Visit to my 95-year old grandmother

[Guest guest]

Speaking of long-term care, I just visited my 95-year old

grandmother who checked into a nursing home last month.

She lived with her daughter for about 35 years. Her health has been

declining slowly for a long time, but many of her sons still think that

she'll outlive them. (My father died in an accident at 50... At least

two of her sons have already had heart surgery.)

She ended up in the nursing home because of problems with her

daughter's mental health, not with her own health. She can't really

live by herself, but it wasn't a problem until her daughter became

suicidial and required a string of psychiatric hospitalizations. (Her

daughter has had lifelong problems with mental health.)

The facility she's at is one of the better ones -- it's run by

Catholic Charities, and it costs $100 more per day than social security

pays. She was able to get a " scholarship " because she fit in well with

the people there. They get live entertainment on most days, and an

extensive program of physical therapy that involves training for

strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination. I recognize a lot

of the same principles that are used in modern athletic training and

rehab -- I've been told that many people perk up when they end a nursing

home, and I can understand why.

She didn't think a lot about diet; I'm sure she's a bit

overweight, but not morbidly so.

She's avoided major health problems -- no cancer or acute heart

disease. There was one incident I remember, a week after my mother

died (unknown vascular problem, age 52.) We were eating dinner with my

grandmother when she passed out and started throwing up blood -- it

looked like something out of a horror movie. We called 911; she woke

up before the paramedics arrived, and was joking with them as they

carried her out the door. At the hospital, they discovered that her

stomach lining had eroded because she'd been taking aspirin by the

handful (for generalized aches and pains); they also found blockages in

arteries in her neck, and they cleared them out. She's been taking

Lipitor for years, and swears by it. She presented to a doctor with a

blood pressure over 250 once, so she's now on a blood pressure regimen

as well.

In many ways, a case of successful aging.