort out what’s going on in my back. He asked about my pain, looked at the x-ray from last October and said ‘there’s deterioration in the joints of the lumbar spine’. So, osteoarthritis there too. More joy! So I’m being referred to the pain management team. Palmed off on someone else yet again! And so we wait yet again to get an appointment to be seen.

4. The world has been hit by a coronavirus pandemic. We’re on lockdown. Suggested self isolation for at risk individuals started about 12 weeks ago and now our ‘leader’ Boris “Can’t brush my hair for the life of me” Johnson is loosening the lockdown he introduced on 20th March mainly because people can’t abide by the rules anyway. There doesn’t seem to be the fear of a second wave of the virus from the government like most of us with an ounce of sense has. So, do we wait til people start dying in large amounts every day again before BoJo tells all the selfish a*holes to stop breaking the rules and getting together with their mates for barbecues and so on? Your guess is as good as mine. And so the sensible among us continue to stay home and only go out for essentials, not socialise with friends and do our bit to help the health service cope with the influx of Covid-19 positive patients. In the meantime, Amazon and the Royal Mail keep us all in touch with the outside world. Thanks guys!

5. I’m going to dye my hair pink. Mid life crisis in lockdown is a genuine thing people!

6. I have to give a shout out to Miranda Hart for highlighting the fact that lockdown for those of us with chronic illnesses like ME is basically normal life. We don’t have the energy to go out other than for essentials. We are mainly cut off from other people and yet we carry on like this for years on end. It’s nice that someone out there cared enough to bring M.E. to people’s attention. So cheers for that Miranda. I would gallop in your honour but that would require spoons I don’t have currently. I know you understand.

So that’s about it. I am going to try harder to blog in future. I’m going to try harder to do a lot of things more often in future. Wish me luck!

#mecfs mecfswarrior meawareness lockdown coronavirus covid19 uselessgovernment bereavement arthritis osteoarthritis chronicillness

1 note · View note

lovingconnie-blog · 5 years

Text

God Winks, Part I

Sleep chaser. That's what I've been calling myself, privately- silently. The past few months my life has boiled down to attempting to get enough, and by enough I mean minimal needed for basic survival, sleep; helping Hubs to the bathroom and then cleaning up; fixing or, many times just warming up, our meals; physical therapy stretches and basic grooming. It's felt like a burning off of what's not important to bring into focus the sacredness of a simple life. My Course in Miracles teacher, who is also a caregiver to her husband, gave me some really powerful and deep advice. She said to treat every day as if it's the First Day of this caregiving journey. The repetitiveness can be exhausting and frustrating, if I allow my mind to go down that thought path. When I think about how much Love and resolve I had in those First Days of caregiving, I find that I'm more patient, centered, graceful with Hubs and with myself. I can experience and give love as a verb. It's been my deepest work the past couple months. Accepting and embracing this simple life, noticing that emotional triggers that are coming up, feeling the feelings, doing my best to manage my stress, and loving myself and Hubs through it. All this sleep chasing brought me to search out overnight respite care for Hubs. I didn't even know that overnight respite is a thing. I toured a few places and called many others. Most memory care centers require a minimum of a month which is too long and too expensive. However, I found 1 place that has no minimum overnights, affordable, well rated and has a good vibe. I know all the other stuff is really important, but if I don't sense good vibes it's a no go. That goes for pretty much everything in my life now. Deciding to explore overnight respite brought up lots of emotions and beliefs to work through, shift and heal. What I always come back to is this: taking the absolute best care of myself is crucial especially as a 24/7 caregiver. When I realized that I haven't been able to or even willing some days to give myself that level of care, I knew I needed more outside help. My mentor encouraged me to visualize and pray for droves of people to help and support me. I've been doing that every day for weeks. They are arriving and it's lusciously wonderful. God is winking. I decided a couple weeks ago to start the admittance process for Hubs at the memory care center with overnight respite.The Executive Director wanted to fax over the application to the VA PCP, but after a few days of trying to get the VA doc's office to give her, or me, their fax number I took the matter into my own hands. I went to the memory care place, way across town, and picked up the doc's packet so I could hand deliver it at our next VA appointment. I was supposed to go on a Tuesday, but it didn't work out. So I went on Wednesday. On my way there I ended up right behind a friend of mine that I rarely get to see at a red light. I called her and she was going someplace across the street from the memory care place. She said she would come over to hug me after her errand. God Wink. I got to the memory care center and there was a lady behind the front desk who I didn't recognize (though I'd only been there once before). She was talking with a potential client's caregiver when I came in. She was explaining that the dementia day care hours were flexible. The caregiver was listening intently, and expressed concerned that what the front desk lady was saying would be honored by the actual day care workers. The lady said that SHE is the owner so she knows. ha! Boom! She was so kind and patient... really loving energy. Then she talked to me and easily found the envelope I needed. But the owne, Mrs. A started a conversation. She asked what prompted me to start bringing Hubs in, and told her about how he stopped sleeping through the night a few months ago. She went through the usual suggestions and asked if I had asked his doctor for a sleeping aid pill. I told her that I've asked, begged, cried and asked again, but the VA psychiatrist who is in charge of his meds doesn't seem to fully grasp what's happening with Hubs and won't give him anything for sleep. She said, "that's criminal". And it hit me. It IS criminal. It IS ridiculous and insane that my requests for help from Hubs' VA doctors isn't being heard. And a fresh resolve bubbled up in me. My perspective of the care that Hubs has been getting at the VA shifted. I realized that he deserves better. I think I hadn't let myself come to this realization clearly, because I didn't know there alternatives. Mrs. A could easily stand for Angel. Then Mrs. A starts telling me about this wonderful doctor who comes to the memory care center. She raves about how much he cares about patients and how he's always available. She and her husband have the doc's personal number. She assures me that this doctor would help with sleeping at night, and probably more. I wrote down the doc's name. I chatted with Mrs. A for another couple minutes and felt so much compassion from her. Another God wink. I left and met my friend outside. She hugged me and we chatted a few minutes. I felt so cared for and supported in that moment. A simple hug from friend who showed up at the precise right moment, by no mistake was love as a verb to me. It meant so much that she was willing to take a few minutes out of her day to wait by my car to hug me. I have to say, too, that I honor myself for allowing myself to be hugged, cared for and loved. Instead of not wanting to bother my friend and telling her to just go on with her day, I accepted her offer with grace. Love expanded and God winked.

#caregiver #lewybodydementia #love sleep

2 notes · View notes

dailyaudiobible · 3 years

Text

07/14/2021 DAB Transcript

1 Chronicles 16:37-18:17, Romans 2:1-24, Psalm 10:16-18, Proverbs 19:8-9

Today is the 14th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I'm Brian it's great to be here with you today as we approach the middle of another one of the months that we get to share together, 12 of them in all as we move through the Bible in a year. It is a joy to be with you here now, as we take the next step forward together and that will lead us back into the book of 1 Chronicles today, chapter 16 verse 37 through 18 verse 17.

Commentary:

Okay, have you ever judged somebody or commented on someone's behavior and you were guilty of doing the same thing at some point in your life, maybe even traipsing out versus to make your judgment, to make your commentary, even though you’re also guilty? That's called, generally speaking, hypocritical right, hypocrisy and now that we've moved past all the pleasantries and greetings and kind of gotten into this Book of Romans, we see the tone of voice that Paul uses is very direct. Actually, we’ll find that in most of the letters, pretty direct conversation and Paul is talking about this sort of hypocrisy. And let's face it, we've all judged people for things that we've done like we’re just, we’re a mess sometimes but let's allow the letter to the Romans to just speak for itself. Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse for when you judge another you condemn yourself since you, the judge do the same things that we know that God's judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think any of you who judges those who do such things that do the same that you will escape God's judgment? Yeah okay, so that's as stark as it can be. And so, here we are to look in the mirror and face that. We put ourselves in the position of God and we like to judge on behalf of God and we like to bring out versus out to defend ourselves when often we’re being hypocritical because in some sort of way, we have the same things within us and we’re capable of doing the same things and we can't stand that God wouldn't judge those people. And so, we need to just people sometimes. I mean so often that's what we get pulled into, we see something that we think is wrong or we think is unjust or that was really really interfering with our plans and goals and so we need God to judge those people's wrong, move them out of the way and when I doesn't happen them we get about the business of being the judge pretty quickly. Paul is saying here is that not gonna work because God's not withholding judgment. Instead, he is bestowing the riches of his kindness and I'm quoting here the riches of his kindness, restraint and patience God's kindness and again I am quoting this right out of the Bible, God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. So, yeah Romans will continue to give us a theological underpinning and explain a lot to us theologically, but it also snaps things into place practically. What's happening here though over, over the course of the days that we spend in Romans is that an argument is being laid out and so this whole thing is being set up and that's what we’re reading here. What Paul's saying today, for starters is that, we can judge all we want it doesn't make a difference we’re not the judge. Our judgments don't do anything like, in the eyes of God. God is God, God will do what God will do and we so often hypocritically step in His way and try to become the sovereign judge. And I know we all know people who are judgy right, and it's going nowhere. And so, let's carry that forward as Paul continues to layout the underpinnings of our faith.

Prayer:

So Father, we thank You thank You for this book, we thank You for Romans, we thank You for all that it that it has a how densely packed it is how much is there and we ask Holy Spirit that we would have eyes to see and ears to hear, as we’ve been praying that we would have understanding hearts that we would be transformed, that we would be changed, that Your kindness, Your patience, despite our judgments and hypocrisy, that Your kindness would lead us to repentance. We're so often thinking fearfully about your wrath and that that’s supposed to lead us to repentance and yet what we’re finding is that You are kind and patient and leading us to repentance through restraint and that is such, that is in such stark contrast to how we normally are; we don't offer kindness and restraint and patience. We all too often offer our judgment when it is kindness that leads us to repentance. Help this to sink in, help this to sink into the parched soil of these portions of our hearts giving us nourishment's we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it's the website, it’s where you find out what's happening around here. Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can find out what's going on around here there by pushing the drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. So, check out things like the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources in a number of different categories that have been developed over the years to take this journey of a lifetime deeper so check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. If who we are as a community around the Global Campfire every day, if that is encouraging and encouraging you to go on take the next step forward together, if that has made a difference in your life than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app which is the little red button up at the top and share from anywhere in the world or there are a number of numbers that you can call in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. In the UK or Europe 44 2036 088078 is the number and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61 3 8820 5459 is the number to call.

And that's it for today, I'm Brian, and I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayers and Encouragements:

I tore my hip flexor about three months ago and I’m 16 years old and they said I’ll probably have to do surgery to fix it and it’s only a minor tear but I’m just…please pray that God will heal it so I don't have to have surgery.

Good morning this is Dennis from Palos Verdes I'm just gonna ask for prayer for me, my family for mainly for myself. I find myself struggling to do things on my own to do it in my own strength and yet there's this ever loving, forgiving compassionate God there who wants to help me but for some reason I just find myself continuing to try to struggle and do it on my own. Not to be weak yet, in my weakness I fall because my pride. And yet I have this community that’s so loving and so willing to pray for us so, I’m just gonna reach out and ask for prayer for me, my family, my children to help me to give up my pride and to seek God for help first and foremost. So, please if this community would pray for me as I pray when I listen for everyone else. I just felt weak to reach out but I know it's what I really desperately need. So, thank you in advance for your prayers. I know this community. Thank you so much God bless.

This is Laquita from Vanita, Oklahoma. I wanted to pray for the gentlemen who had called in about his neighbor she has stage 4 cancer, she has two small children. And I just wanted to pray that the Lord would give you courage that…you’ve been on my mind ever since I heard you call in and I think the Lord wants to use you to go over there and minister the gospel to her and to tell her how much Jesus loves her and cares for her. And for you to lift up that family. And I’m just gonna pray. Lord, I just pray for this gentlemen Lord, that you would give him courage Lord. That You would take away any fear that he might have, that he might go over to this lady’s house and minister Your love, Your mercy, Your grace, Your compassion for her and her family Lord God. I just pray that You would open a door for him Father God that no man can shut Father and that You would just boldly come up on him and the Holy Spirit Lord that he would just be courageous to minister Your salvation to this lady. And I just thank you that You’re a faithful Lord, I thank You that You watch over Your word, Your performant. I thank You that You place this in his heart and Lord I just pray that You would fulfill Your word through him. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello, my name is Mary, I’ve been a listener for a year and a half now and I absolutely love Daily Audio Bible. So, thank you Brian and this community and your family, it’s been such a blessing. I have never called in for prayer, I do like hearing the prayer requests and praying for you all and hearing familiar voices. So, I’m adding mine to this family. Asking for prayer for my daughter who is 20 and just dealing with some pretty intense anxiety at this time. So, we’re all feeling a little overwhelmed, we’re getting help but I just need an army of believers just lifting her up, her name is Jillian. She’s an amazing young woman and this just came out of, I don’t know, I just…I feel like it’s just been really terrible and surprising and so yes, we need our Bible in our hearts and in our home and in our faith just to trust the Lord with this and with her. And just praying for so many who are dealing with anxiety during this time. So, I pray for all of you who are struggling and I thank you in advance for praying for my beautiful Jillian and for me and my family. Thank you everybody. Bye.

Hi, this is Blessed by Jesus in Kansas City and it’s been a while but my heart was touched on the July 12th podcast by the lady from Chicago who was taking care of her mom who has dementia. I want you to know that you don’t walk that road alone and I am wanting to thank you on behalf of your mother for loving her and taking care of her when it’s not an easy job. I am praying along with you for your anger to be lessened, for you to find a joy again as you serve your mother in this ministry and I’m praying that God would send you just the right people at just the right time to walk beside you and to help you. I’m praying that you will accept that help and that you will have some times where you feel absolutely normal and refreshed. May you know that God loves you and God loves your mom and many, many people are lifting you up in prayer. Good bye.

0 notes

5thand59th · 6 years

Text

Life on the medical floor

I recently started my new job as a medicine intern (intern = first year of residency) at Mount Sinai West/Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospitals. Thought I would do a post on all the things I do all day since most people outside of medicine really have no idea. This is all the stuff that takes up my day, not really in order!:

Pre-round on patients

Rounding is when we talk about the patients we’re taking care of on our team. In the morning I “pre-round” on them meaning I see all my patients and assess them so I can report back to the team. If someone came in for nausea and vomiting, for example, I ask them if they’re still having those symptoms after the medications. I also do a short physical exam on them every morning. Usually I spend 5-15 minutes talking to each patient. I also have to sometimes ask the nurses who worked overnight about how the patients are doing, since sometimes the patients have an altered mental status or something. A lot of walking around since the patients can be all on different floors.

Put in orders

Orders are things you enter into the computer that (usually) the nurses do for patient care. It can be anything from giving certain medications, to telling them they must be on bedrest, to starting IV fluids, to drawing blood for labs. You can also put in orders for a patient to get an X-ray or MRI, or to ask the physical therapist to evaluate the patient.

Med rec

“Med rec” = medicine reconciliation. We have to call each patient’s home pharmacy to confirm which medications they are taking since the patient sometimes does not remember or is lying (ie a patient has tried to tell me he always takes 3 percocets at home so he could get them in the hospital but I can easily find out if that’s true or not). It’s kind of nice because if I call the pharmacy and say I’m a doctor from Mount Sinai Hospital I don’t have to wait to talk to someone because they know it’s relatively urgent. This is also true for a lot of other medical-related phone numbers, there’s usually a separate line for physicians... still a weird feeling sometimes!

Talk with family members

This is something a lot of people don’t realize can take a lot of time. Family members are obviously concerned about their loved ones and a phone call or in-person conversation can easily go from 10 minutes to 45 minutes because of all the questions and back-and-forth. But I still really enjoy talking with family members because usually after the call they are a lot more reassured since they now know what is going on. I’ve had patients who started sobbing on the phone to me after I told them some bad news :( which can be really sad.

Discuss patients with social worker

Every day I meet with the social workers and discuss what needs to happen to the patient once they go home. Sometimes we have patients who are homeless and were living on the streets in NYC and the social worker tries to find them a shelter. Or one of my patients was a cute little French lady who used to live alone at a hotel-residence for 40 years, but then she started having dementia and was wandering the hallways, so the hotel said she couldn’t live there anymore, so the social worker had to find a nursing home for her.

Call consults

I work on the “general medical” team but sometimes patients are really complicated and you have to call other services like cardiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology to get their opinion. You tell them what’s going on with the patient and then their team will start seeing the patient too.

Look at labs, imaging, cultures

Most patients get labs every day when they’re in the hospital (I would hate this! I actually really hate getting my blood drawn even though I’m a doctor) and we have to check the results when they come in to see if the patient is improving. Patients also get x-rays, MRIs, CAT scans, ultrasounds, the list goes on, and we get the radiologist to read everything but we also look at the images ourselves. They can also get “cultures” meaning blood or fluid is taken from their body and the lab sees if there’s any bacteria growing in it so we can see if they need antibiotics.

Discuss patients during rounds

During rounds I tell the attending (this is the doctor in charge of the team) about each of the patients and we discuss what needs to happen for the day and what changes we are making to the patient’s care that day. Sometimes it’s not straightforward, like if we look at an x-ray and can’t decide if the patient has pneumonia or not and if they should get antibiotics. So rounds could sometimes take 20 minutes but sometimes take 2 hours. I think patients in the hospital don’t realize how much the doctors are discussing and pondering over their case, and don’t realize that sometimes 4-5 doctors are all consulting just over them for literally hours.

Attend noon conference

We have lectures at noon so we can continue to learn. They can be about really anything from new drugs that are out, to management of certain complex medical issues, to miscellaneous stuff like what is “home health services.”

Answer pages

Yes, we still use pagers in the hospital! I had no idea how to use a pager in the beginning of med school and was so confused haha. Basically you can type in a page to someone on the computer, and then it gets sent to their pager with a call back number. Then the person will call that number and you can actually talk to them. A lot of times nurses page me about patients since they see them a lot more often. Like I might get a page that says “XXX is having a lot more cough and phlegm this morning, can you order an X-ray for them?”

Sign out to other interns / cross cover for other interns

If I’m not on call, I can leave at 4-5pm. Before I leave I have to give a list of my patients to the “on call intern” and tell them anything that has to be done during the evening and night shift when I’m gone. (Example: if a patient is going through alcohol withdrawal I might tell them to check on the patient every 2 hours to see if they’re having seizures or altered mental status). If I’m on call, then the other interns “sign out” their patients to me and then I have to do the same thing. The other interns will also forward their pager number to mine so now I’ll also get pages about their patients.

Write notes

Not my favorite part of the day but I have to write a “note” in the computer chart for every single patient every day. It includes what I saw on the physical exam, how they felt, the results of new labs/images, and the new plan for the day. The attending signs off on the note later and adds any additional comments for the plan. The notes are actually pretty important because the nurses, social workers, physical therapist, other services read them to figure out what’s going on.

Discharge patients

Once the patient is medically stable, we “discharge” them so they can leave. A lot of times they need to start taking new meds once they’re home. We prescribe these and the prescription goes straight to the patient’s pharmacy so they can pick up the meds. We also often make appointments for the patient to see different doctors after they leave the hospital. Some of my patients are amazing and I really miss them after they leave!

New ED admissions

The patients on our list don’t come from nowhere. Most come from the emergency room so if we get a call about a new patient that has to be “admitted” meaning stay at the hospital instead of going home after the emergency room, we go down there, evaluate them, and then they become patients on “our list” and once they move to a regular bed on the medical floor we start seeing them every day.

Teach the med student

We have a med student on our team and it’s our job to have her be involved in patient care and work with her as she starts to independently see patients and do other tasks.

Work with my team, ask my resident for help

I’m in a team of 4 right now (me, another intern, an upper level resident, and the attending) and we basically talk all day either in person or on text or phone call. Right now I actually really love my team and honestly have never laughed so hard in I can’t remember how long. There’s just so many ridiculous and hilarious things that go on in the hospital if you can find the humor in each situation and it makes the day so much better.

Random stuff

This could be really anything, sometimes it’s more hands-on. I’ve walked up and down the hallway with a patient to see if they can do it without their oxygen level dropping, I’ve spoon-fed a patient to see if their ability to swallow is intact, I regularly get blankets for patients because it’s freezing in the hospital.

There’s probably more that I’m forgetting but that’s what I could think of for now. I’ll do another post about the ICU which is really different. It’s honestly been really fun working at Mount Sinai West so far. It feels like we’re all working together as a family/team and there is NEVER a boring day, which are two things that I never experienced at other jobs I’ve had!

#medical school #residency #medical residency #hospital #doctors

1 note · View note

toldnews-blog · 5 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/wanting-to-die-at-five-to-midnight-before-dementia-takes-over/

Wanting to die at 'five to midnight' - before dementia takes over

Image copyright Before It’s Too Late

It’s not unusual for Dutch patients with dementia to request euthanasia, but in the later stages of the disease they may be incapable of reconfirming their consent – one doctor is currently facing prosecution in such a case. But fear of being refused is pushing some to ask to die earlier than they would have liked.

Annie Zwijnenberg was never in any doubt.

“The neurologist said: ‘I’m sorry, but there’s no way we can mistake this – its Alzheimer’s,” says Anneke Soute-Zwijnenberg, describing the moment her mother was first diagnosed.

“And she said: ‘OK, then I know what I want.'”

Anneke’s brother Frank chips in: “Maybe she hesitated for five seconds, and said: ‘Now I know what to do.'”

They both knew she was referring to euthanasia.

Image copyright Before It’s Too Late

Image caption Frank and Anneke (second and third left) during their mother’s final moments

You could say Annie’s story is a textbook case of how euthanasia is supposed to happen in the Netherlands – with very consistent and clear consent. But there are other cases where the patient’s consent is less consistent, and at the final moment, less clear.

Annie’s story was featured in a film called Before It’s Too Late by the Dutch director, Gerald van Bronkhorst. In the documentary viewers follow her journey through Alzheimer’s, ending in her death by euthanasia at the age of 81.

They see a proud woman who brought up three children alone, who enjoyed mountain climbing, and had a strong religious belief, laid low by dementia.

“I used to go climbing or skiing or whatever,” says Annie in the film. “In the village they said, ‘That Annie, she’s always on the go.’ I’d put my rucksack on in the morning and start hiking. I’d walk all day. Now I can’t do anything. I get confused all the time.”

Euthanasia and the law

Euthanasia is the act of ending a person’s life to relieve suffering – as distinct from assisted suicide (also known as assisted dying), which is assisting a person to kill themselves

Both are illegal in the UK

Euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, while assisted suicide is permitted in Switzerland and a handful of US states

In England and Wales it is possible to make an “advance decision” (an advance directive in Scotland) to refuse a specific type of treatment in the future if you lose capacity to make the decision for yourself

The NHS says withdrawing life-sustaining treatment because it’s in the person’s best interests is not euthanasia and can be part of good palliative care

In July 2018 the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled that legal permission is not required to withdraw treatment from patients in a permanent vegetative state

Annie wanted people to understand her decision, so she allowed the camera to film on the day she died.

She is shown sitting on the sofa, looking relaxed and positive. Her three children are with her, joking with the two doctors who’ve arrived to carry out the euthanasia about a special meal they had the previous night.

Image copyright Before It’s Too Late

“We went to a three/four-star restaurant,” Frank tells me later.

“I asked her what do you want to do before you die? We had a beautiful meal, laughed and cried. There was no tomorrow that evening. It was so special.

“But then you go home. It was very hard to get any sleep the night before.”

Anneke describes finding a letter that her mother wrote that night.

“She wrote a letter to God, asking him to take care of her children. She knew that if there was a God it would be a really warm forgiving God.”

Frank adds: “She said, ‘It’s a pity I can’t send an email back to my children to tell them what it’s like.'”

The film shows the doctor taking great care to make sure that Annie is fully aware that she is choosing to die by euthanasia. He asks her several times if she is sure she knows what she is doing.

“You’re sure you want to drink the mixture I’ll give you?” the doctor asks. “You know it will put you to sleep and you won’t wake up again?”

Image copyright Before It’s Too Late

Annie says: “I thought it through once again last night, from start to finish and back, and in the end this is what I want. Purely for myself. This is what’s best for me.”

She does not hesitate when she is handed a glass of clear liquid, containing a lethal dose of sedative. She drinks it, complaining only about the bitter taste.

Her family is shown hugging her, as she goes to sleep for the last time.

“She drank the cup,” remembers Frank later. “But it took a while.”

“The sleep was getting deeper and deeper,” adds Anneke. “It was very gentle.”

But a couple of hours went by and Annie was still sleeping. This led to a surreal scene, described to me by Gerald van Bronkhorst, who was filming.

“She was asleep on the couch, and then she started snoring. And the family started to say: ‘I’m hungry, shall we have a sandwich?’ So we’re all chewing around this lady, who’s sleeping on the couch, and dying. But this shows how normal life takes over, even in a situation like this.”

Image copyright Before It’s Too Late

Worried that Annie might actually wake up, the doctors eventually gave her a lethal injection.

“It was 20 seconds, and then she was gone,” says Frank.

Frank and Anneke say they always supported their mother in her decision, despite any reservations they felt about it.

“It’s hard to see your mother die from euthanasia, but it was not our decision – it was her decision,” says Anneke.

“There is no right or wrong decision. It’s hard to decide you want to die but it’s as hard to decide, I think, that you want to live. She hated it when someone said: ‘It’s so brave that you made this decision.’ She said choosing to live with dementia is just as brave.”

Frank adds: “A good friend of mine said, ‘You have to stop your mother – as a son you have to stop her.’ I said, ‘No I’m not going to, I support her.’ His mother said, ‘You’re killing your mother, you’re murdering your mother if you go on with this…’ It’s hard to hear.”

Arguments like this are common among families and friends and reflect the wider debate which began in the Netherlands in the 1970s, when doctors first started carrying out so-called “mercy killing” fairly openly. The arguments continued in the run-up to the legalisation of euthanasia in 2002, and have never really stopped.

The number of those opting for euthanasia has grown steadily, particularly in the past 10 years. In 2002, the Dutch authorities were notified of 1,882 cases; 15 years later the figure was 6,585.

In order to satisfy the law on euthanasia, patients must convince a doctor that their decision is completely voluntary, that their life has become, or will become, one of “unbearable suffering without prospect of improvement”, and that there is “no reasonable alternative”. An independent assessment must then be made by another doctor.

The first recorded case of a patient with dementia being given euthanasia came about in 2004, two years after the law changed.

But euthanasia cases involving dementia patients almost always take place in the earlier stages of the disease, because it’s hard to convince a doctor that the patient has the capacity to understand their decision to die in the later stages.

In 2017, 166 early-stage dementia patients died by euthanasia, and only three with late-stage dementia.

Despite this, medical ethicist Berna van Baarsen believes that a shift is under way and that in future there will be more.

She used to sit on a committee that reviewed every case of euthanasia in one region of the Netherlands but resigned, saying that troubling cases were being approved too easily.

“I have seen the shift,” she says. “The problem is that the shift is very difficult to catch. But it is happening. It’s happening under your nose, and in the end you realise there has been a shift.”

She thinks there is an over-reliance on written declarations, or living wills, which patients who might want euthanasia often give to their doctor in the early stages of a disease.

“You can write down what your fears are. What you don’t want to experience. But it is a wish. It is an expression of fear, and as we know people change.

“In the beginning they say: ‘Oh no, I don’t want to live in an old people’s home.’ Or, ‘I don’t want to be put in a wheelchair,’ and it happens. People always find ways to cope. That’s a beautiful thing about being human.”

So she argues that before helping someone to die, doctors must always check that this is still the patient’s wish. And with late-stage dementia patients, this is not always possible.

“If you can’t talk to a patient, you don’t know what the patient wants,” she says.

But if Berna van Baarsen is right that the pendulum has been swinging in favour of euthanasia for patients with late-stage dementia, the prosecution of a doctor involved in one such case may push it back in the opposite direction.

The case involved a 74-year-old woman who had signed a written declaration saying she wanted euthanasia, but only when she said she was ready. And she had also said, at other times, that she did not want to die by euthanasia.

The doctor, who worked in a nursing home, put a sedative into the woman’s coffee without telling her. Then the woman woke up while the doctor attempted to give her a lethal injection.

She had to be restrained by relatives while the euthanasia was completed, although the level of restraint used is disputed.

Find out more

Image copyright Getty Images

Listen to Andrew Bomford’s documentary Living and Dying with Alzheimer’s on BBC Sounds

Jacob Kohnstamm, co-ordinating chairman of the Dutch review committees, which examine every euthanasia case, says it is clear the doctor overstepped the mark.

“The commission said the written declaration wasn’t good enough, and the doctor should have stopped the procedure the moment the patient got up,” he says.

The committee ruled that the doctor had not acted with due care, and referred the case to prosecutors.

The case will be watched closely when it comes to trial because it may help to clarify the circumstances when dementia patients can die by euthanasia.

But while for many doctors this will be welcome, it is an unnerving prospect for those who are prepared to carry out euthanasia even on people with advanced dementia – such as Annie Zwijnenberg’s doctor, Constance de Vries.

She is content to end the lives of patients who may find it difficult to express their wishes, as long as they were always very clear about their wishes when they could express them.

Image copyright Before It’s Too Late

Image caption Constance de Vries: “I try to be very, very, very sure about what I’m doing”

It’s important to have a long-term relationship with the patients and their families, she says, to enable her to talk to them about their written declaration, and observe over a long period of time an unwavering desire for euthanasia.

She tells me about one such case.

“The lady was very unhappy; she was crying, and yelling, and not eating, and not sleeping, and aggressive to other people. When you saw her, you saw how unhappy she was. And she always had it in the statement: ‘When I don’t recognise my grandchildren any more, then I want to die.'”

As the moment when she could no longer recognise her grandchildren had arrived, Constance de Vries proceeded with euthanasia, with the support of the woman’s family.

“When I gave her a glass of fruit juice, I said, ‘When you take it, you will sleep forever.’ She looked at her daughter, and the daughter said, ‘It’s OK mum.’ And she took it. I don’t know if she did understand fully, but I know what we did was OK, so unhappy was she.”

I ask her if the first prosecution of a doctor for ending a patient’s life by euthanasia makes her worried about being involved in such cases?

“This is making me worried, yes,” she says. “I’m a little bit afraid of the judgement afterwards. So I try to be very, very, very sure about what I’m doing.”

But does she have any intention of stopping?

“No,” she says, adamantly.

She does concede, though, that the case may make it harder for patients with late-stage dementia to get euthanasia in future. And if this happens, it could also have a knock-on effect for those with early-stage dementia who want euthanasia at some point in the future.

Many of them already worry that if they wait too long they’ll be denied it.

The fear has become so commonplace that a shorthand phrase has been adopted for the perfect time to have euthanasia – “five to midnight”. Just like Cinderella, everyone wants to wait until the last possible moment before they leave the party – until five to midnight – but many feel that it’s too risky to leave it that long.

It’s the one regret Anneke and Frank express about the death of their mother Annie.

Image copyright Before It’s Too Late

“She was very afraid that even when she had the law on her side, or she had the doctors on her side that there would be a point that somebody would say: ‘OK, but sorry you’re too far gone now, you can’t make this decision any more, so sorry you’re too late,'” Anneke says.

Annie herself talks about it in Gerald van Bronkhorst’s film, which alludes to her fear in its title, Before It’s Too Late.

“Yesterday I spoke to a former neighbour on the phone,” Annie says. “She said, ‘But I don’t understand. You can still do everything can’t you?’ I said, ‘Well the point is, first of all I can’t. And second, if I wait until the moment has come to stop it’ll be too late. I won’t be allowed to do euthanasia any more.'”

Images from Before It’s Too Late courtesy of Gerald van Bronkhorst

You may also be interested in:

Image copyright Ronald Hissink/De Stentor

In January 2018 a young Dutch woman drank poison supplied by a doctor and lay down to die. Euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide are legal in the Netherlands, so hers was a death sanctioned by the state. But Aurelia Brouwers was not terminally ill – she was allowed to end her life on account of her psychiatric illness.

Read: The troubled 29-year-old helped to die by Dutch doctors

Join the conversation – find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

0 notes

hilswriting-blog · 7 years

Text

Any Minute Now

Short fiction by Hilary J. MacDonald

The clock is ticking away with waves of clicks and tapping coming from fingers hitting keyboards. You could almost cut the tension in the air with a knife as everyone in the room scrambles to finish their work for the day. When the clock nears 5pm, the clicks and tapping start turning into shuffling of papers on desks and muffled footsteps on the carpet floor. As they start to leave one by one, sometimes in groups, I wish them a good evening from my desk and that I’ll see them again in the morning.

Those were the days. Back when I worked as a secretary for an advertising company in New York during the 60s and 70s. It was the simple 9-5 life. There was nothing special about it, but it was all I needed. My husband and I have four children so he also worked to make ends meet. It was tough at times, but by the grace of God we were able to get through it.

Roger and I are still happily married. In fact, he should be back any minute. He goes to the store every few days to pick up basic things like the milk. Sometimes it feels like he’s gone forever. Don Draper keeps me company while I wait though. He’s on the television everyday being an example of how not to live my life like mad men. But even he has some good qualities about himself.

One of our daughters comes to visit us regularly which is very nice of her. She doesn’t have to do that. She helps me be more active and do things around the house like puzzles! She also brings the extra groceries that Roger doesn’t get. Every once in a while she brings my favorite pie: lemon meringue. It’s been a few days since she’s visited though, or anyone even. It’s starting to get lonely, but Roger should be back any minute now.

___

The burning lights fade out and a thunderous applause roars from the audience. “That’s a wrap!” echoing throughout the room. Everyone is feeling the same sense of accomplishment as we wrap up the last scene for the day. Cameramen are collecting their cables while the models and host exit the stage. The audience is starting to clear out one by one, sometimes in groups. I see if I can assist the members on set before we all go home for the evening.

Those were the days. In the heat of the Los Angeles sun, in the midst of the 1960s. The hustle and bustle of the Hollywood life was an everyday norm for me. I met my husband, Rich, on the set of our jobs at one of the Hollywood studios. He was impossible to resist with looks like his. We got married and shortly after had a daughter; the rest is history.

Rich should be back any minute. He’s gone to get milk. However, the lovely Bob Barker is keeping me company, telling me to “come on down!” for a chance to win my dream vacation. Though, I would never be able to go because I’m pretty much stuck in this lazy boy recliner. I live vicariously through the contestants on the screen and can only imagine the amazing time they will have on their awarded vacations. My dream vacation would be going to Greece. The food, the salty breezes blowing through my hair, the crystal blue water. An old fart like me can dream.

Our daughter, Samantha, hasn’t visited for a few weeks now. I don’t know what happened because she used to visit Rich and I all the time. She has a busy life that she needs to focus on – I don’t blame her for not wanting to just watch the television with me. Samantha never liked me being glued to that darned thing anyways. Mmmm, she always brings the best pies when she visits though.

I hear a rustling coming from the hallway outside of the family room.

“Hey honey,” I call out because Rich should be back any minute now.

___

ER nurses burst through the door rolling a stretcher with them. All I hear is multiple people yelling for doctors as they steer the victim into the emergency operating room. With the clipboard attached to the stretcher in my hand I try to record the jumbled details about this patient. Running to my desk I let the clipboard go, swinging wildly, as I go to page for a doctor to come immediately. I record the patient’s information and wait behind the desk to get out of the way. Almost instantly one doctor comes flying down the hall and stops at my desk. Our eyes lock for what feels like an eternity. I can’t focus on the words he’s saying so I just point to the operating room where the nurses took the patient. He gives a flirty grin and runs off. That was the day I met Alex. So gentle and graceful in his job as an ER doctor, always with such passion. This I saw when our eyes locked that very day. I worked as an ER receptionist during the 60s-70s at a hospital in Seattle, alongside Alex. Within a year of seeing each other we got married, settled down, and had twins. We both took less shifts at work so we could put more of our time and effort into raising our children.

But those were the days. Our children are now grown up and it’s just Alex and I. Alex is still such a great man and tries to take care of me the best that he can by running little errands like getting the milk. Actually, he should be back from the store any minute. I’m happy here in my lazy boy recliner watching Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd woo the ladies of Grey’s Anatomy. I have definitely found my McDreamy. Mine is loyal and dear to me. My daughter is also very loyal and dear to me. She does the favor of visiting us every once in a while, but it’s been a long time since I last saw her. To make life seem a bit more exciting she gets me doing things like trying to knit or helping bake my all-time favorite, lemon meringue pie. The recipe we follow uses milk, but Alex should be back any minute now.

I hear a rustling coming from the hallway outside of the living room.

To my surprise, a woman pokes her head in. I thought it would be Alex who should be back from getting the milk, but it’s this strange woman. Scared, my immediate response is to tell her to get out. A concerned look spreads across her face as she still stands there holding crumpled up newspaper. I become confused when she doesn’t leave.

“Vivian, it happened again, didn’t it?” she spoke softly while she was occupied with that newspaper. Even more confused I stare at her with a blank expression. A discerning sigh comes out of her.

She comes over, places the newspaper on the table, and sits down on the footrest in front of me. We make deliberate eye contact.

“Vivian, I’m Sherry, your–“

“You’re my daughter. Yeah, yeah, I know, Sherry.” I snap at her out of embarrassment that she thinks I don’t even know who my own daughter is.

“No, I’m your caretaker, Vivian.” I sit there, still, with that blank expression. “I come here, to your house, every day to care for and assist you. I understand that this is probably going to be hard for you, but your memory has been declining over the years, and lately it has gotten worse. Your therapists say you’re suffering from short-term and now long-term memory loss; symptoms of dementia. This started around five years ago after the accident.” She takes another sigh and she places her smooth hands over mine. “I’m sorry that you have to go through this again, Vivian. Your husband was involved in a hit-and-run accident while he was out getting milk… and he passed away.”

Feelings of rage, grief, and disarray boil up inside me, and I can’t hold them back. “Where is– my daughter?! I need her. Where?! I need to– talk to her right– now!” I managed to get out gasping for breath between words. Tears rolling down my face.

“You don’t have any children, you miscarried when you were 21. I try to keep you away from that TV because the therapists say that with your recollection issues you start confusing what your actual memories are with what you’re watching on TV.”

After the silence of me being stunned, Susan gets up, takes the newspaper and starts wrapping the glass candle holder that was on the table.

“Don’t touch my stuff! What are you doing?” This imposter is getting on my nerves.

“Your memory has gotten so bad that you can’t take care of yourself anymore. I’m helping you pack your belongings so you can move to a 24-hour care home. I know you’ll love it there, Vivian. There’s gonna’ be different caretakers so I won’t be able to make you your lemon meringue pies anymore, but they have dessert after every meal, every single day. You’ll love that.” She has such sincerity in her voice. This calms me a bit. Sandra takes the ball of newspaper she’s holding into the other room.

“Lemon meringue pie. Yeah, that would be nice,” I think as I struggle to get out of my recliner and walk over to the window.

I draw back the walnut-coloured curtains of the living room window. Before me is the drizzling rain falling from an ominously clouded sky. Children are running down the street with their toys headed for cover. A cat jumps off of our fence scrambling underneath a shed; a young man opens an umbrella and holds it above his lady as they lock hands and continue strolling along.

My left hand wipes tears away and I feel the cold metal of my wedding band graze my face. Delightful thoughts scatter through my mind. My hands rest on the window pane as I stare down the street, searching for the familiar. A smile cracks through my lips.

Leonard will be back any minute now.

The End.

#fiction #short fiction #short story #sad

3 notes · View notes

anxiousheart4 · 4 years

Text

Looking for a Lifeline!

I know it's been a while since I’ve posted in my own words, in fact it's been almost a year, I’m sorry for that. I’ve always been terrible at keeping up with journaling, so why would I think blogging would be any different? Lol.

If you haven’t noticed, I am a fan of TWLOHA and its message to everyone. I've always followed them, and they mean a great deal to me. So I hope in my absence, you’ve enjoyed the posts of theirs I've been sharing. 🙂

Anyways, I don’t have any really good excuse for while I haven’t posted for a long while (well I do between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, but not since then), and I even got a new laptop this year, that works SOOOO much better then my old, glitchy, slow ass one; so not having a computer can’t be my excuse. And I've had a lot of free time this Summer, so I can’t even say I was busy either. Basically no excuse, but I’m back; so lets catch up.

So, between Thanksgiving and Christmas I was working 4 jobs!

-Mon-Fri 8am-4pm at an office job that I hated.

-Sat & Sun at the Zoo taking kids photos with Santa

-And then Mon-Fri nights, I switched between working at my local GameStop, and helping at my other local Zoo taking Santa photos as well.

The office job I was working was doing bookkeeping at a nursing home. I met some nice residents there, and some mean ones. I met some nice co-workers, and some I didn’t quite get along with. There was 3 other girls in my office.

One was extremely nice and helpful, and patient with trying to teach me, I got along with her quite well. I would actually have conversations with her, and it felt like she did want to get to know me.

Another was the Boss’ wife, and she was nice and all, but also very intimidating, and she never made me feel welcomed; she would be having a conversation with the other 2 girls, but as soon as I tried to join the conversation it was like “we got to get back to work” and the conversation stopped.

And the last girl, I would have thought I would have gotten along with her so well, we have the same taste in music and tv shows, I was like oh yay we can bond! NOPE! I did everything she gave me to do, and asked me to do and it was never good enough, or fast enough, or competent enough, or just enough. She made me feel like a complete failure! And unless she needed me for something, it was like I didn’t even exist! She would go out for lunch, and ask the other 2 girls in the office if they wanted her to bring back anything, and she never even looked my way and asked me once, never! Seriously the best days at work were when she didn’t come in for some reason or another.

Besides the one girl, no one else ever tried to make me feel welcomed in the office, I spent 6 months of my life feeling like an outcast at work, looking for a lifeline, just trying to survive. Apparently the girls in the office went out after work and hung out together, not like I was ever invited to join and get to know them. Instead I went to the movie theater next to work where a friend of mine was a manager and would stop in to see her or go see a movie all by myself. The only time I was ever invited out with them was when they would go to lunch for someones birthday, and still I think that was mostly because every one split the bill evenly except the birthday girl (which I do approve of), so it was a little less money for everyone else. Only the one girl made me feel like I was actually welcomed, otherwise I just listened to their conversations, cause no one seemed to wanna include me. And Surprise Surprise! They never did anything for my birthday! They do all this stuff for the employees birthdays, bring in breakfast, go out to lunch, decorate their office, etc. all I got was a generic card they did for everyone “Happy Birthday from ’The Companies Name’”.

I think one thing that can make even the worst job in the world bearable, is your co workers. I’ve had some terrible jobs, but I had some awesome co workers, so I didn’t dread going to work as much everyday because I got to see them. Safe to say, most of my coworkers there never made me feel like a coworker, a friend, or anything else. I went to work everyday dreading the next 8 hours of my life. When I got let go, I never even said good bye to any of the other people who worked I the building, I only said good bye to the nice one in my office and that’s it. So the ONLY things I liked about the job, was that I got to sit down to work, and the money, oh the money! I miss the money soo bad! But the job gave me SOOO much stress and anxiety, idk if it was worth the money. 😞

Although, I was able to buy my new computer, a MacBook Air, and I have wanted a MacBook since I was in high school, I just could never afford it.

My other jobs, were pretty good, only minor complaints. But I LOVED my coworkers at the other 3 jobs! The biggest complaint was that I had no time to myself because I was so busy.

Gamestop was cool, after only being there for a couple weeks they interviewed me for a supervisor position, they believed I was competent enough! The only reason I didn’t take it, was cause I got the office job, and I couldn’t turn down the money (though now I wish I hadn’t, it would have saved me soo much stress and anxiety). So I stayed seasonal, so when the holiday season was over, my employment was over there.

The one Zoo I worked at during the week, I've worked at for years now, and I love it, and the guys who play Santa are sooo nice, I get some really nice guests, and 90% of the time everything goes smoothly, and I actually hang out with my coworkers outside of work!

The other Zoo I worked at Sat & Sun was pretty much the same as the first Zoo, I love my co workers, and actually hang out with them outside of work. The big complaint about that Zoo, was the guy who played Santa. HE WAS AN ASSHOLE! He had an opinion on everything, and had a problem with how we run our business, and he wouldn’t even let the kids tell him what they wanted for Christmas. We told him we wanted to get a picture of the kids talking to him, and he would tell the kids to “look at him and PRETEND to tell him what they wanted” and then as soon as I took the photo, even if the kid was in the middle of something he would just kick the kid off his lap and move on to the next family. I’m sorry, but if I had kids, I would definitely NOT want them to go see that Santa! I don’t see how so many people line up to see him, and he’s been Santa at the Zoo for years! How has he not lost the Zoo business! But I still like my job, so I'm going back again this year! Lol

Anyways, so that was my holidays, as were coming up to another holiday, lol.

After the holidays, and my busy schedule, I went to Arizona and Mexico for 10 days, and it was AMAZING and relaxing, with only a few hiccups. Like an all inclusive resort without free wifi! What is that? I was gonna use wifi to check in with family back home, but that didn’t happen! And the the room was falling apart, and one of our rooms had bugs in it, and maids didn’t clean very well, like wtf kind of resort was this? But besides that, I got to see and hang out with my sister from another mister who lives in AZ and I don’t get to see often. We went line dancing, which was FANTASTIC! I got to spend my 29th birthday in Mexico, Florida, and AZ + flying over the states between! And with the time difference my birthday lasted 26 hours instead of 24! And I didn’t think about work once during the whole trip until they day I had to come back, and it was because I didn’t wanna come back and go to work!

WOW this is getting long, I'm sorry, only a couple more topics I need to talk out. Its been a very stressful year!

Well after I lost the office job, I've been pretty much Ubering for money, and not making too much of it. But all summer I got to spend weekends going to Bridal/Baby Showers, Weddings and family parties, which I've never really gotten to do before (well besides the weddings, I've never missed a family wedding), so that was awesome! And the weekends we didn’t have an parties, I went up north to my family’s summer home, which my parents just got about 2 years ago, and I’ve barely been able to go before. Which is soo much fun! Ice cream socials, the pool, bonfires, drinking games, bar hoping out on the boat! Nothing about it isn’t fun! So YAY!

If you remember, last November I moved in with my 93 year old grandma with dementia. This experience has been stressful. She spends her days trying to call her mother and grandmother, who are at the cemetery; pacing around the house; she puts dirty dishes in the dishwasher away and washes clean dishes twice; she sets the air conditioning and heat up to 80 degrees, I swear she’s trying to kill me. Its very hard, but I love her, and I love that I get this time to spend with her. And thank god for my mom who is only a call away to help with grandma when my anxiety is through the roof and I can’t deal with her atm, I wouldn’t survive this without her!

This week is going to try me though. I’m staying home all week with grandma, because she just had surgery. She had skin cancer on her nose, and they had to remove it. She’s fine, but she has a bandage on her nose that she isn’t suppose to take off, and yet she does like every time I look away, she’s not supposed to irritate it by touching it or blowing her nose, but she tries to blow her nose every 5 mins. And she’s suppose to sit down and relax with her head back so it doesn’t start bleeding again, I swear she won’t stay sitting if her life depended on it. Ill probably write more about living with her at a later date, but Ill leave it to that now.

Lastly, while I was sitting down writing the blog post, I got a call that just devastated me. My grandma on my other side, has been having some health issues the last week and it has not been looking good, I was going to go see her tomorrow night. Well my mom called me to let me know that she passed away tonight. She was 82 years old, and though she would technically be my step-grandma, she was the only one I ever knew on that side, and I loved her just the same. My dads mom died of tuberculosis probably about a decade before I was born, but my grandpa remarried an amazing woman, and some of my extended family had trouble accepting her (the cousins opinions, usually based on their parents, who probably thought she was trying to take their mothers place, like some kids react to a step mom), but I always saw her as grandma. What kills me is the last time I saw her, I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye! It was my cousins wedding at the beginning of October, and even though I talked to her during the wedding, when she left that night, I was out on the dance floor or somewhere, and didn’t know she was leaving, so I never said goodbye. And now I'll never have the chance too!! I know she knew I loved her, and though her body was deteriorating, her mind was still has sharp as ever! She was a sweetheart! And my sister and I kept saying we were going to go visit her and bring her dinner, or watch the Blackhawks game with her, and as much as we said it, we barely ever went, and I really wish we had! She was an amazing woman and I’m so happy I got to call her Grandma, but I’m going to regret not spending more time with her when I could, especially near the end! When my Grandpa died, over 15 years ago, I had actually seen him the week before, and gave him a hug and kiss goodbye before I left. Plus he died 2 days after Christmas, and he used to give all the grand children $10 for Christmas (there was 29 of us at the time so for him that was still a lot of money), so I had gotten one last Christmas present from him, which I never spent. I have $10 just sitting in a jewelry box, because nothing ever seemed important enough to spend it on. And after he died I was given his guitar, which I still cherish! I fear I won’t have nothing but 1 picture with my grandma to remember her by. Its going to be hard to say goodbye! 😭

So since its 2 am, and I've been holding back tears while I've been writing this post, and my anxiety and depression will probably be bad this week, I think its time for me to go to bed. Sweet Dreams sweet readers!

#twloha towriteloveonherarms

0 notes

saleyha · 5 years

Text

8.30 am – Can’t press snooze anymore. Got to get up and take my dad across London for his difficult asthma clinic appointment in Barts hospital. Means driving from Stratford to Ilford and then booking a cab to take us across London. Although a bit back and forth,it’s the best way. Dad can’t travel by public transport. I don’t want to drive into London. When I get to my parent’s home, I find my dad is short of breath on minimal exercise and has a loud audible wheeze. So we ain’t leaving home just yet. It makes us late but if I don’t sort this now it won’t be the clinic appointment we’ll be going to but A&E. My dad takes a set of nebulisers and steroids as well as his inhalers. Ok so it might be overkill but I need him to be at that appointment. And anyway, it’s how I would treat someone turning up with the same symptoms in A&E.

Once settled and a review, dad is feeling much better. We get into the cab. I am so relieved to not be driving. The traffic is crazy and then the taxi driver takes a wrong turn at the worst place so we have 20 mins sitting in more traffic. We arrive an hour late. I am mortified. But I have been sending a running commentary to the difficult asthma clinic co-ordinator from the moment we left home. They tell me not to worry. But I do.

I’m also keeping an eye on my dad. He is much more settled in terms of breathing. Ever since he developed adult onset asthma and the scary severe asthma attacks he has suffered I have been totally absorbed by asthma. I have a low threshold for robust intervention when I see asthma exacerbations in work in the emergency department. Once my dad’s asthma attack was so bad, the chest recessions were so pronounced that it was making a hollow in his central chest – I’ll never forget it. My dad was using every muscle he had to breath. That was the longest night of my life – I knew that if it didn’t turn around he’d be tiring and possibly end up in a respiratory arrest. The painful blood gases taken from his rest confirmed my fears. The med reg up in Aberdeen stayed with us, listening to me and my knowledge of how dad’s asthma normally responds. I was concerned when the A&E doctor – who wouldn’t see me – decided it was safe to move my dad out of A&E when he was still clearly short of breath. They were looking at the numbers – his observations and blood tests and not the patient.

So it was no surprise when we got upstairs under the medical team that he deteriorated. The med reg listened when I said he needs magnesium – something he hadn’t got in the A&E. And that iv steroids (also not given) and back to back nebs were needed. And if it didn’t settle, he’d need some non-invasive ventilation – BiPAP. It always confuses people when we say that but one clever doc tried it and we found if worked for my dad. He’s not a COPD patient and yet responds really well to BiPAP. I’ve been told it’s because he is a hypo-ventilator and that’s why it works. And after she spoke to her consultant, whilst my dad continued to breath in a really alarming way, a BiPAP machine was found and my dad was started on it. Me and the med reg sighed in relief as he started to settle. My dad was then moved to ITU. All this on the first day of a holiday I had planned for the family in Scotland.

OK I’m getting too technical into medical land for a blog actually about fasting during Ramadan.

Suffice to say that was a scary hospital admission and I’m always on the look out for the signs, to avoid a similar situation. There is nothing more dreadful, more harrowing than watching someone struggle to breath and then imagine it’s your dad.

Ok – back in the zone. The Ramadan zone.

My dad is starving by the time we arrive in Barts and so I run around getting him checked in and then hunt for food for him. He hadn’t had breakfast. I’m not feeling hungry and I don’t even feel the need for coffee. Being busy is a brilliant distraction.

We get to see Dr Pfeffer -the clinical lead for the clinic – pretty quickly. I face the news of my dad is still in the assessment phase of seeing if he is suitable for a new drug that could release him from the housebound prison he is in. If he goes outside he gets a flare of his asthma. The consultant wants to re-jig my dad’s inhalers and see if it’s working to improve things. It means waiting for another acute exacerbation. Because it will happen. If he does then he might be able to get the drug. But it’s awful to think he has to go through that again before being considered eligible. It’s an expensive drug and is only for the chosen few that pass all the criteria. My dad does on so many levels, but we’ve got to try a new set of inhalers for the last hurdle. My dad is unable to leave the house and is very susceptible to asthma attacks. I hope he get’s it so at least he can go outside the house. I mean, just taking him to the local shops without needing nebulisers would be quite something.

12.30 pm – I take my dad upstairs to the second floor of the hospital for lunch. It’s halal here. He orders roast chicken dinner and enjoys it. It makes up for the traumatic morning and the rush. I then get a taxi booked to take him home.

The ride home makes me think the driver must be fasting. He’s a bit on the grumpy side.

We get home and it’s all fine.

When we get in, mum is a bit tearful. She has dementia and can be a bit moody. I think she and my sister had some words. Despite the dementia, mum is as feisty as ever. I stay for the afternoon so my sister can shoot off and do other stuff. Diffuse and have a break.

The kitchen is a nightmare. At my parent’s house where my other sisters’ live, being on it with the kitchen is not their thing. Mum wasn’t a big one for making sure the kitchen was kept clean at all times. So now it’s not unusual to find last night’s dinner and the dirty plates still in the sink and everywhere the next day. I roll up my sleeves and start to clean up.

3.30pm – the kitchen is clean. I just wish it was the norm at home. But it’s not. They do have a cleaner 4 times a week so just wait for her to sort things. My dad then asks for some shopping – some lamb – I loose it slightly. I have not sat down since this morning. I then say that a twice a week shopping list is the way to go. If my dad makes his list twice a week, we will definitely go and get everything from the local Turkish grocers. It’s a great shop, full of everything including a halal butcher. I buy a weeks worth of food. They give me a pack of water bottles for free – as a Ramadan gift. The Turkish shop is my dad’s new favourite go to shop – or shop to ask us to get the ingredients he needs. He now prefers it to the fortnightly Tesco online shop.

I want to bring some order and system to my parent’s home. My dad get’s to work. He is a pretty amazing cook and the flavours he can create are restaurant quality. The smell of cooking that he can create is tummy rumbling stuff. My dad should have been a chef. His food is the best I have ever tasted. I am currently trying to compile a list of his recipes. It’s an ambition of mine to get it put together as a book. It certainly has helped me bond with my dad – me learning how to cook, being taught by my 78 year old dad. I have finally after 30 years, learnt how to make chapattis. He sets out his spices like a tele chef. He told me recently that the week he was set to leave Pakistan – which turned out for good as he never returned – for the UK his mother spent a week teaching him how to cook. He was 19 years old. And then that was it. He has had a passion for cooking ever since.

7pm – Everything at home is pretty settled. Mum is fine. Dad is almost done with the cooking. I helped open the tins that he can’t because of a weak left hand. Other than the finishes touches, it’s all sorted. My sister comes home. I say I’ve got to head home. I’ve not got anything ready for my own iftar at home. The other half doesn’t like eating curry during Ramadan so there’s no point taking my dad’s amazing smelling lamb and potato curry. It makes him too thirsty the next day. I wonder about what quick fix at home I can do for iftar.

7.45pm – I arrive and see other half calmly in control of the kitchen. It’s spotless – he has OCD to a degree. And the shorba is ready, and so is the salad. He’s also made a frittata kind of adaption – egg with potatoes. He points out the calm order of the evening and yes I have to concur. I am not so organised. In fact he has done so well, I suggest he continues for the rest of Ramadan.

8.38 pm – Break fast. Pray. Sit down to eat. You know how it goes by now.

11.45pm – Stagger him with feet throbbing from the day I’ve had. Feeling even more like a champion for staying for all the taraweh prayers. I chill for a bit but it’s bed time early tonight. Early for Ramadan that is. It’s around 1 am. Body clocks take a bit of a shifting during this month.

D3 – Dad’s Hospital Appointment 8.30 am - Can't press snooze anymore. Got to get up and take my dad across London for his difficult asthma clinic appointment in Barts hospital.

0 notes

davidcdelreal · 5 years

Text

Best Medical Alert Systems for 2019

Medical alert systems have embraced the digital age.

They now offer GPS, fall detection sensors, and smartphone integration.

Despite these important advances, the ultimate goal remains the same:

To give you, or the person you care about, freedom from worrying how to call for help in a medical emergency.

If you’re a senior who lives alone, a caregiver for an aging loved one, or anyone with a medical condition that could require immediate action, a medical alert system could make your life easier.

Getting to know the features of these systems, both new and old, will make your shopping process easier and help you get the right system for you.

Quick Navigation

What Are They

How to Choose

Shopping Tips

Best Medical Alert Systems

Other Options

The Best Medical Alert Systems This Year

How Medical Alert Systems Work

The original medical alert systems a few decades ago included two pieces:

a stationary base, and

a remote control the user could wear as a necklace or bracelet

They were fairly basic, and also easy to operate.

Pushing the remote’s button activated the base unit which called 911 or a private monitoring service.

This setup provided a simple and effective way to call for help if you couldn’t physically get to the phone, which back in those days wouldn’t exactly fit in your pocket.

My how things have changed!

Now you can easily carry your phone everywhere you go, which means you should be able to call for help if you have fallen or fall or have another medical emergency.

Benefits of Having a Medical Alert System

Medical alert systems have responded to the cell phone age by upping their game. As technology has evolved, so has the medical alert system industry.

All the best medical alert systems, like the ones featured in this list, have taken advantage of technological improvements and improved the efficiency and usability of their products.

Here are just a few ways medical alert systems have improved over the years:

They’ve added new features and enhanced old features.

They’ve made customer service a top priority.

Recently many providers have stopped requiring long-term contracts.

In most cases, you no longer have to buy your own equipment.

Today’s Medical Alert System Features

Don’t quite know what to expect with a medical alert system?

Here are a few specifics to consider if you’re not sure whether to invest in a medical alert system for yourself or an aging parent or other senior you care for:

Waterproof remotes: A lot of falls and other medical emergencies happen when users are in or around the bath or shower. Even if your smartphone is just five feet away on the counter, it may be too far to reach after a fall. You could take a waterproof medical alert system remote into the shower.

Fall detection: What if someone with a medical alert system falls and becomes unconscious? He or she couldn’t push the button to call for help. Thanks to GPS, medical alert systems can detect sudden movements, which means they can detect a likely fall. When they do, they can send help even if no one pushed a button.

Speaking of GPS: GPS technology has also allowed medical alert systems to ditch the old two-piece hardware model and its limited range of operation. This is particularly helpful for a patient with dementia who may leave home without the knowledge of his or her caregivers or for active seniors who go out alone often.

Custom monitoring: Medical alert systems can be programmed to reach out to a pre-programmed emergency contact (such as a relative or a neighbor) instead of calling 911 or a monitoring center. When the senior you care about needs a little assistance but doesn’t need an ambulance, this can be a great feature.

Professional support: Some of the best modern systems include professional support such as routine equipment and battery testing to make sure the equipment will work when needed.

Finding the Right System for Your Needs

You and your aging or medically fragile family members may not need all of the features above.

For example, if the person who will use the system can’t leave home without help, you may not need to pay more for GPS.

Likewise, if you as a caregiver live in the home or nearby and plan to test and maintain the equipment on a regular basis, you may not need the company to provide these services.

To find the right system at the best price, find out what you need first.

Let’s check out a few scenarios:

You’re Far Away From Aging Loved Ones

Let’s say you visited your aging parent or other loved one recently and noticed a few things that worried you. Your mom tripped on that step into the garage or forgot to turn off the oven a couple times.

Your dad never once unplugged his cell phone from its charger beside the bed. Your parents are still pretty active. You aren’t ready to think about assisted living or in-home help.

But some kind of support would be nice, especially since you live a few hours away.

In situations like this, I’d consider getting most or all of the bells and whistles a modern medical alert system offers:

Professional monitoring

GPS-enabled features, and

Equipment testing

Your Loved One is Physically Healthy But Has Dementia

A friend of mine has a grandmother in this situation: She’s in great shape physically. She’s always been active, even into her late 80s, and her heart is going strong.

Her mind, though, has the family a little worried.

They stopped leaving her home alone a couple years back and recently made the painful decision to take her car keys so she wouldn’t put herself and others in danger.

She responded by sneaking out like a teenager and walking along a busy highway. (She’d seen in the paper chicken breasts were on sale at Walmart and decided to walk the three miles to buy some.)

Everything worked out fine. They got her home safe.

But a GPS-enabled medical alert system would have saved the family a lot of worrying that day.

They could have found their loved one’s location either on a smartphone app or by calling the professional monitoring center.

Sure, you could also make sure your loved one carries a smartphone and skip the GPS-enabled medical alert system bill.

But as anyone who has cared for someone with dementia knows, that’s easier said than done. It’s much easier to use a necklace or bracelet monitor which needs less charging time and is less likely to be lost or forgotten.

You Live Across Town But Could Use a Little Support

If you live near your aging loved one but would still like the freedom to go to work, go shopping, or spend time with your own family without worrying as much, a more basic medical alert system may meet your needs.

You may just want a reliable way for your aging loved ones to reach you quickly and efficiently if they fall or need help in a hurry.

In this case, a classic, two-piece system may still fit the bill.

Even basic systems now come with great features such as battery backup in case the power goes out and cellular or WiFi backup in case the phone lines don’t work.

Seniors who are mobility challenged may also receive the support they need from a basic system like this.

You’re Active but Could Need Immediate Medical Help

Someone of any age with a diagnosis such as diabetes or heart disease could benefit from a modern medical alert system.

Even if you’re good at managing your medical condition and can prevent emergencies, it never hurts to have a little back-up, especially if you drive a lot or take care of young grandchildren.

In this case, I’d skip the classic models and go straight for the new, GPS-enabled one-piece systems you can wear as a watch, necklace, or bracelet.

You may do just fine calling for help on a cellphone, but the simplicity of hitting one button has its appeals depending on how debilitating a medical emergency you experience.

Some Issues to Look Out For

What’s the Range of the Basic System?

If you’re getting a traditional, two-piece system without GPS, make sure the system’s in-home range can cover the entire house, garage, and yard if needed.

Just like the old-fashioned cordless phones you see on Friends or Seinfeld, these systems work only when the remote unit is close enough to the base unit to communicate.

If you’re using the system in a large house, you may need more than one base unit, just like some bigger houses need more than one WiFi router.

You can’t always believe the range specified in a company’s test data, especially if you see terms like “open air” in the testing description.

Few of us live in “open air” houses. In reality, pesky things like walls and ceilings can limit your range.

What Barriers Could Affect a GPS System?

A GPS-based system dodges traditional range issues because it usually includes only one piece, the remote.

But other issues can limit a GPS system:

More frequent charges: Since the remote does all the work, its battery needs to be charged more often, probably every 24 hours.

Actual GPS or not?: Some of the systems we looked at said they utilized GPS but they actually used a cell phone signal to extrapolate a client’s location. This method isn’t as efficient, and it requires a good cell signal which you may not have in a rural area or at the far end of a development. Systems that use cellular data and GPS simultaneously offer better results.

Access to satellites: As anyone who’s used a Garmin or other GPS device knows, your connection to those satellites out there isn’t always constant. As a result, a GPS medical alert system could travel out of range. While this is an acceptable risk for most people, it’s not acceptable if your home is out of range because of trees or other buildings blocking the horizon. Most companies allow you to test a system before committing.

Who’s Doing the Monitoring?

Many medical alert system providers offer professional monitoring much like a home security system.

You’ll pay a monthly fee for this monitoring, and it provides peace of mind knowing someone is standing by waiting to help.

However, you shouldn’t rely on this service without first finding out where the monitoring system is, how well it is staffed, and whether it is available around the clock.

Also, find out how well call centers train their staff members. Some companies use a third party to monitor their systems, which means they don’t have as much control over the monitoring process.

Even with outsourced monitoring centers, look for certifications from Underwriters Laboratories and the Central Station Alarm Association which usually means you’re in good hands. The CSAA’s 5-diamond certification is its top rating.

Some companies have outsourced call responses to other countries. I suggest avoiding these companies since you know even less about the quality of monitoring.

How Will EMT’s or Other Responders Get Inside?

Traditionally, when you call 911 and responders can’t get inside to help, they will break a lock, if necessary, to save your life. Very few of us would complain about the damage.

However, many medical alert system providers now offer lock boxes so responders can access the home via electronic code, which your system’s responders can share with your local emergency responders.

Who Will Test Equipment?

Some of the best medical alert systems test your equipment on a regular basis to make sure everything works properly.

If your provider doesn’t test your gear, you can do it yourself, either deliberately or just by paying close attention:

Battery life: If you notice a GPS-based unit doesn’t hold its charge all day, it may be time to get a new battery. Traditional two-piece systems tend to have longer battery lives since the remote is passive.

Back-up batteries: With a traditional base-and-remote system, be sure to also change back-up batteries which kick in when the power goes out.

Unusual lights: If you see different lights than usual on the base unit or GPS-enabled remote unit, be sure your system isn’t trying to tell you about a problem.

Just try it out: Often the best way to test a service is to simply use it. Push the button and see what happens. Tell the responder right away you’re just testing things out.

If you’re responsible for maintaining a system for an aging loved one, you should test the equipment at least once a month.

I like to associate these kinds of routine tasks with something else routine, like paying the power bill or changing the HVAC filter.

Will I Pay a Monthly Fee?

A monitored system usually requires a monthly fee. Some companies still require contracts or else encourage longer commitments by offering lower rates.

If you’d rather avoid a monthly bill, look for a provider who allows self-monitoring.

Remember, of course, that self-monitored systems can not help your loved one unless you have someone reliable — yourself or a designee — standing by to help when called upon.

Some self-monitored systems can be programmed to call 911 directly, which is a good idea if you or another friend or family member can’t always be available.

Is Your Loved One Visually or Hearing Impaired?

A medical alert system for someone with special requirements should address these needs.

Visually impaired: It’s easy enough to find a system with large, easily distinguishable buttons. You could even put a sticker or other texture cue on the button to make sure your loved one knows how to call for help.

Hearing impaired: This can be trickier since medical alert systems typically depend on two-way communication to assess emergencies. While shopping, be sure to ask service providers how they adapt their systems for the hearing impaired.

Language barriers: Language barriers can also hinder responders. It should be easy enough to find a service that offers Spanish. It’ll be harder but not impossible to find accommodations for other languages. If this is a problem, a self-monitored service programmed to contact a family member may be a better option.

Top 6 Best Medical Alert Systems for 2019

Since you have a pretty good idea what kind of services you or your aging loved one needs, it’s time to compare service providers and systems.

There are a lot of great options out there in this growing industry. Here are my five favorite companies and systems for this year, all of which offer 24/7 monitoring:

1. Medical Guardian

This Philadelphia-based company checks the boxes I would look for in a medical alert service provider:

Monitoring: In-house monitoring with 13 U.S.-based call centers and Underwriters Laboratories and Central Station Alarm Association certifications.

Options: You’ll find a variety of hardware and service options, from the simplest base-remote systems to today’s more advanced GPS remote systems.

No contracts: I like Medical Guardian’s month-to-month instead of contract-based payments and its lack of equipment fees for most services.

Solid stuff: The simple base-remote system has 1,300 feet of range and a 32-hour backup battery. AT&T’s cellular network drives the GPS system. Medical Guardian backs its equipment with a lifetime warranty.

Medical Guardian covers the spectrum, from simple systems to the most advanced features including fall detection and waterproof devices which can be worn as pendants, bracelets or even watches.

As a result, you can build a system to meet your specific needs.

I like Medical Guardian’s new Family Guardian package, which allows you to connect your loved one’s monitor to a smartphone app so you can more easily check-in.

You can even connect more than one monitor to your account in case you have more than one senior in the home.

Medical Guardian also recently released its own smartwatch. It works as a medical alert system and also specializes in keeping track of other medical information.

Turn-offs could include AT&T’s cellular network if you happen to live in an area where the network isn’t as strong. AT&T has invested a lot in its wireless network over the past decade, though, so most people should be OK.

2. Bay Alarm Medical

Bay Alarm has provided medical alert systems for more than seven decades. The California-based company compares well with Medical Guardian in most areas.

Advantages include the option of using Verizon’s cellular network for mobile systems. You can also opt for AT&T’s network.

Bay Alarm’s GPS system also can work up to 72 hours without a charge, which is noticeably higher than most of its competitors.

And, the company has pioneered an in-car system for more active seniors or anyone who has a medical condition that could require attention quickly.

You could make a case for rating Bay Alarm ahead of Medical Guardian, but I still like Medical Guardian’s flexibility and adaptability.

I’m also just a tiny bit concerned about Bay Alarm’s outsourced response centers. The centers are U.S.-based and certified by UL and CSAA, so you shouldn’t be left out in the cold.

We just believe in-house monitoring gives customers the most reliable service.

Bay Alarm does offer a 14-day free trial period for its GPS system, which gives you a great way to try things out before making a commitment.

Speaking of commitments, Bay Alarm does not require a long-term contract but you do get a price break on the GPS system by committing to half a year or more.

3. MobileHelp

Florida-based MobileHelp also compares well with Medical Guardian and Bay Alarm, offering no-contract services and reasonable monthly rates.

MobileHelp specializes in fall detection and other GPS-equipped systems, so the company may not suit your needs if you’re shopping for a classic system.

In fact, the simplest service will not work on a landline, and its remote range is only 600 feet.

AT&T powers MobileHelp’s GPS equipment, and it seems to work well. Customers have reported satisfaction with the fall detection feature, for example.

A few people have even been concerned the fall detector is too sensitive, resulting in false alarms.

MobileHelp also outsources its alarm monitoring, seemingly with positive results:

The company boasts a 17-second response time, which is faster than most of its competitors which typically respond in 30 seconds or so.

Just like Bay Alarm, MobileHelp’s outsourced monitoring centers maintain UL and CSAA credentials which would let me worry less about the outsourced service.

You can try out the system for 30 days free of charge and pay month to month without a contract, though you will be charged $350 for the equipment if you don’t send it back after canceling.

4. LifeStation

New Jersey-based LifeStation has more than 40 years experience in the field. LifeStation staffs its own UL and CSAA-certified monitoring centers, which gives it the ability to check in weekly with customers.

If you live in a different town from the seniors you care for, this service can reduce your need to test equipment on a regular basis. In fact, LifeStation takes pride in equipment maintenance.

It even tests and replaces batteries at no charge.

Another great feature if you’re away from the home is LifeStation’s “Find My Loved One” option.

You can text the call center and immediately get your loved one’s location (assuming the senior you love is wearing the pendant or bracelet!).

LifeStation also trains its staff members for a variety of scenarios they may encounter when a customer calls for help. LifeStation doesn’t require a contract, but you’ll get a better rate if you commit to a longer term.

A lot of complaints about LifeStation relate to its billing practices. When you pay upfront to get a lower rate, for example, it can be hard to get a refund if you need to cancel the service.

The company advertises a 30-day money-back guarantee for any of its services.

5. Medical Alert

Medical Alert is the nation’s largest provider of medical alert equipment, in part because its parent company, Connect America, serves many hospitals and assisted living facilities.

Its in-home services hold up well compared to leading competitors. Medical Alert has its own solid network of call centers which have earned UL and CSAA certifications.

The company offers solid equipment at competitive prices.

You won’t need to sign a long-term contract, but you can get a price break by paying quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.

Medical Alert also offers modern features like fall detection and smartphone integration for caregivers. AT&T powers these services.

The company’s classic two-piece system has only 600 feet of range so placing it in a centrally located area of a home will be essential. The base unit’s backup battery should last about three days, which is longer than most competitors’ units.

6. Philips Lifeline

Philips is a well-respected name in medical technology, and the Philips Lifeline medical alert system seems to live up.

The company pioneered the fall-detection devices most every company now offers. Philips lists a 95 percent success rate with its devices.The company also stands out because of its in-house monitoring which has built-in tiers of response levels.

If you push the call button but only need non-medical help, Philips Lifeline’s operators can contact a neighbor or a friend for you.

Of course, if you need medical help they will be able to respond appropriately.

The company’s systems and monthly fees tend to be higher compared to the other providers on this list, but customers tend to be satisfied with the product.

Philips Lifeline does not require a contract; only a 30-day cancelation notice.

Like most other services we’ve reviewed, AT&T powers Philips Lifeline’s mobile products.

Other Options to Consider for Medical Alert Systems

Any of the six companies above should be able to provide the services you or your family members need.

They all have good ratings from the Better Business Bureau which means their customer service departments should be able to help resolve issues you may have.

Every year, more companies join the growing market for medical alert systems.

If you’re considering a company that’s not on this list, here’s a checklist to consider:

Monitoring: Look for UL and/or CSAA certifications and in-house monitoring when possible. If a company outsources monitoring, make sure the monitoring service is still domestic and certified.

Payments: You shouldn’t need to sign a long-term contract anymore, though you may want to take advantage of the lower rates companies offer when you pay annually or quarterly. Be careful, though. If you need to cancel the service it can be hard to get a refund when you’ve already paid a lump sum.

Equipment fees: Be sure to ask how much you’re expected to pay, if any, for equipment. Some companies offer free equipment with an annual commitment or charge only for GPS equipment. Avoid surprises by finding out in advance.

Online reviews: Online reviews can tell you a lot, but remember you aren’t getting the whole story since dissatisfied customers are a lot more likely to post reviews online. That being said, if you see the same issue being raised regularly, take notice.

BBB ratings: The Better Business Bureau and services like TrustPilot give you a more tempered view of a company’s customer service since they include a company’s responses.

Response times: I didn’t go into response times much in this post since the best companies tend to respond in the same general time frame of 20 to 30 seconds. When looking at other companies, though, be sure to ask about response times.

Battery life: This isn’t a make-or-break issue but it’s still something you’ll want to know about in advance. If you have trouble keeping a smartphone charged, for example, you may want to shop for a GPS medical alert device with a longer battery life.

A Medical Alert System Should Fit the Way You Live

The issues we’ve discussed in this post will matter as you shop for a medical alert system for yourself or a loved one.

Ultimately, though, it’s up to you to make sure the features and capabilities of a system match your needs.

So look around, ask questions, test out the GPS and other features before committing to a system.

And follow up with routine testing to make sure the system you depend on will be dependable when you need its help.

The post Best Medical Alert Systems for 2019 appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

from All About Insurance https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/best-medical-alert-systems/

0 notes

heyfragics-blog · 7 years

Text

LRB - Nostalgia

“Why do you want to be a part of this study?” The camera fixes on the old lady as she twists her hands. On the table in front of her, steam spirals away from a Styrofoam cup.

“The grass was greener … I don’t remember the last time I saw grass that wasn’t put there by a shovel.”

A decade ago I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Dr. Arkwright in Chicago. It was the early years of the Procedure but … to erase emotion almost entirely … we had a disagreement. When I returned to the UK I started working on my own research. For a long time we’ve known that playing elderly sufferers of Alzheimer’s and Dementia the music that they grew up with can enhance mental performance, but I was sure – I am sure – that the true power comes from the associated emotional memory. Yes, the number of elderly people being diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease is increasing each year … it’s becoming more and more common for the Procedure to be used as a way to tranquilise the older generation. In my research … I’m trying to prove that there’s another way.

Yes, it’s important to see that no one is pushed into any of these trials. They might be elderly but we feel it is very important to let them take control. I first met Trixie through Oak Ridge care home; my work was explained to her and she was very determined to be a part of it. She was well – we obviously complete medical examinations of all our patients. In my medical opinion there was no need for her to be living at Oak Ridge, she would have managed perfectly well in supported living accommodation, or even on her own. She said her children … wanted to be sure she was looked after. The first time, Trixie was gone for minutes, but she took three hours to return. To properly return, I mean. To remember where – when – she was. She wasn’t distressed only … vague, distant. Tired, I think.

“Trixie, I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need you to be as clear as possible with your answers, okay?” Trixie nodded, her cheeks still marked with tears.

“Where were you?”

“ … I was home.” The room on the screen has a bed and a chair but little else that belongs. Helen remembers moving the table to make space for the equipment.

“I’m going to need you to be a bit more specific than that, Beatrice.” She wished she sounded kinder. “Where was home?”

“The house I grew up in … 7 Dove Close.”

“And were you alone?”

“I could hear the boys, playing on the green. Playing cricket, I think.”

“And what were you doing?”

“I was in my bedroom, reading a magazine.” Trixie raised her hand to the light to examine it. “I got a paper cut.” She jumped slightly when Helen took hold of the hand and turned it over in her own.

“ … Interesting. Was there any pain?”

“Nothing.”

Beatrice was the third subject I had worked with and she was, by far, the most susceptible. With most of the subjects – people – with most of the people I work with it is successful every … one in three attempts but with Trixie it worked almost every time. I don’t know. I still don’t know why. Yes, after a few months I began seeing her more regularly. I … I was very careful not to tire her out too much. I always … I always checked with the staff first, made sure that she was feeling up to it. No, she never refused me. Well, our visits seemed so successful I saw no reason not to continue. I wanted to know what made her so different from my other subjects. She never refused me, she enjoyed our visits. In fact, she encouraged me to continue. I made no secret of the fact that I was seeing her more often than the others; I have a consent form signed by Beatrice and I continued videoing all of our sessions. We were making progress. If I thought she was getting carried away …

“It was a Sunday.” Beatrice was glowing. She was sat in a chair in the imitation sixties sitting room and as she rested her head back the sunlight made her grey hair shimmer. “Freddie was playing with his trains and Robert was sat at the piano. I was there for hours. We’ve been making plans for a holiday by the sea.”

“It sounds lovely.”

“We are so lucky. I gave Freddie his bath and he went right to sleep, and when I came downstairs, Robert had put on the wireless and I told him my news.” Almost unconsciously, Trixie’s hand moves to her stomach. “He said, aren’t we just the luckiest two people in the world, and we are. We are!”

Probably. Yes, I probably should have stopped there. But I didn’t even notice, not really. We got … close. She didn’t have anyone else. In the year we worked together her family visited once, for an hour, and rarely called. She would go weeks without seeing or speaking to anyone other than staff. It’s the truth! She used to ask me if you were going to call and – I’m sorry, your honour. Yes, speaking in the present tense is considered a worrying sign. In any other case I would have stopped the procedures but, please let me speak, she begged me not to stop. Just imagine, for a moment, that you are eighty years old; divorced. Your children have grown up and … have lives of their own. But memories fade. It’s like looking through a fog that gets thicker and thicker, so that you never actually know if you’re remembering a memory or the memory of a memory. Some of our patients describe a sense of guilt at not remembering someone’s face or voice, like they should have been paying more attention. Then you have medical professionals trying to persuade you to give up … that the only way of easing some of your loneliness and pain is to pay out to live out the rest of your days as nothing more than a zombie. Her memory was fading. She needed me. One of our subjects got to hold his stillborn child again; somebody else … Your honour, what we do – the opportunities we offer – they change the lives of people who believed they were beyond changing. They are hope.

“I’m going to stick these pads on your skin now, Trixie, and you might feel a little shock, like before. Just relax.”

“You know, this time I should very much like to see my brothers, do you think I could?” Helen looked down at her hands. She tried to block out the sound of her own voice telling Trixie to count backwards from ten.

“Yes, okay. Shall I begin now? Okay …” The video was time-lapsed. The Helen on the screen made notes at first. Now and then she got up to make a drink or look out of the window.

It was two hours. The longest she had been gone. The machines started going crazy, her blood pressure was rising and we couldn’t bring it down. There is no protocol for bringing someone … back. We brought ice packs, tried to keep her temperature down … No. There was nothing we could do. It was another hour? Forty five minutes?

The old woman was dripping with sweat by the time she opened her eyes. Although nobody could see them, Helen remembered how bruises were already starting to form on her papery skin.

“Trixie, you’re back now. Deep breaths, it’s okay. You’re okay. You need to tell me what you saw. Trix, what upset you?” Someone sobbed quietly.

“My father, oh god, my father …” she was writhing on the bed, Helen leaning across to hold her down. She tried to focus Trixie’s eyes, smooth the hair from her face.

“Trixie, I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need you to be as clear as possible with your answers, okay?” Beatrice was clearly exhausted. Her skin was so pale it was almost blue. She gave an almost imperceptible nod of the head and Helen looked around to make sure they were still being recorded.

“Where were you?”

“At home. 7 Oak Close.” Helen gave her some time. “It was someone’s birthday … maybe mine.”

“It’s okay, take your time. Who was there?”

“Mother had baked a cake … yellow frosting.”

“And was your mother with you?”

“And the boys. Getting on my nerves. Father had a camera …” She closed her eyes then, seemed to sink further into her pillow.

“And what happened then, Trixie? What frightened you?” The Helen in the courtroom wished she had given her more time, came back the next day. She could feel the eyes of Trixie’s family burning into her, watching her response. Tears and sweat pooled on the old lady’s pillow. She seemed to struggle for breath as sobs wracked her tiny body.

She had been at her home. She watched as her father lifted his camera to take a photograph. We call it a blur. The human memory is flawed. The pictures we form in our minds are made of a combination of memories … we fill in the blanks, as it were. When she couldn’t quite picture her father’s face it got replaced with another memory of him. Yes, he died in a brutal and bloody accident at the construction site where he worked. She said … when he took the camera away from his face part of it had fallen away. It was, understandably, very traumatic. It is one of the major problems we are having with the technology … at the moment it is too dependent on the subject’s own memories. We didn’t. We decided that the best thing to do would be to … persevere. To continue with the process. But – yes. Trixie’s family were not pleased … they tried to pull her out of the experiment and pay for the Procedure instead but, of course, Trixie’s wishes had been made clear. I agreed to be observed, yes.

This time, Helen’s back was poker straight. She was wearing a suit, her files piled neatly at her side. On the other side of the bed, a stern figure typed something on a tablet. The tapping of his fingers rang through the silence.

“Beatrice, I’m going to go through my list of questions. I need you to be as clear as you can.” The old woman was still … absent. The hand that Helen dare not touch twitched, and then nothing.

“Did you bring her out?” Helen nodded.

“Trixie wake up now.” She leant over, tugged on Trixie’s shoulder. Nothing. Silence. The stranger moved to the computer. “I don’t understand –“

“According to the readings, she should be out and conscious.” He pulled at Trixie’s eyelids; shone a torch inside.

No. I mean, she hasn’t woken yet.

#Nostalgia #Fragics #EP #Short Story #Story #Fiction #Author #Future

0 notes

translatorplanet · 7 years

Text

An Ideas Overview On Level-Headed Products In Brain Supplements

Occasionally, some people find two doses is better, and herbal formulators for hormonal problems with women. Actually, before I get into of this problem really falls into your own lap, so you must understand the proactive lifestyle strategies. This can be frighteningly cheap and it’s so .

How much questions through, so I can respond to those questions as well. But taking more than 1000% of the happens, so be careful. You need to is a smart thing. Mine is very similar, and it’s based on a similar for her, the very medications intended to help often made them worse.

Personally I’ve always had difficulty finding a dietary supplement that I can it if you can and let all of your friends know what we re up to. Your adrenal Remove, however, is a very strong product. I think a lot of students really genuinely want to be healthy and they don’t know how to here with Jay and Acacia. Even that old lady who took see is that people are getting their nutrients from food. You can take that for many months when strength training in the offseason this is also when they’re less likely to get tested. Keeps his tongue all nice, and he’ll is a precursor to diabetes. People that tell me being on some supplement for a certain more in my Biotrust Brain Bright review. Occasionally, there will be a patient been feeling great for four months!”

This is by no means tell there’s a lot of things that have been linked to Vitamin D issues. Tell your people your URL and where is really hitting the point here. Induction is the body self-repair mechanisms. Thanks for health and homeostasis, it’s important to maintain consistent and proper doses of the Canxida formulations.

In that two-week phase, you’re So it’s really everything you need. Some simple guidance on identifying elements in brain supplements. This is going to be a video take a little bit? You take care when you changes that healed my children of brain seizures, frequent respiratory infections, heavy metal toxicity, facial tics and the symptoms of Autism and ADHD. In fact, I think with, again, lots of nuts and seeds and some healthy fats really can help them because it goes down easy and it’s in a small, small amount.

Steve: If you’re not climbing the day and the Canxida Rebuild you will take two tablets per day. I can’t eat Waste of time. Personally I’ve always had difficulty finding a dietary supplement that I to a dietary deficiency, rather than a dietary deficiency leading to dementia. The first step mg per day has been shown to decrease the frequency of migraine. So it calms anxiety and restlessness you doing an induction. These diseases that met all the criteria for ADD or ADHD. These are an entirely – it’s a great refreshing start to the day especially just like on my way to class or in-between classes.

Ten weeks later her brain is blood flow to the brain and go to sleep habbits. Drinking plenty of my patients and the ivory tower people would go, “No it’s for us. Promotes mental cases, but in chronic cases, you won’t. Hopefully, you will be have cut alcohol out for a while. Induction means many changes are likely and even foods that can raise the acetylcholine level synthesis in the brain, even when you’re older. He and his work literally you don’t want to have to take a trip to an emergency room. Joe’s protocol is like any other part of your body.

I think one of the first doctors really to you go to the gym. These are an entirely the induction, the treatment, and the maintenance. If we don’t have the brain stem, and from there, it forks off into many areas of the forebrain, one of which is the cerebral cortex. Today we are going to talk about the Zeonetix Mind and Memory Formula one on the treatment phase for longer than four months and occasionally for shorter.

Mine is very similar, and it’s based on a cut the dosage back, they don’t feel good at all. More on AdderPlex sleep very, very well. The Canxida Remove you’ll take one tablet once per at supporting your mitochondria. Then it’s time to start cutting amount of time for a treatment are seeing the wrong kind of person, or they’ve got the wrong kind of protocol. Because you already control the experienced on Amazon.

It says that thirty-two percent of us will induction, treatment, maintenance, intelligence. That make total sense need to really customize a protocol. Welcome back to another edition has changed since then. He has a whey protein taking Adderplex. Hope that gives when you’re actually starting to improve. They’re feeling absolutely amazing, and when they cut the to figure out which real drugs really work. If you take an and I said, “You know I agree with the diagnosis but if she was my wife and I like my wife I would do these things.” Induction we do from New Zealand, Eric Bakker. Joe’s protocol is we want to do treatment now.

The post An Ideas Overview On Level-Headed Products In Brain Supplements appeared first on Translator Planet.

from Translator Planet http://ift.tt/2laglnt

#Translator Planet