Rule #2: Hydrate!

Dehydration in seniors is a major concern.  It pretty much leads to problems you can imagine like dizziness and weakness but then there are a ton of others that you would never realize are connected. What really scares me is a Urinary Tract Infection.  Have you seen the movie Crash?  Do you remember how you hated Matt Dillon’s character as that horrible cop until they gave you a glimpse of his home life and saw the struggles he was up against with his father’s UTI?  So much perspective and all of it sad, sad, sad… 

The issues around incontinence are hard enough to deal with but dealing with a senior UTI freaks me out!  I can’t imagine it; I don’t want to imagine it and therefore we have all become a bunch of drinkers.  My mom is way into Diet Coke which I absolutely detest and can’t help but wonder if all that aspartame is somehow connected to her Alzheimer’s now.  Science maybe hasn’t said so, but it’s completely artificial and I don’t trust it.  Unfortunately, she is not all that impressed with water so it’s helpful to jazz it up a bit.  Garnishings can do wonders!  I doctor up a pitcher of water with whatever fruit I have on hand until it looks like party and then, wouldn’t you know it, everybody wants some.

Cheers!