Features

It's Up To You To Protect Your Breasts

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in American women and the second leading cancer cause of death. (Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of women.) U.S. women have a one in eight lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. The good news is that most breast cancer can be detected early with proper screening. The five year survival rate for localized breast cancer (cancer that has not spread) is 98 percent.

“Caregiving” – I feel like I am hearing this word everywhere. Everything surrounding this word is about the physical stress, the mental toll and the financial burden. My parents are doing fine, but the day is going to come (soon, I think) where I, too, am a caregiver. Is there anything I should be doing now to help prepare for the future?

First of all, breathe. It’s going to be okay. Yes, there are more caregivers than ever before, and yes, that number is growing at a rapid pace. You are reading more about it because we are trying to figure out how to take care of ourselves as the Baby Boomer population ages and lives longer.

Tina McIntosh, Joy's House

Things we need to know

For most of us, after 40 is the time we begin to think about our parent’s futures. Mom isn’t getting around like she once did.  Dad can’t seem to hear well.  Do they have enough money to live out their retirement years? Where should they live? How is their health?  While they are still relatively healthy and independent we need to get advice and learn about local services and experts that are available to us.  Understanding the situation and advising our parents about the options available is important to help them make a comfortable and planned transition.  Here is some advice from local experts about some of the issues of aging parents.

It was a great 4th of July

The Rinehart family had a great 4th of July, 2008. A beautiful summer day, Ty Rinehart played golf with friends in the morning. That evening they attended a party and fireworks display on the other side of their Westfield neighborhood. Then they returned home to their cul-de-sac to celebrate with neighbors in one of their driveways. Ty says they shared a few bottles of wine and a lot of laughs. He remembers hearing his wife, Becky, laughing harder that he had heard in a long time. “She was in a great mood,” he said. Ty and Becky headed inside with the kids about midnight. He said, “We had a great 4th of July.”

Ty awoke about 4:30 a.m. on July 5th. Becky was still sleeping seemed restless. He got up and went to the couch to watch TV. The kids, son Dylan age 7 and daughter Jenna age 4, got up about 8:30. Ty checked on Becky. She was groggy. He thought maybe she had a little more wine than he realized last night and decided to let her sleep. At 10:00 a.m. he tried to wake her but she didn’t respond. She could open her eyes but that was all. Ty knew something wasn’t right and called 9-1-1. Forty-one year-old Becky Rinehart, wife and mother of two young children and research nurse at Eli Lilly & Co., had suffered a stroke.