I have made the decision to move on with my blogging to a new blog called https://underthesunnyskies.blogspot.com . The decision came after much consideration that my life with Laney as my back drop has ended. She will forever be in my heart. The blog "My Four Legged Friend", will remain on blogspot.
I hope the people will continue to read about the adventures I had with Laney. She brought me through a difficult time in my life as a caregiver. She was the best companion and I miss her very much. She helped me at the end of a difficult day after caring for someone by being there for me. Pets love you unconditionally and make no judgment on you when you are emotionally and physically exhausted. Laney was always by my side or in my lap letting me know that I was not alone.
The decision to keep writing is a part of me and I feel that my story and what I learned about being a caregiver can help others. Under the sunny Skies is about me finding myself and giving purpose to my life. It will be my story about being a caregiver for my spouse and parent.
As we age and our parents age we are sometimes thrown into a role of caring for someone we love. It is an emotional time in our life and can happen at times when we are also becoming an empty nester as our children grow up. It can be very lonely without help and support of others. I hope I can reach out to someone out there that feels lost and perhaps I can give them hope.
Someone said something recently that has given me the courage to keep writing. They said you are an expert about your caregiving because you lived the story. You can relate to other caregivers. I'm not an expert in the sense that I have studied caregiving for a loved one or that I have written a book about it. However I can tell my story and the mistakes I made and hopefully people will find some peace in knowing that they are not alone.
Follow me won't you please to Under The Sunny Skies.
Loving you always and forever Laney!!
Life is beautiful !!!
Elizabeth:)
Monday, November 11, 2019
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Investing In Our Health And Growing Old
Today is Tuesday and a rainy day that makes you want to curl up with a good book. I awoke this morning and decided to read before I started my day. My brain is quiet and uncluttered in the morning. I ran across a saying that made me think about my inner dialogue...others can say what they want and I get to choose how to react. The saying was about being angry at something that someone did and how we carry the anger from it. That anger is hurting our body and making us feel terrible and the person that made the mistake created in our mind has moved on. Think about your feelings next time you get angry over some one's mistake or unkind words. If we can train the mind to accept that a mistake is not ours it squelches the anger. Own your mistakes not someone else's.
I love elderly people and we can learn a lot from them. I have been studying the behavior of some of my elderly friends. I have some that are in their eighties to late nineties. They are all still physically able to take care of themselves. They are very cognitively up on current events and modernization of society. I am trying to learn what is keeping them thriving. Any help I can get on how to stay active and healthy as I grow older will help.
I used to think it was all genetic... the longevity. However if you look at the siblings of the elderly I have studied they did not all live long nor were they without health problems. I did look at their lifestyles. The nine that are still alive are ranging from 81 years to 96 years old. The number one common thing is they all socialize frequently with other people. Three are widowed and the rest married. They all do some kind of exercise everyday. Walking was the number one exercise. The 96 year old still golfs when the weather permits. They still take care of their homes. They take a multivitamin and they eat healthy. They read the newspaper and three of them I know have a computer.
One of the ladies has had lung cancer twice and been treated and is in full remission. She is a very joyous person who at 91 still goes out with her girlfriends and starts everyday with a plan on what she wants to get done. She takes no medicine that I know of. She is married and her husband despite some medications is till doing fine. They like to travel and play bingo. One couple still goes to Florida for the winter.
None of the nine elderly act like old people. They come across as much younger. I don't mean that they don't have wrinkles or that they walk a little slower. The way they present themselves and their poise and happy personalities makes them seem much younger.
So is it genetics or taking care of your body and mind. We take care of the flowers so they can flourish and we must take care of ourselves. Investing in your own health lifestyle allows you to plant the flowers. The nine still have beautiful yards and flowers.
May we grow old surrounded by friends, flowers, take our multivitamin and keep walking.
Life is beautiful !!
Elizabeth😊
I love elderly people and we can learn a lot from them. I have been studying the behavior of some of my elderly friends. I have some that are in their eighties to late nineties. They are all still physically able to take care of themselves. They are very cognitively up on current events and modernization of society. I am trying to learn what is keeping them thriving. Any help I can get on how to stay active and healthy as I grow older will help.
I used to think it was all genetic... the longevity. However if you look at the siblings of the elderly I have studied they did not all live long nor were they without health problems. I did look at their lifestyles. The nine that are still alive are ranging from 81 years to 96 years old. The number one common thing is they all socialize frequently with other people. Three are widowed and the rest married. They all do some kind of exercise everyday. Walking was the number one exercise. The 96 year old still golfs when the weather permits. They still take care of their homes. They take a multivitamin and they eat healthy. They read the newspaper and three of them I know have a computer.
One of the ladies has had lung cancer twice and been treated and is in full remission. She is a very joyous person who at 91 still goes out with her girlfriends and starts everyday with a plan on what she wants to get done. She takes no medicine that I know of. She is married and her husband despite some medications is till doing fine. They like to travel and play bingo. One couple still goes to Florida for the winter.
None of the nine elderly act like old people. They come across as much younger. I don't mean that they don't have wrinkles or that they walk a little slower. The way they present themselves and their poise and happy personalities makes them seem much younger.
So is it genetics or taking care of your body and mind. We take care of the flowers so they can flourish and we must take care of ourselves. Investing in your own health lifestyle allows you to plant the flowers. The nine still have beautiful yards and flowers.
May we grow old surrounded by friends, flowers, take our multivitamin and keep walking.
Life is beautiful !!
Elizabeth😊
Monday, November 4, 2019
The Brain Is an Important Organ
It is Monday and a new day and week. The past is gone and we should be focusing on today and not worrying about what is happening in the future. I have been working at living by these words of wisdom. They will set you free if you can get your mind to focus on what is happening right now. I think for a lot of people worrying about what will happen in the future causes them great anxiety. I have been guilty of this. We miss the beauty of the day when we worry about the future. Even if we have a bad day let it go like throwing away the trash. Replace the thoughts with something positive that happened. We can not change the past but we can react differently to situations that may have caused us pain in the past. We can not control what others say but we can control how we react.
We all know stories about patients that recover quickly and others with the same illness that never get well. My conclusion on this subject is the mindset. The brain is a powerful organ. It controls our other body organs and yet it is to me the most overlooked organ at the doctor's office visit. It is our own computer in our head that is controlling our body. We call the computer geek to fix our laptop. We are more worried about our laptops and phones crashing than our own brains. So the people that are getting well faster perhaps have a healthier brain. Do we look at the brain when people are ill? Think about it...could an unhealthy brain affect a patients recovery.
I have seen situations where a patient is being treated for cancer and they are not doing well and have unhealthy thoughts. No one addressed the brain and the fact that it is controlling all the organs, the mind and thoughts. Where is the geek who fixes the brain our control center. The brain is the center that stores our thoughts, controls our impulses, controls the neurological system, and identifies who we are. The brain is affected by past experiences, drugs we take, food we eat and injuries to the head. We need to look at the whole person and certainly acknowledge the brain that is controlling us. It can be treated and addressed as the other organs of the body are.
There are some doctors that address unhealthy thoughts and neurological problems when treating a patients with long term illness. Those patients are the lucky ones that will hopefully live a happy and positive life. They are not just an illness treated with drugs. They are humans with a brain controlling them that deserves to be healthy.
My thoughts changed after I was treated for a B12 deficiency. The brain relied on the B12 to produce healthy neurotransmitters. I thank God everyday for the doctor that didn't treat my symptoms but treated the cause. He searched for the cause of an anxiety and the exhausted person I had become.
For beautiful eyes look for the good in others,
For beautiful lips speak only words of kindness,
For poise walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn
Life is beautiful!!
Elizabeth
We all know stories about patients that recover quickly and others with the same illness that never get well. My conclusion on this subject is the mindset. The brain is a powerful organ. It controls our other body organs and yet it is to me the most overlooked organ at the doctor's office visit. It is our own computer in our head that is controlling our body. We call the computer geek to fix our laptop. We are more worried about our laptops and phones crashing than our own brains. So the people that are getting well faster perhaps have a healthier brain. Do we look at the brain when people are ill? Think about it...could an unhealthy brain affect a patients recovery.
I have seen situations where a patient is being treated for cancer and they are not doing well and have unhealthy thoughts. No one addressed the brain and the fact that it is controlling all the organs, the mind and thoughts. Where is the geek who fixes the brain our control center. The brain is the center that stores our thoughts, controls our impulses, controls the neurological system, and identifies who we are. The brain is affected by past experiences, drugs we take, food we eat and injuries to the head. We need to look at the whole person and certainly acknowledge the brain that is controlling us. It can be treated and addressed as the other organs of the body are.
There are some doctors that address unhealthy thoughts and neurological problems when treating a patients with long term illness. Those patients are the lucky ones that will hopefully live a happy and positive life. They are not just an illness treated with drugs. They are humans with a brain controlling them that deserves to be healthy.
My thoughts changed after I was treated for a B12 deficiency. The brain relied on the B12 to produce healthy neurotransmitters. I thank God everyday for the doctor that didn't treat my symptoms but treated the cause. He searched for the cause of an anxiety and the exhausted person I had become.
For beautiful eyes look for the good in others,
For beautiful lips speak only words of kindness,
For poise walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn
Life is beautiful!!
Elizabeth
Friday, November 1, 2019
Health Insurance Cost Took A Big Leap
Is it possible to get my blog back up and running. It has been a busy year of selling our home and moving into a new one. There has been no down time to read or write. Today is here and it is already Halloween. This year has flown by and I am comfortable and warm despite a big drop in the outside temperature as a blast of cold air is blowing in upon us. Started catching up on some hot topics that I like called medicine and science. I am always intrigued about what is new in medicine.
I missed The Light the Night for LLS the second year in a row. Life has been moving along at lighting bolt speed and September was packed with a to do list. We went to closing on our home the night of the annual LLS walk and I totally forgot that September was also B12 (Pernicious Anemia) awareness month. It is never to late to catch up and make a donation.
I have rested a lot since we got rid of our other home. Having two homes was exhausting and my energy level is not what it used to be. Just started catching up here at the new home which we absolutely love. We have a beautiful view out the back of a wooded area with a tree line that is bursting with fall colors. It is going to be interesting watching the snow come in from the west as we are about 8 feet off the ground due to a lookout basement. The back of the house is facing west with view from a triple sliding glass door. I wish that view was the ocean instead of snow.
So what is new for 2020 health insurance. The premiums went up and the out of pocket jumped to $6000 per individual. It was $2000 five years ago. The drug copays all went up along with doctor visits. It is safe to say a lot of people will be self care. I feel sorry for families with long term illnesses. We think long and hard about going to an ER because of a new ruling that started in 2018. If you go and it is determined that the visit is not life threating the insurance won't pay. I have a friend who's husband went for chest pain and it turned out to be GERD. They had a whopper of a bill as a lot of test were run to rule out a heart attack. It is a hard to know what is wrong when experiencing chest pain. We all know if it is chest pain don't hesitate to go to the ER, but be prepared to have insurance decide if it is life threatening. You may have GERD and severe anxiety when the bill comes.
Sometimes I think they want us to skip the doctor and meet with an agent from the insurance company. They have a protocol list for your ailment and they seem to think they know what is best for all of us. However our bodies are all unique and we need individualized health care. I still recommend seeing a doctor. The doctor has years of education and training to individualize your care when they can get the insurance company to agree. The new talk at the doctor office visit is I'll have to make sure that the insurance will allow us to do a test. As a patient we must ask the insurance company if we are covered for test and is the provider covered by our insurance.
No wonder that everyone has so much stress as everything we do now days has to be approved by someone. Life goes on and we adapt.
Happy Fall !
Life is beautiful!!
Elizabeth :)
I missed The Light the Night for LLS the second year in a row. Life has been moving along at lighting bolt speed and September was packed with a to do list. We went to closing on our home the night of the annual LLS walk and I totally forgot that September was also B12 (Pernicious Anemia) awareness month. It is never to late to catch up and make a donation.
I have rested a lot since we got rid of our other home. Having two homes was exhausting and my energy level is not what it used to be. Just started catching up here at the new home which we absolutely love. We have a beautiful view out the back of a wooded area with a tree line that is bursting with fall colors. It is going to be interesting watching the snow come in from the west as we are about 8 feet off the ground due to a lookout basement. The back of the house is facing west with view from a triple sliding glass door. I wish that view was the ocean instead of snow.
So what is new for 2020 health insurance. The premiums went up and the out of pocket jumped to $6000 per individual. It was $2000 five years ago. The drug copays all went up along with doctor visits. It is safe to say a lot of people will be self care. I feel sorry for families with long term illnesses. We think long and hard about going to an ER because of a new ruling that started in 2018. If you go and it is determined that the visit is not life threating the insurance won't pay. I have a friend who's husband went for chest pain and it turned out to be GERD. They had a whopper of a bill as a lot of test were run to rule out a heart attack. It is a hard to know what is wrong when experiencing chest pain. We all know if it is chest pain don't hesitate to go to the ER, but be prepared to have insurance decide if it is life threatening. You may have GERD and severe anxiety when the bill comes.
Sometimes I think they want us to skip the doctor and meet with an agent from the insurance company. They have a protocol list for your ailment and they seem to think they know what is best for all of us. However our bodies are all unique and we need individualized health care. I still recommend seeing a doctor. The doctor has years of education and training to individualize your care when they can get the insurance company to agree. The new talk at the doctor office visit is I'll have to make sure that the insurance will allow us to do a test. As a patient we must ask the insurance company if we are covered for test and is the provider covered by our insurance.
No wonder that everyone has so much stress as everything we do now days has to be approved by someone. Life goes on and we adapt.
Happy Fall !
Life is beautiful!!
Elizabeth :)
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