Arty videos
A swallowing evaluation involves getting up pretty early for a 90 year-old, heading to the clinic, and being filmed while swallowing variously textured food items. The resulting images were short videos of the substances going down the throat of a skeleton. She passed.
On the way through the basement labyrinth, we had gotten turned around and wound up in the oncology/radiation area. On our way back out, we met a tall elderly woman who was looking at the signs and appeared to be confused, as we had been. She was all alone, and couldn't quite remember what it was that was to be viewed on her anatomy. She seemed hesitant to ask for directions, so I asked her, and got her on her way. The speech pathologist we had just seen told me that often elderly people come in alone, sometimes from nursing homes, with no one to help them answer any questions.
Later in the day I was at a seafood store, getting fish for dinner, when an elderly couple came in, carrying cardboard boxes. The counterman asked what they wanted, and the man told him he was returning some things. (What would one return to a fish store?) The counterman asked again, and the man replied,"I want to keep my wife available." Then he gave the box to the guy behind the counter, who started looking even more perplexed as he brought out brown paper wrapped objects. As I left, the owner of the shop had come out from his office, and was trying to convince the elderly fellow that he was in the wrong store. The old man was protesting vigorously, as his wife wandered confusedly about, looking at the lobsters. I felt as if I'd been in another dimension a few times today.
The skies were mixed, partly blue, partly bruised. The walk felt like a release.
On the way through the basement labyrinth, we had gotten turned around and wound up in the oncology/radiation area. On our way back out, we met a tall elderly woman who was looking at the signs and appeared to be confused, as we had been. She was all alone, and couldn't quite remember what it was that was to be viewed on her anatomy. She seemed hesitant to ask for directions, so I asked her, and got her on her way. The speech pathologist we had just seen told me that often elderly people come in alone, sometimes from nursing homes, with no one to help them answer any questions.
Later in the day I was at a seafood store, getting fish for dinner, when an elderly couple came in, carrying cardboard boxes. The counterman asked what they wanted, and the man told him he was returning some things. (What would one return to a fish store?) The counterman asked again, and the man replied,"I want to keep my wife available." Then he gave the box to the guy behind the counter, who started looking even more perplexed as he brought out brown paper wrapped objects. As I left, the owner of the shop had come out from his office, and was trying to convince the elderly fellow that he was in the wrong store. The old man was protesting vigorously, as his wife wandered confusedly about, looking at the lobsters. I felt as if I'd been in another dimension a few times today.
The skies were mixed, partly blue, partly bruised. The walk felt like a release.
posted by isabelita at 11:18 AM
3 Comments:
That is quite a sad description of life for seniors. Your mother is quite lucky to have you. What do we say about a culture that abandons its elderly?
Hey, it's worldwide. Par example, during a heatwave in France not so long ago, elderly people left behind in uncooled apartments died by the thousands.
Not just a culture, but a species, robin.
You are absolutely right, my friend. It wasn't always like this. What's happened to us? I told Roger the other day, I feel like I'm a character in a dystopian novel.
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