It has been quite a long week. I am still not feeling too good, so as it has been about a month now I might go to doctors next week if I am not feeling any better. Still feeling tender from the other nights activity.
Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow which is a bit of a bitch and it is going to be hard physical work, yuk.
Still, I have Sunday and Monday off so that is good.
One of my customers is really struggling at the moment, her husband has severe dementia and she needs respite but is having difficulty trying to arrange it. Today he smothered himself in shaving foam just after she had dressed him in clean clothes. It is sad to see how much she is struggling and not being able to really help. I have offered to try to get some advice if her contact with social services does not work out. Another customer is having a shoulder replacement next Tuesday and another customer was buried last week. It is such a joyful working environment !
On the plus side, I get to work for some fantastic old people. It is so great to hear some of their life stories. When I look at them, they look so old and frail, it seems hard to believe they were once young and led such fascinating and active lives. I do not find it very comforting that maybe one day someone will look at me and think the same things. Unless you die beforehand, old age is inevitable, it is not something I look forward to though, but then I suppose no one does. Just being so close and involved with it most days just makes it that little bit more real.
I think the work you do is admirable. Our modern culture has discounted the wonderful treasure and resource our older members are.
ReplyDeletePhysical activity, and flexibility are the greatest indicators of avoiding that frailty, N. I think your service to MT will see to that for you. You'll be that hale old man that doesn't need all the extra help. They are out there. I can see the headlines now" 96 year old man dies after riding his Ducati off the cliffs at Dover. Loved ones speculate he left his glasses behind. He was always putting them down and forgetting where they lay, said a family member".
Hi N,
ReplyDeleteSo much in common. Em's dad will be 76 on his next birthday. He was a lifelong hard working, blue collar guy. German born and infused with that typical teutonic work ethic, he was a master auto mechanic that ran his own shop in Los Angeles.
About six years ago he began having odd and extreme mood swings followed by a noticeable short-term memory deficit.
About a year ago, Em's mom had to place him in an assisted-living home. The disease, the cocktail of meds, and the subsequent lack of physical activity brought on by this new institutionalized pattern of living have aged him considerably in a very short time.
A wakeup call for all of us. We are not immortal or immune from the inevitability of our eventual decline. Live for the day. As Ram Dass reminds us, "Be Here Now."
Best,
scott
Mrs. Kelly's Playhouse