The past
week was a fretful one as once again Shauna and I are faced with difficult
decisions relating to the health of her parents. There have been caregiver
issues and this part is not all that uncommon. We faced this when my mom and
dad were being cared for. Different caregivers have different methods of
treating their patients and sometimes those methods clash. It should be the
worst problem an elder has that the people charged with their care are
passionate about their approach and want to do the best job they can. That
said, sometimes the squabbles are about trivial things. This one left the wastebasket
full after her shift, that one di not clean up properly. 24-7 care can be a
volatile situation when, as in our case, one of the elders is still ostensibly “in
charge.” The caregivers – and we have three at present – are faced with the
complications of negotiating with two fiercely independent elders as well as
each other. This can be tricky, and it’s a bit like a dysfunctional family. Add
to this the fact that none of the caregivers speaks very good English and the
problem becomes even more complicated. Communication is important, and diplomacy
is a big part of the job.
Right now,
one of the problems with which we are faced concerns diet. Shauna is in contact
with the caregivers all day, through text messages and Skype, and in this way
she can monitor her parents’ care on a regular basis. Last week Dad Taylor’s
blood pressure became very erratic, spiking to well over 190 at one point. At
some ungodly hour of the morning we were afraid we were going to have to take
him to the hospital. Dad had already suffered several strokes and he could not
be allowed to go to sleep without lowering his blood pressure significantly. A
visit to the hospital is not without its problems, as Dad could end up more
traumatized by a long wait in the Emergency Room. One of our caregivers, the
one who was on duty during the spikes and who is probably the most medically
competent of the three, insisted he immediately drink large amounts of tea with
honey and cinnamon. He was not happy about drinking a lot of fluid, because
every trip to the washroom is an ordeal, but eventually her actions brought his
BP down to a marginally acceptable level. Then we consulted the patient notes
and came to the conclusion that there was likely much too much salt in both
parents’ diets. Over the next few days we began to scrutinize their meals and
realized that their salt intake was well over double that which is recommended
for an elder. We restricted Dad’s salt intake over the next several days and
the results were remarkable. His BP was down substantially and has stabilized.
He is an 88 year old man, and there are other factors affecting his health as
well, but why stack the deck? And why is it so difficult to regulate salt
intake?
I never
used to be a label reader, but after cooking for both sets of my elderly
parents, I became more aware of their salt ingestion. So much food, especially
canned foods and pre-packed meals, are absolutely loaded with salt. Mom Taylor was buying a lot of things that were
easy to prepare, and which she assumed were nutritious; things like canned
salmon and instant rice. It turned out much of the food she was preparing was
off the scale for salt content. A package of flavored rice, something she often
served, had almost the daily allotment of salt for an elder.
We all
hear and read the warnings about too much salt, but especially here in North
America, salt is a much bigger problem than most of us realize. It is linked to
strokes and hypertension, heart attacks and even kidney disease. I knew it was
an issue with fast food, but never realized how widespread the problem is. Because
of Shauna’s medical conditions, I am perhaps more conscious of our salt intake
than the average person, but what makes me angry is that it is virtually
impossible to avoid over-salted food if one buys prepared food in the
supermarket. Try to find no salt ANYTHING these days, and you might be
surprised. A box of crackers might advertise no salt, and yet, when you read
the ingredients, it turns out it does contain some salt. I couldn’t believe how
much salt there is in cereal and bread. Check out the salt content in Kelloggs
raison bran. It seems like everyone is jumping on the organics bandwagon, and
there seems to be a growing demand for more healthful foods. I am happy about
this trend, but too much salt might be just as bad for our health as the
chemicals we spray on our vegetables. I think there is a growing market for stores
that cater to the elderly. Perhaps someone will develop a codger friendly supermarket,
but so far, I have not seen one.
Speaking
of codgers, Queen Elizabeth celebrated the 60th Anniversary of her
coronation last week. Hubby Phil looked a little worse for wear, and I
understand he was in the shop afterwards for some “exploratory” surgery. He’s
almost 92 and still pretty active, so good for him. I thought the Queen looked
pretty good as well. I’ll bet someone watches her salt intake.
Written by
Jamie Oppenheimer c2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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