Tag: Living on the Senior Side

JANUARY 18 – DRAWING A BLANK OPENS A DOOR TO W. H AUDEN

S R Janssen

Now I know what a good thing it is to draw a blank when it comes to writing a new post. Today my small world doesn’t need my thoughts. Even better, I don’t need my own thoughts. Lacking things to say shuts my mouth and opens doors to the thoughts and writings of others. I have sheepskin granting me a Bachelor of Arts English Literature, yet W. H. Auden never showed up on a class curriculum. The other day a friend introduced me to a poem. Probably everybody but me is familiar with it as it was featured in a movie: “Four Weddings and a Funeral” Familiar as it may be, it is always worth another read.

‘Funeral Blues aka Stop All the Clocks’

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, 
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, 
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum 
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. 

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead 
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, 
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, 
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 

He was my North, my South, my East and West, 
My working week and my Sunday rest, 
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song. 
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. 

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; 
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun. 
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. 
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
W. H. Auden

JANUARY 17 – WHEN THE CURE CREATES THE PROBLEM

S R Janssen

Geriatric Health

I am geriatric. I don’t walk with a cane; I dance for exercise. My wisdom teeth are gone, but all the rest are still in my mouth. All my joints are ones I with which I was born – but they are a little stiff in the morning. Several times a day, I get down on the ground and get up again with ease.

But I ain’t the same as I was before I turned sixty. My metabolism changed; my hormones changed. I need less of a lot of things and more of other things. However, the physicians in my health plan didn’t study geriatrics, and they rarely understand the dynamics of an aging body.

Check Prescriptions for Side Effects

Take for example a common prescription for managing blood pressure which has been on my prescription list for years without me ever questioning it. After all, one reason for managing high blood pressure is to protect the kidney function. No one wants to spend time on a dialysis machine.

Creeping Creatinine Levels

Recently my physician has been concerned that my kidneys tests are showing elevated creatinine levels: one of the indicators of incipient kidney disease. I finally got smart and looked up the side effects of my particular prescription. Now I wonder if my doctor is aware that a side effect of her prescribed blood-pressure medication is elevated creatinine. When the “prevention creates the problem” it’s time for a little chat with my doctor.

The moral of his little story is geriatric patients can’t leave it all up to the doctor. They have to share responsibility for their own health. The information is available: look it up and ask!