Every time I sit down to write my Thought of The Day, I often wonder what you think when you read my comments. I know what I don’t want. I certainly don’t want to offend anyone. I would love for you all to feel like you could contribute to the Thought of The Day section on Sallycares.com. I am amazed by some of the thoughts and tips that patients and caregivers come up with to handle things that they have had to overcome.

Even though I have been an Occupational Therapist for 36 years, I still learn something new every day. I have learned so much by working with patients in their homes. The challenge of home health is that you have to modify what you want to do every time you are in a different home environment. Have I tried some things that didn’t work? Sure. Have I learned from each effort? Absolutely.

That is the fun of staying in touch and sharing ideas. If you have a question that you are struggling with, let us know what it is. Send us a message through Contact Us. We will be glad to give you some ideas.

So now it’s your turn. Have you solved a problem at home that used to cause you a lot of grief? Did you develop a technique to transfer a person out of the passenger side of the car? How about an easy way to put on an article of clothing? How about a funny or motivational thought that you would like to share? Send it to us through Contact Us!

If we use your “Thought” you will win a Free 3 month membership to Sallycares.com.  Anything you can share may help someone else. “Now, let’s get going!”  xo Sally

When it comes to modifying your home to make things easier, we have a lot of ideas on the web site. This picture is not necessarily one of the modifications that is suggested, but what an idea!

Put modifications of your home into perspective. It doesn't have to be horrible. When you have to bring someone into your home that is in a wheelchair, or that has to use a walker, you have to objectively look around and decide what needs to be moved to maximize safety. Certain things should be taken into consideration:

Doorway widths   - You can make a narrow doorway wider by removing the door and putting up a folding room divider in its place for privacy.

Throw rugs - Those extra rugs are just not safe. The ends curl up and get caught on the wheelchair wheels and often trip people. Roll them up and put them away.

Furniture placement-Move furniture pieces to allow sufficient width for the wheelchair to move between the bed and the dresser, the sofa and the coffee table, or whatever blocks the movement of the wheelchair.

Realize that you are not only making the living environment safer, you are enabling the person using the equipment to be more independent. You don’t want someone to add additional injuries to their current limitations, just because the living space was not adapted to be safer.

Now...go relax and have that glass of wine (if your medical professionals say that you can!)

If you have questions regarding a specific situation you are dealing with, send us a message through Contact Us or leave your question here. Let us help you figure out some solutions!  Have a great weekend!  “Now let’s get going!” xo Sally

We know that exercise is important. Improving your health includes increasing the amount you move around each day. Does it require a gym? Not necessarily…if you are motivated enough to move on your own.

There are plenty of DVD’s that can guide an exercise program at home, for folks that can’t leave their loved ones. There are exercise programs on TV, you can follow at home. The problem usually is finding the time and energy to carve out some time that is dedicated to you, when you are busy caring for someone else, working, going to school or anything else that life has thrown your way.

Here is the most important part of this message: YOU have to believe that YOU are worth the time that it takes to pull yourself away from your daily routine, and take that walk for 15 minutes, or exercise with the DVD that you need to dust off and see if it still works. YOU ARE NOT ONLY WORTH TAKING THAT TIME – IT IS NECESSARY!

Doing some physical activity, any physical activity; reduces stress, increases your oxygen level and releases endorphins that are natural energy builders.

I fall into the same trap. I don’t have the time aka I don’t make the time, and what good does that do? Nothing. So let’s think out of our normal box and make the abnormal happen. Start increasing your activity level in small amounts; 10-15 minutes a day, and let us know how you are doing.

Tell me what your goals are.  Leave your comments below this article at Sallycares.com. Someone else will benefit from your plan. Connect with other positive people  “Now, let’s get going!”  xo Sally

The dreaded scale. For many people that live and die by the number that appears on the scale, it is a scary thing to stand on. It shows the objective number. Have you been successful or not?

People take the use of their scales to the extreme. Some people that are working on creating a healthier lifestyle don’t get on the scale more than once per week. People who are actively dieting may get on the scale more than once a day. That is crazy.

Body weight fluctuates throughout the day. The most important thing to do is weigh yourself approximately once per week, around the same time each week, with the same amount of clothes on.

Don’t feel like you have to take every article of clothing off. If you weigh yourself in the morning, not having had anything to eat or drink, you want to try to do that each time you weigh.

This is not a race that we are promoting…it is a marathon. Marathons require consistent pacing of your speed and energy. That is the ultimate skill to develop. You will know that you are on target with the concept of developing a healthier attitude toward your eating choices when you limit yourself to weighing once per week, and you continue to eat well and increase your activity level.

It’s all about moderation, encouraging increased energy, feeling better and developing a more positive attitude. Those last two benefits…just happen as a side effect of the process. Now who would not benefit from all of that? We all would…“Now, let’s get going!”  xo Sally

What Is a Mistake? 

Do you make mistakes? What a crazy word that is. I have heard a saying that; “God doesn’t make any mistakes,” meaning that there must be a purpose behind what you are given to deal with during your lifetime. 

But instead of being so serious, let’s just think about mistakes we have made, which I think we could agree would mean an error in judgment, and what we learn from them. 

I can think of plenty of mistakes I have made, and if they have had life altering consequences, it is doubtful that I repeated them. (not on purpose anyway) But let’s look at how we choose to manage our health, and particularly the food choices we make. 

There is a reason that every year more people make a “resolution” to lose weight and go to the gym, around December 31^st, and by February of the following year those gyms have made a bundle on the folks that no longer show up. 

We easily fall back into those habits, I think we could even call them mistakes, that bring us back down that path that we are trying to avoid. 

So what we are going to do is develop teams of people that want to do one thing;  *Change the mistake of falling back into the trap of making poor food choices and ultimately not losing the weight that you want to lose, or if you have lost weight, how do you keep it off? 

We have all been there. Weight management is certainly one of my biggest “mistakes.” 

So I am joining this process myself. Who out there wants to join me? Let us know through Contact Us and we will be in touch with you. The holidays are coming… and we all want to enjoy them…so let’s start! 

Groups will be forming at the end of this month! Join us and let’s make this happen! 

“Now, let’s get going!” xo Sally

For the next few days make a list of three things you think you SHOULD be. How about more caring? Maybe a better listener? Not so negative? More patient?

There are a few ideas to get you started. We will never be perfect. Who needs to be perfect? If there is some little voice in your head that is telling you not to be satisfied with anything less than perfection, you need to get rid of that one!

The problem with “perfection,” is that the definition varies with every person that you talk to. What is “perfect” for one person would not be the same for someone else.

My suggestion is to make your list of those things you want to strive toward, and think about how your life would benefit from those changes. That would help give you the push to start. To continue working toward your goals you may need some support, some cheering from the sidelines!

So whether you are a patient, a caregiver, a family member of a caregiver, or whatever you are dealing with, leave your comment here or let us know your situation through Contact Us at Sallycares.com.

We can be your cheerleader and give you the support you need. Leave us your email address and get on our mailing list! We are here for you, so give it a try! “Now, let’s get going!” xo Sally

We can’t easily ignore the news of the day.  We are surrounded by events in real time when they occur.  Whether we catch the news on line, on television or via mobile phones, we clearly are consumed by technology.  It’s easy to fall into that trap.  We’ve all been there.  There are videos of people walking into poles, water fountains and into each other, while texting on their mobile devices.  They are not looking ahead and take too much for granted…assuming there is nothing in their pathway.

Yesterday a young man was killed in San Francisco, leaving a train.  All of the people in the train were staring at their mobile devices, and the only way the activity prior to the event was captured, was by the security cameras.  The man with the gun was seen on the camera, waving the gun around, and no one looked up and saw him.  That is a sign.  We are really too involved in avoiding what is happening around us.

Here is my request for today.  Look around you.  Take in the detail.  If someone asked you how many people were in the elevator with you, would you know?

It is important to be aware of your surroundings.  Things are happening around you all day long.  Do you see them?  Recognize how important it is to pay attention to things around you.  You may miss something important…like someone smiling at you!  You never know.  “Now let’s get going!” xo Sally

The quote, “my life is my message,” by Mahatma Gandhi is powerful.

If you have ever read much of his writings, you find thoughtful, deep comments that inspire, and they often give you a push to think outside of your comfort zone.

What does it mean to have a message? Do you have a message? By that I mean do you think that the way you function every day sends a “message” to your family, friends and co-workers?

If you are consistent and you approach things in the same manner each day, you ARE developing your message. The question is whether you recognize it. Not only recognize it, are you proud of the message you send out to others?

Even if you can’t relate to this idea, look at it this way; how you handle your daily challenges, whether you are patient or abrupt, tolerant or impatient, quiet or loud, those are the behaviors that convey your message. If you are not pleased with how things are going at work or at home, do a little self- evaluation and start to notice how others react to you. Are you a problem solver or do you create division? Do you want things to have a different outcome than you are getting now? If so, some change is in order.

You need to decide what you want your outcome to be, compared to what you see now, and realize that you have the power to turn it all around. Your life WILL be the message you leave with your friends, family and co-workers. Think about that and start working on the changes you need to see in your life.

You can do it. I know you can be successful! How can we help you? Leave your comments here and let us know how you make positive change happen in your life! “Now let’s get going!” xo Sally

When you are a child and your parents are responsible for you, hopefully you have memories that your parents loved you and did the best they could with what they had.

Many adults struggle with their own childhood memories, and their interpretation of how their childhood was managed by the adults in the home. Many times there is more than one child in a family, and each child can remember the situation differently. A brother or sister may disagree with how one of their siblings describe the way their mother or father disciplined them, what the family rules were, or why each of them turned out the way they did.

Families are complicated and communication with each other can be difficult. Who is going to care for Mom and/or Dad when something happens and they cannot care for themselves?

There are few things that I have experienced in my career that can compare to an experience I had with a family that came to the hospital to visit their very ill mother. I was the administrator on call, and was notified by a nursing station charge nurse, that a family was being disruptive in a patient’s room. When I arrived, it was clear that the children had all been notified that their mother was ill by who knows what relative, and one by one they showed up to the hospital. They were all adults. It appeared that they had not spoken to each other in years, and all of a sudden they were faced with a dying mother.

One child wanted “everything medically possible” completed on his mother’s behalf, while another argued that their mother did not want to be left in a vegetative state. There were so many loud voices coming from the room, I had to literally separate them, and limit them to individual time with the patient (their mother, who was not responding, and had her eyes closed), while the others had to leave the room. They had to rotate visiting their mother every two hours, to avoid being in the same room at the same time.

Walking away from that experience I was stunned to see that much dysfunction in one family, in one room. That poor mother. What in the world happened when they were growing up that made them that unable to talk to each other? I have found that usually one adult child in a family takes on most of the caregiving, but when the end appears to be close at hand, everyone shows up. They bring their opinions and their guilt. Dealing with their guilt should be no one’s job, except for the family member that showed up at the last minute, and wanted to cause the most disruption.

If it is possible to talk to family members/siblings about the health of a parent you are caring for, try to do it.  If it has become impossible, let us know.

Have you ever had an experience as a caregiver that involved another family member that was difficult? Tell us what it was. Maybe it is still going on. How can we help? Let us help you problem solve the situation. There are always options to consider. “Now let’s get going!” xo Sally