u/MercuryFlights

My elderly relative needs protein-rich foods to help recover from an illness. Mush-level softness is best because of a swallowing issue. Their appetite isn't all back, so the richer the taste, the better.

Seems like an IP accident is what I want by choice. Are there meats which will truly fall apart and melt into a stew? If you made this by accident, how?

After the cook I can blend the stew, but I don't want the protein to be gritty.

I've done 40 minute stews where veggies like butternut have blended together [TJs yellow or red Thai-style sauce for the liquid: yum], but the beef cubes stay cubes. Normally that's tender enough, but not now. Same for pork ribs and carnitas, but those get finished in the oven or air fryer [35 minutes on high, spice rub and or browned first respectively, apple cider vinegar for the liquid: perfect].

My relative should get close to 120 grams of protein a day. (2 instead of 1.2 grams per kg body weight). That's a lot. A protein drink and protein powder only gets you so far. Plus most drinks are whey, which we don't want to overdo.

I'm trying to find a non-fiction book I'd started reading perhaps 8-10 years ago, no earlier than 2010. It was either essays or an autobiography of life as an artist in one's 70s or perhaps even 80s. I think the author was male and lived in the US, perhaps on the east coast in a place with regular winter snow.

The author described what it was like being older, comparing their art and actions to when they were middle-aged. They described their schedule and emphasized the importance of putting in time for good food and good sex, even if it can't be exactly the same as what they did when younger.

I'm fairly sure I read about the book in a review in the NYTimes or similar. The review said the writing was excellent, which made me look at it even though it's a genre I rarely read.

This is a planning question. My older relatives all have Kaiser (Medicare), and some day they could have a stroke.

Reading about the latest in stroke treatments, it seems that newer thrombectomy technology can allow patients to survive and recover from strokes that 10+ years ago would have killed them or left them in a bad state at best. Based on this, if a relative has a stroke, we should always want them to go to a Comprehensive Stroke Center.

If a relative lives where their local Kaiser isn't a CSC, should the whole family know to always push for going to a CSC? Will Kaiser-Medicare cover going straight to a facility that seems objectively better for stroke patients?

When I read about the difference in recovery, it just seems obvious to want my relatives to have access to the actually greater latest technology. In the South Bay that's Stanford and Good Sam, not San Jose or Santa Clara KPs, for example.