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Month: February 2021

What is the Healing Process Like After Knee Replacement Surgery?

Posted on by Craig Bass

Knee replacement surgeries follow severe injuries or arthritis cases. When non-surgical treatments no longer help improve mobility or help with pain relief, surgery may become the only viable option. It’s a relatively new surgery with the first knee replacement taking place in 1968.

Statistically, more than 750,000 knee replacement surgeries happen each year. Most patients are in the range of 50 to 80 years of age when the surgery takes place.

During knee replacement surgery, the damaged cartilage and bone are removed. Implants are placed on the ends of the two bones where the joint forms. pacers are added to keep the ends from rubbing. Finally, the kneecap may be shaped to allow a piece of plastic to prevent rubbing on the back of the bone.

After a knee replacement surgery, it will take time and care to recover. Blood clots and infection are possible risks that your parent needs to be monitored for. Following the doctor’s orders is also key to a successful recovery. That’s where home health care helps out.

What Happens Back at Home

The hospital stay following knee replacement surgery is usually no longer than three days. Back at home, your mom or dad may need pain relievers. Over-the-counter medications are preferred, but the surgeon may prescribe prescription pain relievers for a few days. Home health care nurses can help with medication administration.

As there is a risk of infection, home care nurses check incisions for signs of infection. With wound care services, the nurse makes sure the wound is clean and bandaged correctly. Bathing techniques that keep the bandage from getting wet are also important.

Physical therapy starts in the hospital. Your mom or dad may need to work with a physical therapist at home to help restore movement in the knee and strengthen the leg. Mobility exercises are important and need to be practiced daily until your parent is walking up and down the stairs with ease.

Occupational therapy may be needed to teach your parent how to use a walker until the knee is strong enough. Occupational therapy can also help your parent with daily activities like driving and stepping over objects like a bathtub side.

Make Home Health Care Part of the Recovery

A home care agency can arrange home health care services to make sure your dad’s recovery from knee replacement surgery goes well. He can have physical therapists help him strengthen his knee in his home. He’ll have a nurse to help with wound care. Senior care services can also be scheduled simultaneously, so that the activities of daily living can also be handled. Make arrangements for home health care by calling an agency and asking for more information.

Sources:
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/total-knee-replacement/

IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING HOME HEALTH CARE IN LAS VEGAS, NV, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT GOLDEN HEART SENIOR CARE OF SUMMERLIN. 702-800-4616.

Bird Feeding to Build a Strong Bond Between Children and Their Grandparents

Posted on by Craig Bass

Facilitating a strong bond between your parents and your children is easier than you’d imagine. A loving relationship between generations helps with both mental and physical health. Bird feeding is an activity for all ages.

Not only will they find ways to bond, but it also benefits nature. It reduces stress and gets your parents up and out of the house. How do you do to get them started? How do you set up your parents’ yard to make bird feeding ideal?

Supplies You Need to Get Started

Birds can forage seeds and berries on their own, but it’s harder in a winter climate. To create the perfect backyard bird buffet, you want a few different feeders. A platform feeder is appreciated by larger birds, while smaller birds will happily eat from a tube feeder.

Add water in a heated birdbath if possible. A suet feeder will provide the fat that birds like woodpeckers crave. If you’re worried about squirrels, invest in a corn cob holder and place it nearby but away from the bird feeders. Squirrels will go for the corn if it’s available. Baffles can also help keep squirrels from reaching the bird feeders.

Types of Bird Seed

You’ll find that many birds are happy with sunflower seeds. The shell will biodegrade and become mulch in the lawn. If you don’t want waste, no-waste bird seed exists.

If you want to offer more food, look for mixes with dried berries. Some birds will also enjoy a platform feeder that has mealworms for protein.

As you see the types of birds that come to the feeders, you can adapt what seeds you buy. Woodpeckers will go for suet. Goldfinches love sunflower and thistle seeds. Cardinals enjoy safflower seeds. As spring arrives, you can attract orioles with half sections of oranges or grape jelly. Hummingbirds love nectar.

A Few Things to Consider

In areas where bears are common, place your feeders high up on a roofline where there’s no way for bears to reach it. You could install a pulley-system laundry line from a tree to an upstairs window. Place the feeders on that and refill the feeders as needed from the open window.

If any of the people in your neighborhood allow their cats to go outside, cats are also a problem. If the bird feeders are well off the ground, it will be harder for cats to get to the birds.

Finally, put the feeders near trees and shrubs when possible. It gives the birds some cover when they feel the need to hide while they eat the seed they just picked from the feeder.

Spend as much time as you can with your parents. When you can’t be there to help them out, make sure they have elderly care aides to assist them with daily activities. Elderly care providers can help them with laundry, housekeeping, transportation, and more. Call today to find out how elderly care can help your senior loved one.

IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING ELDERLY CARE IN SUMMERLIN, NV, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT GOLDEN HEART SENIOR CARE OF SUMMERLIN. 702-800-4616.

Three Big Medical Risks Associated with Falls

Posted on by Craig Bass

There are so many possible contributing factors to falls for aging adults. Three of the biggest ones can have a huge impact on your senior’s overall risk of falling. Lowering that risk as much as possible is crucial, for her own safety. If you’re not sure how these factors affect your senior’s situation directly, make an appointment with her doctor to ensure that you’re clear about what situations affect her. That will help you to make a plan going forward.

Cardiac Issues

Cardiovascular health encompasses more of your senior’s overall health than you might believe. It deals with not just your senior’s heart, but also her lungs and her blood pressure. All of these can contribute to situations like being unsteady on her feet, feeling lightheaded, and being more likely to fall. Keeping your senior’s cardiovascular system as healthy as possible can help to reduce some of this risk, but not all. Talk with your senior’s doctor about what can be controlled and what can’t.

Vision Loss

If your elderly family member isn’t able to see what’s happening around her clearly, she’s less likely to be able to avoid those obstacles in her way. Your elderly family member might have difficulty discerning shadows from the edges of objects, for instance, which can create big problems. Some vision loss can be alleviated a little bit by increasing the lighting around your senior’s home. Other types of vision loss are more difficult to work around and your senior may require additional help.

Medication Side Effects

Medication side effects are a big contributing factor when it comes to your senior’s ability to avoid a fall. Some medications can make her feel lightheaded, drowsy, or dizzy, all of which can contribute to a bad fall. Talk to your senior’s doctor about the medications that she’s taking and what the side effects are. It’s also important to know which medications amplify the side effects of other medications. This may mean that some of her medications need to be adjusted. This is especially important if your elderly family member drinks alcoholic drinks, even once in a while.

One of the ways that you can help your elderly family member to lower her fall risk is to hire home care providers to help her. They can assist with mobility and make sure that your senior has everything that she needs to be safe and healthy at home.

IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING HOME CARE IN SUMMERLIN. NV, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT GOLDEN HEART SENIOR CARE OF SUMMERLIN. 702-800-4616.

What Can Your Senior Do to Maintain a Healthy Weight?

Posted on by Craig Bass

Maintaining a healthy weight may help your senior to manage other health issues she’s experiencing, but it can be difficult for her to do. That’s especially true if your senior has had trouble with her weight for a long time. There may still be some things that you can try together.

Get an Idea Where She Stands, According to Her Doctor

Make the first stop on this issue a conversation with your senior’s doctor. This is going to help you and your elderly family member to understand where she is right now. Her overall health affects your senior’s ability to do anything about her weight, including changing her diet or starting an exercise plan. So, start out by figuring out where she is now.

Look More Closely at Your Senior’s Diet

If dietary changes are something that your senior can do, that’s your first set of changes. Start tracking what your senior is eating now and just observe. There’s no need to change anything right away. Look at when she’s eating and what she’s eating. Then you can start to swap out processed foods for whole foods, for instance. Start with little changes and you can keep seeing big results.

Include Exercise, if She’s Cleared for It

Assuming your senior’s doctor has cleared her for exercise, it’s time to find something that she enjoys doing. That might be walking or swimming, or even something else that’s active, like gardening. The idea is to start gradually increasing your senior’s activity level over time. That’s going to help her to move more and to fire up her energy a bit.

Don’t Stress about it if This Takes a While

The last thing you want to do is to stress your senior out about her weight. If she’s spending a lot of time worrying about her weight, that’s not going to help at all. Take some of that strain off of her and don’t focus solely on her weight. Focus on how she’s feeling and whether there’s anything that you can do to help her, like bringing in elder care providers to handle tasks that have become a little more difficult for her.

Maintaining a healthy weight is important, but it’s not worth your senior’s mental health, either. It’s far more important overall to help your elderly family member to make healthy food and exercise choices, and the weight will take care of itself.

IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING ELDER CARE IN HENDERSON, NV, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT GOLDEN HEART SENIOR CARE OF SUMMERLIN. 702-800-4616.