My darling Stuart passed away peacefully on August 27, 2024, the saddest day of my life. The funeral service was a beautiful tribute to his well lived life, thanks to funeral director Stephanie Kelly of Personal Farewells, who delivered the service to perfection.
Stuart had moderate to severe sleep apnoea for more than 10 years. He wore a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) mask every night for eight years prior to being in residential aged care.
The management at the aged care facility wanted to send Stuart to hospital to trial different doses of antipsychotic medication for his behavioural issues. On August 18, 2021, Stuart was admitted to St George Hospital, ultimately for eight days, while the medication was adjusted.
I never expected that the first 16 months following Stuart’s admission to residential care on June 9, 2021, would be the most difficult time of my life. I thought my care duties would reduce, but instead the stress intensified to another level.
A bit of winter sun is good for your health. It helps your body produce Vitamin D and creates other processes in the body such as serotonin and dopamine.
A year after the dementia diagnosis, Stuart was reasonably stable, but his cognition and memory started to deteriorate. He wasn’t able to put the rubbish in the colour coded bins, flooded the bathroom by leaving the tap on, misplaced house keys.
In July 2018 I resigned from my full-time senior management position in the department of NSW Health Pathology to become a committed carer for my husband, Stuart, who lives with dementia.
REDFERN: Locals crowded into the Redfern Hotel on Monday March 25 to farewell Dr Adrian Jones, retiring from medical practice after 47 years’ service. The popular General Practitioner had a surgery in Pitt Street for many years before moving into the Redfern Station Medical Centre on Redfern Street.
From the day of the diagnosis, my learning as a carer began. I was determined to do everything I could to give Stuart the best possible care, by using all the services, education and dementia-related programs available to support us.
Navigating the health system can be challenging. To address this, Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) has established the Health and Wellbeing Peer Education program.
Waiting for two minutes or longer to clamp the umbilical cord of a premature baby soon after birth could help reduce the risk of death, compared with immediately clamping the umbilical cord, or waiting a shorter time before doing so. Delaying clamping could decrease the child’s risk of death by more than half relative to immediate clamping.
“We encourage anyone living with or caring for someone with an allergic disease, along with health professionals and other interested people to register for the community consultation happening closest to them" ...
Survivors of sexual abuse confronted by the recent death of Cardinal Pell should be ‘as gentle with yourself as you can be and as you deserve’ and also reach out for help, even when doing so seems hard, writes Cathy Kezelman.
