Thursday, April 10, 2008

Welcome

Welcome to "Feedin' Mama" - a place for conversation, encouragement and resources for those of us who are caring for an elderly parent, other relative, friend or neighbor. Care giving can be daunting, challenging and frustrating while at the same time it can be the most fulfilling of tasks you will ever undertake. My purpose is to draw from my academic, professional and personal experience to help other care givers and to learn from you as well. I believe that it will become a place of refuge, support and hopefully answers and solutions to some of the dilemmas we all run into when the roles get reversed.

I chose the name "Feedin' Mama" because one of my biggest challenges in caring for my 89-year-old mother is her diet. She has frequent episodes of congestive heart failure so she has to adhere to an extremely low-sodium diet. That meant that I had to stop serving almost any kind of processed food. When you start looking at those labels it's mind blowing how much sodium is in that stuff, so it's almost all fresh or frozen in my kitchen these days. Being a moderately creative cook I've come up with a decent repertoire of tips and recipes that I'll share from time to time in this space and I welcome yours as well. But there's so much more to taking care of an older adult, especially a parent and we'll talk about a lot of them, too so I hope you check in often.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Betsy,
What a great job you have done. I can't wait to hear one of your presentations. You are a gifted individual with a great background and wonderful skills. God bless you.

Betsy said...

Thanks for the encouragement Debbie. Hope you stop by often and share some of your experiences with your dad. B.

pv said...

Hi, Betsy!
Just back from a visit w/ mom in Vero where we enjoyed a "day on the town" at our new favorite restaurant - a Peruvian one.
Even at 92 mom is still willing to try anything at least one - and we do like those Pisco Sours, even if they do put us to sleep.
Love the concept of your website and will report periodically on our mother/daughter adventures.
pv