Caregiver Tea Time with Val Halloway

00:30 Donna acknowledges those who helped make this podcast a reality: producer Bianca Grooves, sound engineer Sammy Wags, song writing teacher Joe Marrero, and all of her friends and family who encouraged her along the way. 03:45 Donna shares a quote titled "The Value of Memories" from a devotional book called "New Beginnings" by Solly Ozrovich. 05:10 Here's Donna's special message: "You can choo...

00:20 Val gives an example of how grief hits her at random times. 01:00 Val shares how she feels stronger after doing this podcast. 02:10 Val shares her thoughts about the masculine and feminine sides of grief. She found a book, "Swallowed by a snake. The Gift of the Masculine Side of Healing" by Thomas Golden. https://tgolden.com/books-and-videos/ 03:10 Thomas Golden's book reports the masculine...

00:13 In this episode Val shares that pain is an inevitable part of caregiving, but there is something called palliative care that offers relief for suffering and hope for an improved quality of life for both the patient and the caregiver. Val was frightened when her son was first introduced to palliative care early in treatment. She felt it meant the doctors thought he would not get better. Now s...

01:09 Val warns listeners that in this episode she talks about end-of-life events.  01:34 Val shares that her situation is unique because her loved ones were young when they received their diagnosis. Her husband was 39 when he developed cancer in his tonsil and 50 when he developed leukemia from the radiation treatment 10 years earlier. Her son developed MDS because of a genetic disorder he had ca...

Sitting and waiting and just being a caregiver gave Val, a long time nutritionist, the opportunity to learn more about the Mediterranean Diet.  In a wonderful serendipity, Val's neighbor back home, Andrew Schmidt, had recently graduatedd from the American Culinary Institute of America, and helped her create three days of Mediterranean menus. Val called them "The Mediterranean Diet Adventure."  Sha...

Val explains the steps for doing a Legs up the Wall relaxing routine. She provides 5 minutes of music to listen to while holding the pose. 00:22 Music Begins Additional information and links can be found at: https://www.caregiverteatime.com/       Look for the full version of Val's theme song, Nothing But the Good Things on your favorite music streaming service now!

In this episode, Val shares events that confirmed her belief that there is a beautiful spiritual aspect to life - something powerful and loving that has  always been there for her when she sought to find it. There have been times when her life felt dark and scary, and that's when a source of love and light was there to overcome the darkness. 02:35 Val shares that somehow, her husband Paul and son...

In the introduction Val shares about three personal retreats she has taken: the first was 15 years ago at a retreat center close to home where she spent the night at a Catholic retreat center reserved for quiet, prayer, and listening, the second was a year ago in Sedona Arizona where each day she met individually with compassionate caring women devoted to spiritual healing, and the third was just...

Val shares about people who have inspired and encouraged her with simple acts of love like holding her hand, praying with her, praying for her or by writing about their faith and spirituality. She shares about how fortunate she's been to have a Christian faith community wherever she's lived and friends who follow through with the nudge to pray with her. Once, when things looked discouraging for he...

01:34 Val introduces Season 3. In this season she will share about her spiritual journey, spiritual mentors she’s had along the way, and about her spiritual growth by attending spiritual retreats. In the final episode of this season, she will share her personal, spiritual experiences with loved ones who have passed that bring her joy and hope.   Val has always had a strong intuition about God and...

Balancing Exercises: 1 minute of balancing on each foot. I'm providing this audio from my YouTube video as bonus material so it will be easy for you to find and use whenever you want to do the balancing exercises I suggested in Episode 3 of this season. In the podcast, Let's Get Physical, we did 30 seconds of balancing on each foot. In this bonus material, I provide support for a balancing a full...

It might take a few days or weeks to get here comfortably, but don't give up! Additional information and links can be found at: https://www.caregiverteatime.com/       Look for the full version of Val's theme song, Nothing But the Good Things on your favorite music streaming service now!

Thank you to Sammy Wags for the wonderful guitar music to help me stay on track! Additional information and links can be found at: https://www.caregiverteatime.com/       Look for the full version of Val's theme song, Nothing But the Good Things on your favorite music streaming service now!

Val studied nutrition and provided weight management counseling for over 30 years and feels it’s probably the most confusing subject there is. She sees it as a part time job to follow-through with a healthy way of eating that fits our budget, lifestyle, access to food, the preferences of people around us, and time spent cleaning up after the meal. She shares the concept that nutrition plays a role...

This episode provides instruction for doing two exercise routines:  the Nitric Oxide Dump, created by Dr. Zach Bush, https://www.zachbushmd.com/  and four common balance exercises Val has learned while doing physical therapy. The Nitric Oxide Dump involves doing 10-20 repetitions of the 4 exercise movements 3 times a day, every day. It will be more effective to wait 2 hours between sets, giving th...

Val devotes this episode to sleep because difficulty falling asleep and waking up in the night are common experiences for caregivers.  Val shares that getting enough sleep supports a healthy immune system, cell repair, learning, memory consolidation, and it helps us maintain a healthy weight. Poor sleep lowers metabolism and affects the hormones that regulate hunger and appetite. Val offers a few...

In this episode Val reminds listeners that it’s good to stop and take a few deep breaths throughout your day. She suggests we take it one step further, and teaches the 4-7-8 breathing technique made popular by Dr. Andrew Weil.  His studies have shown that over time, regularly using this technique twice a day in cycles of 4 to 8 breaths physiologically calms the body. Val has found it to be simple...

In this episode Donna shares that research studies have found journaling brings emotional and psychological benefits. Her most consistent Journaling was inspired by Julia Cameron and her book The Artist’s Way. From this book, Donna learned how to write Morning Pages.  There was a time when it was difficult for Donna to journal. She found Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book Switch on your Brain   and its intr...

Donna sought the help of a CBT counselor because CBT is goal oriented and she found herself at a loss after her son finished treatment and her caregiver duties were over. She was able to find a local CBT practitioner through the Psychology Today website. Homework assignments are part of CBT and Val shares about her assignment to find her “core values”. As part of the assignment, Donna printed a co...

In this episode Donna shares how to do the Tapping technique and how she explored using tapping when she was in New York City with her son, who was getting treatment at a speciality medical center in the city. Donna guides the listener through an example of tapping, which uses a set-up phrase and then repeated tapping at several sites on the body while restating a reminder phrase. The set up phras...

In this episode, Donna shares she is a retired dietitian and has learned many skills in her career to help people find ways to reduce their stress levels in order to make healthier decisions. This is something very important for Caregivers of a spouse or child facing  cancer or other life threatening illnesses. One of these skills is Emotional Brain Training, or EBT, created by Laurel Mellin, PhD...

In this introduction to her podcast, Donna describes how Caregiver Tea Time is devoted to family caregivers on their journey supporting someone they love going through a difficult medical treatment or living with a chronic illness.  Listeners are encouraged to bring a cup of tea and pen and paper when listening to the podcast to take notes about topics of interest. Additional information and links...