MGordon_MD
User
/ Moderator
Aug 14, 2009, 8:50 AM
Post #1 of 1
(1595 views)
Shortcut
|
By Dr. Michael Gordon
“I am very bored and depressed”, were the words that came from an 87 year old widow who lived alone in an apartment with a full time live-in caregiver. “When the weather is bad, I can’t go out and there is nothing to do.” On further questioning it was clear that true clinical depression was not the issue but rather a loss of purpose and direction to provide some semblance of satisfaction from day to day. From my enquiries it became clear that in the past she was a modestly sociable person but one who did not like or would not consider “joining” a seniors program that might take her out of the house. “I don’t like mingling with people I do not know, especially a bunch of old people.”
I discovered that she used to like to read and listen to music but now she suffered from problems with her vision that interfered with reading. She said that on TV she generally watched “game shows” but admitted they were usually boring and sometimes movies but often the ones available she did not like. She listened to the radio but said the music she liked they generally did not play. Her caregiver who seemed very devoted and interested in helping her nodded in agreement when I said, “I can imagine how boring it must be if you are doing nothing that really interests you.”
During the recent American Presidential campaign, the Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican Party, Sarah Palin, made a fashion statement with her designer glasses. Soon everyone seemed to be wearing her glasses or some imitation of them that highlighted their rimless style and titanium gray frame. ABC news was quoted as saying that according to one designer "Like Jackie Kennedy wore with the pillbox hat her glasses will be a revolutionary thing to wear." It is not that optical supply companies have not be designing glasses of all shapes, sizes and colours, it is that it was somewhat novel for a presidential candidate to alter her look in such a way that millions of people could witness and then try to emulate or imitate it.
The idea of an external glass frame which surrounds the vision-enhancing optical glass can be understood as symbolic of how one might view the same world and either be bored or excited by it. One can take a passive “woe is me” approach to the difficulties and challenges in life or a “so what do I do now to solve this problem” approach which searches for possibilities and various options. For many seniors the later years can be filled with losses of friends and loved ones as well as disabilities that may make it more challenging to achieve one’s preferred goals. Living in certain parts of Canada exacerbates the challenges because the weather can be a barrier to enjoying the environment or visiting friends or attending programs.
The key to success however rests with the person and their ability to look at the world through glasses that are rosier coloured rather than of a dark hue. I have with my patients that have balked at a potentially suitable senior’s program written on a prescription paid, “Rx= senior program three times a week for three months”. When I give it to them I couple the prescription with, “Try this. If it were a medication that I said might help you I am sure you would take it. I am giving you this with the same belief that it might help you. And, there are almost no possible side effects.” I follow with, “And if after three months you do not like it you can stop it.”
For the person “stuck” at home I have found the following suggestions might open new doors: If the problem is one cannot read anymore but the person loves books, books on tape (which of course now or often on CD discs) can be a wonderful substitute. I have found many people who have fallen in love with that medium even when they could still read as hearing a good rendition of a fine book often adds a dimension that is different from the reading of a book. For music, rather than trying to find a suitable station on the radio that has one’s preferred music, listening to CDs may be preferable and one does not have to buy them if someone in the family can get them from the local library. Nowadays for example for those, like a number of patients I have had, who loved opera, one can get DVDs of whole opera productions that can be seen on the television. Lastly of course is either renting or getting movies from the library rather than being forced to watch whatever is being shown on television. For this one often needs help from someone to get them and help indicate what is available. The cost of a DVD player is likely minimal.
The glasses one wears might be a combination of a fashion statement and a means to see better. The internal glasses through which one views the world is beyond fashion – it can determine how meaningful one can make one’s days and lives. If the inner glasses you have are not doing the trick, like external ones, it may be time to change the prescription - from dark to rosy.
---
Dr. Michael Gordon is Medical Program Director, Palliative Care Baycrest Geriatric Health Care System in Toronto, Canada and Professor of Medicine, at the University of Toronto. He is co-author with Bart Mindszenthy of Parenting Your Parents.
Parenting Your Parents is available in bookstores and online at: Indigo-Chapters, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is available in a US edition: Parenting Your Parents: Support Strategies for Meeting the Challenge of Aging in America.
For bulk orders email info@dundurn.com. Call: 416-214-5544 or Fax: 416-214-5556
Dr. Gordon is the author of the engaging memoir Brooklyn Beginnings: A Geriatrician's Odyssey, published by I-Universe.
Brooklyn Beginnings is available in bookstores and online at: Indigo-Chapters, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and I-Universe
Visit Dr. Michael Gordon's website.
(This post was edited by MGordon_MD on Aug 14, 2009, 8:57 AM)
|
MAIN
SEARCH
WHO'S 
LOG 