Tuesday, March 08, 2011


Geriatric Giants...


In the last 2 days I've lost my favorite reading glasses, a bottle of prescription meds and the makeup bag that is usually in my purse.


Now I'm kind of a crummy housekeeper/organizer so these things have happened to me for as long as I had a mother to nag me... and then some. But to have THREE things go missing, all of which are in the "use daily" category, freaks me out. And makes me depressed. And scared.


I know they can all be replaced... but still.


I am feeling geriatric for sure. Geriatric means having to do with the health of an elderly person. I don't know when "elderly" officially kicks in. I have an AARP card, can get Sr. meals at IHOP without an argument and like to eat dinner early rather than late.


My husband says one isn't "geriatric" until they can't get to and from the toilet on their own. That seems too narrow a definition to me.


Oh, and in case you want to know what Gerontologists's concerns are... here are their Geriatric Giants.

The so-called geriatric giants are the major categories of impairment that appear in elderly people, especially as they begin to fail. These include immobility, instability, incontinence and impaired intellect/memory.

Impaired vision and hearing loss are common chronic problems among older people. Hearing problems can lead to social isolation, depression, and dependence as the person is no longer able to talk to other people, receive information over the telephone, or engage in simple transactions, such as talking to a person at a bank or store. Vision problems lead to falls from tripping over unseen objects, medicine being taken incorrectly because the written instructions could not be read, and finances being mismanaged.

2 comments:

Barbara said...

Oh, dear! We have too much in common!

Anonymous said...

That must feel horrid, Ma. But... as you said, it isn't a NEW trend, right? I think those things will turn up soon!

Although, once you move to New England, maybe I should knit you and D mitten strings?

I love you! :D