Monday, June 10, 2013

The Oppenheimer Report 6/10/13


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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