Health
It's all about Health and Happiness
Hire a Chef
Instead of spending your quality time together cooking meals, you may want to consider hiring a chef for a cooking session every couple or few weeks. The chef can prepare several special meals / menus based on the doctors recommendations that can be frozen for the patient. These meals will require little preparation on the part of the family members or patient and can free up time for the patient and family to do other things. Look for a personal chef in your area. They will usually have all of their own equipment, will do the shopping necessary for the meals and prepare the meals in your home. They will usually charge an hourly or flat rate plus the expense of the groceries. If you need additional storage containers for food storage the chef can usually purchase those for you or make suggestions.
Help with or Hire a helper for Gardening / Cleaning / Laundry
Family members may want to hire someone to help out around the house
once a week to tend to the regular tasks that the patient will not have
the strength to manage. These tasks can also be split up among
family members or friends that want to provide support.
A patients energy level, mood and spirit may change from day to day. Be willing to provide as much support as needed. Conversely, be willing to let the patient enjoy a heightened energy level. Let the patient take advantage of their increased energy or spirits by giving them space to do the activities that they believe they can manage.
Each person knows their own body best. Let the patient listen to their body.
Bring the patient favorite magazines, puzzles, books - whatever they enjoy most.
Encourage people to write the patient letters or send emails.
If you can use the web and the patient doesn't mind - publish regular updates on the status of the patients visits, health, etc. This will keep them from having to remember all of the details and report the details to many different people who phone for updates.
If the patient has children they may enjoy a day or afternoon alone with their husband or wife. See if you can arrange for play days for the children/child with a family member or friends.
Chinese Medicine
Dit da is a liquid liniment used for swelling that comes from impact -- like a bruise or bump. Dit da is commercially sold but is best when it's made from scratch. Recipes for Dit da are not easy to come by however, so you'd have to know someone willing to share there's or at least give you some of their brew.
Po Sum On is a liquid liniment used for sharp stabbing pain, otherwise known as blood pain in Chinese medicine.Exercise
Tip 1 :
Involve yourself in a sport or activity that doesn't feel like exercise
- then do it regularly as a matter of lifestyle. You will find
yourself thinking that you didn't get any exercise a certain day or
week, only to remember that you really did. When exercise is an
event that you enjoy such as hiking, walking the baby or dog, swimming
in the ocean before breakfast, roller skating, JuJitsu, fire spinning,
Irish dancing, or maybe pole dancing - you won't feel like it's
"exercise".
Tip 2:
What are something's that you wouldn't consider doing? You wouldn't skip
brushing your teeth. You wouldn't skip taking your child to
school. Why would you skip out on your own health and needs?
Exercise takes care of you. You are the only person who can take
care of you thoroughly. If you won't take care of yourself, how
can you take care of others?
Tip 3:
Instead of saying "I'm trying to lose some weight" think of it as "I'm
trying to get healthier" or "I'm trying to eat more sensibly" or "I'm
trying to make healthier choices in my diet".
The brain is a powerful tool and is available to good suggestions as well as the negative suggestions. We are programmed to deal with pain, suffering - gloom and doom. How much easier is it to handle and manage bad luck instead of good fortune? Think about it. If in you're saying to yourself, "I'd love a chance to manage some good fortune!", then you may be missing out on the good fortune that's already happened to you. Bad fortune is much more memorable - Don't let it be. Bad fortune let's us fit in - Fit in with a new crowd - a fortunate one! Bad fortune is what people are used to dealing with - help change the attitudes of those who surround you. Exercise and eat for your HEALTH. Exercise and eat better so you'll have that many more years with the love of your life. Exercise and eat better to enjoy your family and friends more completely. Exercise and eat better so you can spend less time thinking about exercising and eating!
Tip 4:
Who's got a sexy belly? You do. Who's got a sexy body?
You do. You are luscious and delicious and everything that anyone
could ask for in a partner. In other words, find other words to
use when looking at yourself and talking to yourself. If you
learned how to do that job or that hobby, for Pete's sake you can learn
how to see yourself as the way you REALLY are! There is no magic
pill needed, no gym membership required to see yourself as the gorgeous
person you are on the inside and start transforming the outside to fit
the inside.
You have gorgeous gams that have gotten you to this point in life either by putting one step in front of the other or by pulling yourself up by the bootstraps.
You have beaming eyes that lead to an amazing soul - a soul that has seen things that no one else has seen. Maybe some of those visions have been scary, but they have shaped you and made you the living and enduring sculpture of flesh that you are now.
Exercise Tools
Inov8 Terroc 330 Trail-Running Shoes - Only available in Men's sizes
These sturdy trail-running shoes offer lightweight comfort,
breathability and performance for trail, track or some road use.
See them at REI
Vitamins
For the Eyes
Barry at Infomiss has been using these for the last two years. The first two are Barry's own sort of concoction for good eye health. The last is an eye multi-vitamin of sorts that contains all of the ingredients universally accepted as good Eye vitamins.
Gaba 500mg. It's a vitamin meant as a calming agent for mood support. It's recommended for women going through Menopause and for those who may need extra support in lowering their fussiness levels. A very rudimentary description would be that it greases the neural skids between your eye & the brain. Barry believes that it will help response time in the eyes. It's a theory. Barb says that "she can tolerate the craziness of managing two kids so much better now that she is supplementing with Gaba!"
Taurine is given to cats who are lactose intolerant to help them with their night vision. Since Barry is also lactose intolerant, he wonders if this lack of calcium has an impact on his night vision, which became an issue over the last few years since he cut dairy out. He never really found anyone talking about the use of Taurine for night vision of adults - though adults do take it (not sure for what). He does feel that since he began taking Taurine that his night vision has improved. Barry uses 1000 mg by Jarrow.
Lastly, he takes "Advanced Eye & Body" Herbal formula by New Sun (www.newsun.net) This brand seemed to have all of the stuff the Avuvits and Bausch & Lomb vitamins had, but for a lot less $$. You have to become a distributor to get the vitamin, but once you do, you get product at 40% off.
Cancer Support
Accompany patients to their doctors appointments or treatments. Treatments can take many hours and a patient will usually enjoy the company.
Be prepared with a list of questions for your doctor before each doctor's appointment.
Ask the health care provider about special food needs while the patient is present. As undergoing cancer treatment can take a lot out of a person, it would be helpful to the patient to have assistance in preparing special foods or meals as suggested by the doctor.
Health Articles
To learn more about the effects of Spinal Cord Injury from a very personal perspective please visit: www.lyenastrelkoff.org. Lyena has been an inspiration and source of strength and courage many in her community.