(Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt)

I can’t believe one year has passed since the launch of this blog. I remember receiving the first e-mail including all the names of other bloggers and feeling both anticipation and uncertainty. How will it go? How will I know what to write about next? Who are our readers? Is anybody out there?

So we wrote. We wrote about tips for caregivers, our personal experiences with loss, how we dealt with snowstorms in NYC, and daily experiences in our personal and work lives. We wrote about things we…

Ok, here’s the truth. I noticed this week I have approximately six to thirteen gray hairs on my head. I’m leaning towards six. There are a few spider veins on my leg below my left knee. A sunspot covers an area beneath my left eye which darkens in the summer. It wasn’t there a year ago. Wrinkles. Sure, I have some. I also wonder more about my future. I worry about how I’ll ever retire at the age of sixty-five, or seventy, or seventy-five, or whatever number the government decides to raise the retirement age to…

(Photo by Ali Karimian)

Several of my fellow VNSNY bloggers have highlighted the importance of nutrition and its impact on health:

-Abby wrote about the nutrition-related side effects of chemotherapy, radiation, and certain surgeries.

-Sandra discussed the importance of diet in managing diabetes.

-Paula reinforced the aims of Healthy People 2010 and other national campaigns to highlight the need for good food to maintain health.

Through each of these posts we’ve learned that bad nutrition can rob an Alzheimer’s patient of energy or…

(Photo by Dwight Sipler)

November 8th through 14th is World Kindness Week, so why not do a random act of kindness for a caregiver in your life?

Here are ten ideas to help out a caregiver:

1. Give him or her an uplifting book that you think he or she would enjoy reading.
2. Cook a warm meal this week for a caregiver and make extra food so a portion can be stored in the freezer for another day.
3. Bring some flowers to a caregiver who needs some cheering up.
4. Offer to make some chamomile tea during a friendly visit.
5. Bake some…

I absolutely love informative conferences! If it were up to me I would spend most of my paycheck going to a different conference every other week on different topics: nursing, writing, care-giving, women’s issues, self-help, cooking, integrative medicine, and innovation seminars. I always go home feeling inspired to build on my new knowledge. Unfortunately, attending conferences isn’t a cheap hobby, but I’ve discovered there are many free online conferences or webinars available from the comfort of your own home.

This past week I had the pleasure of watching LIVE footage from The…

When speaking to family members who are caring for their loved one night after night, the theme repeated to me is: caregiving can be overwhelming and stressful.

• “I’m exhausted. I have a full-time job and when I come home, I have to care for my mother. My work never ends.”
• “It’s difficult to keep all these medications straight. What’s the other name for the water pill? I want to make sure I give my husband the right one.”
• “I just want to know how to care for my mother as best as I can. I want…

(photo by Craig ONeal)

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a type of awareness meditation. The purpose is for you not to focus on anything but the thing you are doing at the moment.

That may sound simple in theory but we all know life is full of distractions. A walk in the park may be interrupted by a text from a spouse, a phone call from work, or even your own thoughts may be a distraction. Mindfulness encourages you to just take a walk. And that’s it.

Thich Nhat Hanh who wrote The Miracle of Mindfulness…

The facts about Alzheimer’s Disease are staggering:

• 5.3 Million people have Alzheimer’s.
• It is the 7th leading cause of death.
• Alzheimer’s consumes 172 billion dollars in annual costs.
• There are 10.9 million unpaid caregivers assisting someone with Alzheimer’s Disease. (source: Alzheimer’s Association Website)

Tuesday, September 21st is World Alzheimer’s Day, a day set aside each year to raise awareness around the globe about this debilatating disease. This year’s theme is: Dementia, It’s Time For Action since Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia according to the Alzheimer’s Association. It accounts for 60-80 percent of cases of…

Health-care technology is beneficial! It allows doctors to visualize the workings of the heart and lungs, colon, bladder, bones and more. Nursing care is enhanced by infusion pumps which can support the immune system with antibiotics or provide fluid replacement when dehydrated. Sometimes you or a loved one may need to go to the hospital for expert monitoring by nurses and doctors who are trained in using the above technologies; however, in order to return home, a doctor may order ongoing use of an IV pump or a wound vac…

Our lives can be stressful. We have deadlines at work. Families who need our attention. Bills that need to be paid. Medical appointments that need to be kept. Old friends we want to contact. Exercise goals that we want to accomplish. And traffic jams.

If New York City has taught me anything it is that in order to support my ambitions I must also find balance. Sure, that sounds like a line straight out of the film, “Eat Pray Love,” which I did see last evening and quite enjoyed, but the theme…