I'm tired of cooking/preparing 3 meals a day. It's just the two of us but boy oh boy can that woman eat!! She stays slimish, I get fattish. It's bad enough I do everything here much less start making her one thing and me the other. At times I feel guilty when I buy her fast food cuz of the nutritional value....not to mention I eat it too.
found an article on the national foundation of swallowing disorders from 2015 on how to thicken liquids
author's preference is for clear thickeners as others (starch) tend to over thicken and become globs then stick in throat and cause choking
Some professionals are clueless. One of the times when my dad was in rehab at an excellent facility he would cough when he drank water or coffee. The Speech Therapist came to look at him drink and he started coughing. The only thing she said was for him to swallow twice after drinking. All that college gone to waste.
When he came home from rehab I told the nurse from in home support about his coughing and they sent a Speech Therapist to his house. He was given exercises and told he needed thickened liquids.
In agreement you might need a break to counteract the excessive stress in staff relations, and to protect your own emotions. A short break.
Or visit after mealtimes, in berween mealtimes?
You know best, and you always keep the goal of Mom's care in mind.
A small break to refresh yourself?
Good idea, MsMadge, an exam to test swallowing muscles.
Is a dietician qualified to make such an exam?
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so so very frustrating
did the dietician place place her hands on mom’s throat to feel if her swallowing muscles are working?
The $19.99 fee has gone up, when needing voicemail. Texting became a necessity when discovering hubs does answer a text.
Not being heard, not listened to, dismissed can be some of the worst assaults on our being, our self-esteem.
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I just don't think there is any point, every argument I give (about anything) is always countered and it becomes a continuing, drawn out battle. We are supposed to hand our parents (spouses, brothers/sisters, etc) over to their capable hands and trust them to look after them - as much as they try to deny it there is no protocol in place to take the wants, needs or opinions of family (or the residents themselves) into consideration if they are counter to the norm.
Even healthy people may cough, choke, or sometimes aspirate on occasion. imo.
I think anxiety can cause these episodes, but I am not sure and not an expert.
It adds to the feelings of helplessness when "the expert opinion" over rules common sense because they have studied it.
Fallback, regroup (only one person who cares) keep your eyes and ears open, and keep on watching out for your Mom. Continue to avoid that person, if possible.
Does the dietician really have the last say in this?!? Not the Dr?
I think it was the Speech Therapy person that actually evaluated my Mom’s swallowing difficulties and made suggestions to her Dr and Dr in turn wrote the orders.
I realize you are in Canda but is the chain of command that different?
The dietitian sat with us at lunch today and said she had given mom her breakfast and felt she had no difficulty with the honey thickened fluids. She also told me that she has studied this a lot and it is her belief that pudding thickened fluids are never beneficial because they tend to coat the throat and can themselves cause aspiration. I was more or less told I was welcome to bring in an outside S&LP at my own expense but that there was nothing I could ever say to get her to prescribe thicker fluid, ever.
So once again I am wrong and the experts are just doing their jobs. It is preferable to cough and gag your way through meals rather than aspirate later, right?
Is it really?
Reality check! We all do better just living one day at a time!
Our weather is normal on the Gulf of Mexico. No hurricane yet. In New Orleans on a doctor’s appointment Wednesday, it was 99 degrees with blinding sun and not a zephyr of breeze blowing. Just normal.
you must have caught an afternoon breeze 😂
10 pm and thermostat still says 90 in the living room
I found a box of See's in the fridge - pulled a piece out and set it on the counter and poured a sparkling grapefruit- it thawed in an instant
I know I'll want this weather back when it's freezing (very cold) in the winter. Right now that is no consolation.
And the medical God-like thing... wow I can relate to that... I am an RN and have had to deal with that in my professional and personal life. Makes me so mad I could spit!
Pinch her, you shoulda pinched her!