Articles

Bursack: Age not an excuse for excess weight

Dear Readers: Do you or a loved one use age as an excuse to not bother with taking off weight?

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Celebrating Mother’s Day any way we can

DEAR READERS: Many of you have mothers who are in assisted living centers or nursing homes.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Care ombudsman can help with transitions

Dear Carol: My mother has been in assisted living for several years. Now, her health is deteriorating and her assets have dwindled to almost nothing. I’m afraid moving her to a nursing home is the only choice. I’m not sure how to go about the change, or when to do this. The financial aspects worry me. Where do I start?

• Carol Bradley Bursack

'Minding Our Elders' | Mom resists help handling finances

Dear Carol: My 82-year-old mother wants to go to her bank to renew a certificate of deposit. She seems competent, but my brother and I feel someone needs to go along with her.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Daughter feels guilty for dreading time spent with her mother

Dear Carol: My 92-year-old mother is being eaten up by dementia and I am struggling with guilt because I dread visiting her.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Helping mom accept Alzheimer’s diagnosis

Dear Carol: My 87-year-old widowed mother has been diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s disease. She’s been quite independent, and is very upset over the diagnosis, even though her symptoms are mild.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Improve the life of recently blind

Dear Carol: My 76-year-old mother has lost her vision, and is easily bored ... I often read to her, which she enjoys. How else can I help stimulate her interest in life?

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Mom resents daughter’s attempts to help

Dear Carol: My mother is mentally sharp, but she has serious physical health problems. I try to help her manage her health so that she can stay out of the hospital. When I push her to make good decisions about taking in fluids or using her cane, she tells me that that I’m “bossing” her and that she is perfectly capable of deciding what she needs.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Dealing with dementia and the loss of a spouse

Dear Carol: My grandparents had been married for 63 years. Two years ago, my grandmother’s general health started to decline and she has recently been diagnosed with moderate dementia.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bradley Bursack: Daughter asks, 'When should we call hospice?'

Dear Carol: My 87-year-old mother has Alzheimer’s disease. She came down with shingles a few weeks ago, which is being treated, but she’s still in terrible pain. She also has COPD and diabetes.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Columns

Bursack: Make peace with father who takes mom’s abuse

Dear Carol: My mother has end-stage lung cancer and Alzheimer’s. She’s in a hospice program at home. She can be quite aggressive at times, and usually my father is the target. Over the years, he has taken on the personality of a battered husband.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Celebrate Father’s Day in your own special way

Dear Readers: Though my dad has been physically gone from my life for a number of years, he stays with me in spirit.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Hospice goal is dignity, less pain at end of life

Dear Carol: What exactly is hospice care? What can I expect?

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Arranging a family meeting

Dear Carol: My mother-in-law has dementia and I was her full-time caregiver for eight years, with some help from her son, who is my husband.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Mothers come in many guises

Dear Readers: Today we celebrate mothers. Many women will be honored with special meals, cards and gifts given by their biological or adopted children, often with the loving help of their adult children’s spouses. Women who are mothers will also be honoring their own mom.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Moving could hurt mother

Dear Carol: My mother is 95 years old, and in good health other than some short-term memory loss.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Appetite, nutrition for elders a concern

Dear Carol: Is it safe, or even helpful, to add powdered supplements to my grandfather’s food to help him gain weight?

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Mom thinks daughter is stealing

Dear Carol: My 88-year-old mother still lives independently, but has recently developed some paranoia. It’s mostly centered on me, as I’m the family member who is with her the most. She misplaces objects and then accuses me of stealing what she can’t find.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Caregiver’s vacation offers good medicine

Dear Carol: I’ve been the primary caregiver for my dad for years. He’s now in assisted living and is doing well, though he still depends on me to do many things for him, including setting up his medications.

• Carol Bradley Bursack

Bursack: Ombudsman can advise on options for mother

Dear Carol: My mother’s been in an assisted-living facility for five years. She still likes living there, though she is having more health problems lately, so it’s been a struggle for me to get her to her clinic appointments and keep up with the medical care she needs.

• Carol Bradley Bursack