Alzheimer's Support Groups

We have taken Mamaw on occasion and you are right, confusion is part of the package. Just expect it and plan ahead. I wish you the best of a break as possible!! Hugs and prayers.

Don't know how long the trip but mom is the most peaceful at the beach. Just put her in a chair and watch her enjoy the beach volleyball, basket ball, children playing and the smiles are priceless to me.. Pray you have this experience for your mom. Xoxoxoxox Dawn

Hi lovinarms, I hope all went well with your beach trip! Thanks everyone for the feedback and suggestions you shared! Here is some additional information that may likewise be helpful for future excursions...

• Before you say "no" to that family reunion, weekend getaway, or other vacation you’re dreaming of, check to see what respite care options might be available near you: http://www.caring.com/articles/respite-care

• Many assisted living communities in the U.S. offer temporary stays. Your loved one can have a comfortable room with healthy meals, engaging activities, social connection, and round-the-clock support if she needs it. You can have a break, with peace of mind that your loved one is doing fine. See whether assisted living communities near you offer respite care: http://www.caring.com/find/assisted-living/respite-care

• If you decide to take your loved one on the vacation with you, here's how to solve five common trouble spots -- flying, car trips, hubbub at home, parties, and shopping -- that can crop up, particularly during the upcoming fall/winter holiday season: http://www.caring.com/articles/travel-for-alzheimers-patients

• Caring.com also has suggestions for taking a 'virtual vacation' that can be fun, is almost free, and doesn't include jet lag: http://www.caring.com/blogs/activity-of-the-week/take-a-virtual-vacation

I hope these resources are helpful -- please do let us know if there's more we can suggest to support you!

Went Saturday to see the movie. Was going with a friend, who ended up in a car accident (everyone ok), but since I had already purchased my ticket, I went in alone. But, yesterday we both met and saw it together. I enjoyed it both times. Love Meryl Streep....she is such a wonderful, talented actress...can play any part and is just so natural for her.

Been wanting to see that movie also - I love both of those actors/actress' - a friend of mine & I are planning on going next wk. I wonder if Mom could go she would only be sitting maybe it could be just her & I after gkids go home - I think she would like it too!

So true...:-)

:-)

I see comments from medical doctors pro and con for this. I would love to hear what both sides are basing their opinions on. I live in an area where we have many Canadians come in the winter, and many of them schedule surgeries and other procedures to be done while they are here. They have a system administered by government, I think, so why don't they take care of those things at home? Just wondering. Would love to hear RATIONAL discussions on both sides, please. Love the joke, goingcrazy. ;-)

I don't have any problems getting into my Dr what so ever. I guess if you have HMO insurance where you have to go to a particular Dr then that would suck. But I don't so nothing will change for those people who have insurance. Everything stays the same. I don't like HMO but if you don't have insurance at all it would be better them paying for your medical care out of your pocket. Or letting the hospitals obsorb the cost which raise medical costs for all.

I believe that health care is a right just as is clean air to breathe. Our health care system is broken when people are denied insurance for a pre existing condition or kicked out of their insurance program when they become seriously ill. I also know of people who go to Canada for an affordable experience when a serious chronic illness strikes. Obamacare gets our toe in the water. It will improve as we learn what works and what doesn't work. Costs could come down if payments were not on a per procedure basis. Being on a per procedure basis encourages needless testing. I am strongly in favor of Obamacare and hope that the name sticks. The alternative candidate is clueless and bumbling, and likely to be directed into war by our lying-in-wait hawks.

I am not happy with either candidate but I don't want govt. deciding who can have a hip replacement and who can't.

thank you so much Sandy!!! I knew I could count on you to explain better then I... Go Obamacare!!! Plus I loved it because it covered my son until he got a job after college. Which he starts Monday!!! Assistant Coach at the University of Iowa for Men's Gymnastics!!! So proud of him to land his dream job at 23!!!

What the heck!!! Government is not deciding who can have care and who can!!!! It is to help peoe who otherwise cannot afford insurance. Like small businesses, peoe who make minimum wage!!! If you get cancer the insurance company can't say, sorry you've reached your limit. Or you lost your job and your child is deathly Ill and you get new insurance they can't say sorry it's a pre-existing condition. Your child can't find work after college he can stay on your insurance until he's 26. What is not to like??

Hmm, this is a argument nether side will win. All I can is less government is good government . An politics are best when we agree to disagree . .... food 4 thought. Our only rights are god given, when our grandparents were young,your church helped those who could not help themselves. We have forgotten how to help others as we look to the government to solve our proplems. Oops time to shut up, don't want to start a war!!! Love n hugs, kim

What is welfare in this country? Government for people who cannot or will not help themselves. It doesn't really matter to me except my son was covered but thank God he didn't need it anyway. But I have insurance so it will not effect me!!!unless I max out my medical limit. Which I pray I don't need either!!!

Of course you don't want government deciding who gets care.. It;s much better that our insurance companies do it for us by denying coverage and removing coverage. And Shell, contratulations to your son. Sounds like a great job.

Religion is another of those topics where we agree to disagree.

My main thought on this is if the Government signs up for it then I will. If it works for them then it should work for us too. They should get the same as us, no more and no less. We the people and for the people and all that good stuff. I am going to tell on myself but here goes. When we had health insurance it was very expensive. The dr bills were more, the pharmacy cost more and the insurance was costly. We have not had insurance for the last seven years due to my husbands job loss. I have not missed it. My dr bills are a fraction of the cost with out insurance and so is our pharmacy. I know the time is coming soon because we are getting at the age where our bodies fail us and something serious can sneak up but I don't like insurance companies or an over all health care plan unless it is for every one including the rich and famous. One for all and all for one. I know that is a pretend world and it does not exist. But I have seen the bad in Obamacare and some good. I am like Kim when it comes to helping one anorher and I don't like either canadates. I am going to vote for me as the president. This world makes me nervous and I vote Grow Flowers and love one another despite backgrounds, money or crazy people who start a thread that causes differences in opionions. The thing I love most about you guys is your opinions! And bad people who start fires should be fed to the alligators! The end :) I

Thanks Sandy!!! He loves it!!! It's great that we can disagree and still love each other just the same!!!! Hugs everyone

Here here, this country was made so we can all voice or opinions. An a good discussion wil hopefully have good results , an if it doesn't ? Well that's why u only get 4 yrs, an if u vote someone back in that isn't so good we can only blame ourselves. Let the games begin! Lol

Thanks for the comments. I agree to disagree with many of them and hope there is a God above who helps us make correct decisions for the great country that we live in. Is it possible to immigrate to Canada, New Zealand or Australia at this age? Maybe that's what some of us should do ;-).

Surely Grannymurf your going to vote for me and we will change the world with flower power!!!

That would be great, Goingcrazi, but you see, I don't have a flower power thumb. You'd have to supply it for both of us. I can hardly keep a poinsettia alive from 12/ thru 12/25. I am amazingly inept at "green thumbing"! Can you do it for both of us? If so, I vote for us! Can't be any worse than most of the ones I see who are in office or running for office.

Crazi, I agree with you on that. The government folks should get the same health care that we the great unwashed are offered. Many people agree with that. But Congress is not giving up their cushy government perk. And we have to take whatever they give us. But social security and medicare both are administered by the government and work very well. For medicare, there is a lot of fraud but that's because so many of us are thieves. We need better vigilance to put a stop to fraud. As for it costing you less without insurance, all I can say is everyone ought to live where you live. Where I live, if your hospital bill is $50000, and you're not insured, you need to pay $50000. If you are insured as I have been in the past and now are on medicare the bill shows the following. Total: 50000; covered by insurance: 25000, forgiven: 20000; due from patient: 5000. If your insurance is better you might only owe 500 or 1000. There are deals between the hospital and the insurance companies that result in lowering of your bill and this is payed by no one. Obviously, the hospital charges more than they expect to receive. But the uninsured are charged the whole freight. Now this describes the cost of a hospital admission for relatively minor surgery or a medical problem. The bill can be much higher. As for medical visits, I have a $20.00 co pay when I see my doctor. What do you pay for a doctor's office appointment when you don't have insurance. And if you ever need to be hospitalized, look out. By the way, when I was younger, I wasn't sick and my doctors' visits were very few. When I turned 65, it was clear that my warrentee had expired and something seemed to be wrong disagreeably often. And that goes for the dentist too.

I agree Sandy!! It seems that when you hit 40 the health starts going downhill. Heck the dentist bill is high with insurance!! I can't imagine without it!! I'm sure a uninsured office visit is well over 100.00 if not 200.00. I'll keep my insurance.

I don't have significant dental insurance. The costs are quite high.

I know they are. For a crown after insurance is still 500.00

Right now I have an awesome dr for colds and minor stuff and my thyroids. He only charges 54.00 a visit. Because Mamaw is on medicaid it's only 2.50. I am even more lucky than most because his father is a pharmacist and he is next door. They work it out with me when needed. We would pay over 300.00 for instance in the past and the drs and hospitals over charged and we still owed in the end. I know my leash of youth is running short lol and will have to do something soon. But it is aggravating now that I am on the the other side and can't find affordable insurance and worse for smokers of which I am not proud. We do have emergency life and workmanship comp insurance in case of accidental death or serious injury but that is on husband and that is costly too. Then on top of that we also have car and home insurance and quite frankly I'm tapped out. Mamaw is covered and even with burial insurance so we are good there but anything beyond that could be a problem. As for dental hahahaha, folks in Oklahoma seem to go without teeth so if worse comes to worse ill join the toothless and pray for a rich fairy.

Oh how I know we can be insurance poor, that's for sure!! You are very fortunate to find a Dr that charges 54.00 for office call!!! Wow!! We all need the rich fairy!!! Believe me that Romney is not going to share the wealth!!!! All he cares about is getting richer and putting his savings in other countries so he doesn't have to pay taxes. That's what us pee-ons are for!!!

And here I thought it was to be peed on. Same thing.

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure. If I were elected President (AKA, Going Crazy) I would elect Warren Buffet to became Vice President and this is the first steps we would take... Congressional Reform Act of 2012 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

And that is the last of my two cents on this!! And I ljust love copy and pasties, it makes me look so smart, like even the president and runner uppers!! LOL Hugs to my friends who encouraged me to take a platform and scream PLAY FAIR!!!!!!

Oh and P.S. We are peed on, peed off and peed out Congr-ass!!! OOOOPs did i missssspell something??

Omg, could Not have said it Better!!!!! You have my vote!

You have my vote on that also!!! Hugs, Michelle

I read that piece also, and if you run on that platform, I will gladly support you and even be your campaign manager, if you need one. You certainly have my vote! Professional politicians are ruining our country, and I am not referring to one party "poop" any more than any other. I have no faith in any of them any more.

I agree grannymurf!! They are all so greedy!! Greed is evil!!!

Agree second and you will be my campaign manager simply because you could spell campaign and know your poop!! Hugs LOL

Crazi, you even get MY vote and I will served as campaign physician at no pay.

Wow that really sounds like a great panel!!!

Your hired! First thing we need to do Dr. Dearie is declare them all mentally incompetent and slap white jackets on them and put them in safe rooms till they calm down. It will hit them hard at first because they can no longer flatter, bribe or fool the public. Worst thing will be they can't spend needlessly. Give us two years and their wallets and we should see an end to recession. Then we will work in the insurance companies next. We can do this!!! Lol when I stop running from my own association in my neighborhood. I hide from them. I got a text last Tuesday if they could nominate me for president. My reply was...LOL. They came back and said...We take that as a yes. I said NO :)

Hi folks, Here is some information on Caring.com that is relevant to this discussion about health care and government-sponsored health care...

• From the archives: How Family Caregivers Will Benefit From Health Care Reform

• From the FYI Daily blog earlier this summer: Public Split on Health Care Law Ruling <More than 40 comments from caregivers so far

• Medicare -- who's eligible, how it works, how to apply, and how Medicare differs from other government benefit programs: http://www.caring.com/medicare <Also includes Medicare Information Finder to find out whether the treatment, procedure, or device you need is covered by Medicare; see also info about Medicaid: http://www.caring.com/medicaid

• 9 Government Benefits You Might Be Missing Out On : nothing sabotages your budget like an illness or other health problem, especially one that affects your ability to carry out your everyday obligations; these benefits can help, but many miss out on them

• Government health insurance counselors help patients and caregivers sort through insurance options, understand medical bills, and appeal Medicare decisions: http://www.caring.com/local/government-health-insurance-counselors

Also, here is information about The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on Wikipedia (with links to sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act[wikipedia.org]

If of interest, The White House also has a blog and information about The Affordable Care Act -- http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/07/02/affordable-care-act-numbers[whitehouse.gov] -- as well as a website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform[whitehouse.gov]

Lastly, here's information about how you can volunteer at your local polling place this election: http://www.caring.com/blogs/activity-of-the-week/volunteer-at-your-local-polling-place

Thanks for discussing this important topic impacting both those with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers -- and when disagreements arise, for doing so respectfully.

One Winged Angel--thats what we are on this site. We each have only one wing because we need another Angel to help us fly....so fluff up that wing of yours Deb,its needed ♥

Now I get the flying in circles post I saw!. I'm fluffing, fluffing, fluffing!

Way to use your head on getting mom something to eat/drink. Thanks for the idea HUGS

So that is where all those extra feathers came from---Deb was moulting into a OWA. Good idea on the melons. My DH loves to eat them, sweet and not too hard to chew. Sure glad they are in season here right now.

oh yeah he has been putting it with ice cream

2many, how do you do what you do? You have your hands full and, yet here you are, uplifting others. I was beginning to despair that there were any wonderful people still in this world... I am very proud to be an OWA!!!!!

Deb--2many is special isnt she ! And its because she knows what it`s like to have "your hands full",she can uplift others. So can you ♥♥♥

And one-winged purple swans swim in circles, but Sooo gracefully! We make a water ballet too.

Hi unchartedwaters, Thanks for sharing this update with us!

You may also find some of these resources helpful: * Difficulty Eating and Swallowing: http://www.caring.com/difficulty-eating-and-swallowing * Is my mother's Alzheimer's causing her to have trouble swallowing and eating?: http://www.caring.com/questions/my-mother-has-been-having-trouble-swallowing-and-cant-eat

Thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement!