WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023 AGING

 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023 - AGING

As most of you know, I’ve been working at a senior living facility for two years (and that doesn’t make me an expert on anything!!! <grin>)

The facility - loosely under the United Methodist Church - has a few houses, two large apartment buildings for independent living, an assisted living building with a wing for dementia patients, and a nursing home facility.

I want to talk about my friend (and client TL).  

TL is 97 years old and rarely speaks (I was told she had a minor stroke).  She seems to be rapidly approaching death.  

I’ve not seen death directly, but death is behind every door when you work at a senior facility.  Maybe my first was Mildred.  Mildred was a sweet 95-year-old who had trouble sleeping and would walk the halls at night.  But when “push came to shove,” and Mildred was assigned to the memory care unit (dementia), she lasted two days there.  I saw her on her first day there.  She was asking me, “What am I doing here.”

Robert was another in the dementia unit.  One day, he was there - and the next day, he was dead.  I saw Judith in the hospice unit.  I sat with her and helped when a hospice care nurse came, and we gave her a bed bath.  She was so frail.  We used the sheets to roll her over gently.  After cleaning her body, we put ointment on her to help prevent bedsores.  She died two days later.  

I’m nearing my last week at that facility.  My last day on the job is Thursday (tomorrow).  My entire unit was cut (we didn’t exactly hear the reasons, but we assume financial reasons).  I went down a hall where I saw Mary L and Ned - both gone.  I went by Mary D’s floor the other day.  Mary is in assisted living (although her family and I know she is more of a memory unit patient anymore). 

Dena was moved “home” to die quietly at her daughter’s house.  (She gave me a manicure one day and a housedress another day).  

We are all going to die.  

SO …

I’m not ready to “go.”

STAY PHYSICALLY  ACTIVE FOR MIND AND BODY

Get out and walk - maybe every day - but at least three times a week.  You don’t have a gym membership (but it helps for those days when it is over 100 - or in South Dakota, it doesn’t get over 0 (zero).  I also have a small gym in my apartment complex - two treadmills, two exercise bikes, an elliptical, and weights.  

STAY ACTIVE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN YOUR COMMUNITY 

Last weekend, “Sparky” died (or, rather, my car I nicknamed ‘Sparky” needed a battery.  For a day, I was without a car.  I am so used to getting out and going.  I know someday that I won’t have a car.

I love having bridge, Granny Basketball, Church, Orchestra, lunches with friends, and more.  I frequently leave my apartment in the morning and don’t return until evening. 

At the independent living facility, four women play bridge one night, scrabble another night, and other games on other nights.  They get out and keep socially active.

EAT NUTRITIOUSLY 

You are what you eat - all candy and no veggies affect you.  I had an issue about five months ago with elimination.  Since then, I’ve really “upped” my fiber game!!  I read labels in the grocery store - does this product have fiber?  I have prune juice in my refrigerator and oatmeal most mornings.  

Somedays, I ‘cheat’ myself and my body by warming up junk food in the microwave - for convenience.  (But today, I opened a can of Bush’s Beans for lunch!!!)

SEE YOUR DOCTOR

I’m due for my annual physical soon (November).  I’ll also get my flu shot then.  

TAKE YOUR MEDICATIONS

I have been on some of the medications I take for several years.  My blood pressure is mostly normal.  I take a vitamin, low-dose aspirin, and the standard prescribed medications.

LIMIT YOUR ALCOHOL INTAKE

DON’T SMOKE

GET YOUR SLEEP

KEEP UP WITH YOUR DENTAL HYGIENE

And the last one in the article I looked at - stay active with SEX.  (Alas, that is a problem).

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

LET LOVE WIN

BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND

APPROACH DEATH WITH DIGNITY

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023