Sometimes, in spite of exploring every option, the only solution will be a nursing home, as when someone is severely disabled requiring a level of care beyond what the family can provide, and home care is financially or physically impossible.
If your relative is in this situation, try not to view what is happening as a [...]
Apart from finding out about community services, changing the environment may help. Shop fox items to make life easier. Are you afraid your mother may fall in the tub? A set of grab bars may be the answer. Are the controls on her stove or her faucets too hard to turn? There may be a [...]
There is much that you as parents can do to foster good sleep patterns. This can start as early as infancy, when babies should be allowed to develop their own sleep rhythms. Do not wake your baby for a feed, and do not worry about imposing rigid feeding schedules. Let him fall into a cycle [...]
The pelvic bones may be fractured in a fall or in a motor car accident. No attempt should be made to get the patient to walk. Carry him on a stretcher, or on your back, or with two people — one can hold him under the arms while the other supports the legs.
In men, the [...]
The lymph glands of the body are enlarged as also is the spleen, an organ which lies tucked up under the ribs on the left side of the abdomen.
The liver is involved in most cases but only in about a sixth, does jaundice or yellowing of the skin, appear.
Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment except [...]
Cancer of the breast usually appears as a painless lump but women who suffer pain in the breast are often frightened it is a symptom of cancer. It rarely is.
Painful breasts mainly occur at the time of the periods but they also can be unrelated to the menstrual cycle. Pain is often associated with the [...]
‘Ben isn’t very happy’, Judy said, as she marched Master Ben into my surgery. They both took a seat. Ben, normally a happy little fellow, bright and beaming, now looked dour and miserable.
‘What gives,’ I asked.
He says he has a stomach ache. Ben never complains of stomach aches, so when he said this and didn’t [...]
Activity
When lying on his tummy, the five-month old baby will lift the head and chest fairly high off the mattress; he lifts the head and shoulders when lying on his back. Is able to bend his knees and suck his toes. He becomes more and more mobile, readily rolling from his back to the tummy [...]
An ancient healing technique, massage is known to have been used as long ago as 3000BC in China, and was recommended by the well-known Greek physician Hippocrates in the 5th century BC. Most masseurs use oil as they rub, stroke and knead various parts of the body. One of the benefits of these actions is [...]
Burns are injuries of the skin caused by excessive heat, by chemicals (acids and alkalis), or by electricity. The seriousness of a burn depends on the size, the location, and the depth of the skin burned. Burns are classified as first-degree (the least serious), second-degree, or third-degree (the most serious).
First-degree burns cause reddening of the [...]