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By Bill March 29th, 2012
Pneumonia
A few observations and ideas regarding health care for aging parents and elders:
1. What is it about the medical assistants and nurses in the doctor’s office who do not tell you what your vital sign numbers are? Must we ask for such basic information?
2. Cholesterol and statin (Lipitor and generics) medication. After retiring last year, I switched to the VA for my medications. That also means a couple of appointments per year with a primary care physician (PCP), free immunizations, and free lab work.
I have been taking statins to keep my cholesterol under control for a number of years. My VA PCP looked at my numbers and took me off Lovastatin, the drug I have been on for most of the time. Well, OK, let’s see what the numbers look …
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By Bill March 22nd, 2012
Soaring Eagle
It does not seem like it, but I retired from my career in water treatment one year ago. I haven’t stopped working, but the work is part time and in some ways more rewarding. In addition, I do not find myself at work at three in the morning like I used to. I am mostly enjoying my retirement.
The thing that confuses me is that I don’t seem to have much more free time than when I was working full time. I do have more time to pursue my many interests, but I think I was expecting retirement to be free of responsibility and “have to’s”. Now, how unrealistic is that? After all, I’m married, need to eat, clothe myself, have a home, and maintain the web of connection I have …
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By Bill March 15th, 2012
Overload
I have been writing about retirement engagement, but I am currently too engaged. It’s tax time. One of my hearing aids died, so I had an appointment with the VA audiologist. My pickup toolbox got broken into and some stuff was stolen. Work at Four Mile is picking up, my other job is a bit draining. I am coming off a three week chest cold. I am building a cold frame so we can start plants outside. I have a weekly deadline for this blog. We are about to begin a weekly workshop at our local writer’s organization. As a family, we are preparing for another meeting to get living wills, powers of attorney, etc. etc. ready. The compost needs turning. We are getting ready to put in a drip irrigation system. We …
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By Bill March 8th, 2012
Emerging Into Life
When Carol and Judi’s father Frank was discharged from the hospital after one of his bouts of pneumonia he was sent to a nursing home instead of back to his assisted living facility. The nursing home was part of the same chain as the assisted living facility, but a stay in the nursing home meant increased revenue with double billing, or so we have always suspected.
We saw that Frank’s care was not any better in the nursing home than in his own room at assisted living, and asked that he be transferred back to assisted living. The social worker and the physical therapists were opposed, saying “we just want you to be safe”.
Frank was essentially bedridden, so safety was not much of an issue at that time. Safety …
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By Bill March 1st, 2012
Dead
Recently Carol and I have noted a number of media stories about how our population has a greater life expectancy than in years past. The stories talk about an aging population with more degenerative diseases, and people needing to take many steps to remain healthy into their nineties.
While there is some truth to all that, the real reason life expectancy has increased so drastically is that people are living past infancy and childhood in greater numbers. The fact is that in past centuries if a person lived past those first critical years they stood a fair chance of living a long life. The same is true today, with help from modern medicine.
“Wait!” you say, “More and more people are reaching an advanced age.” Well, yes. There are more and more …
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