tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post3446024889429115882..comments2024-03-29T09:54:57.650+00:00Comments on Going Gently: The Flip SideJohn Going Gentlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-67379835247124712612016-08-31T22:04:20.234+00:002016-08-31T22:04:20.234+00:00My Mum is 86 and she goes twice a week to two diff...My Mum is 86 and she goes twice a week to two different homes to play for the "oldies". She even takes requests for some old tune and spends all week practicing it. Piano is excellent for keeping the brain active. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12605358521258969537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-37351406964442852122016-08-31T04:05:50.319+00:002016-08-31T04:05:50.319+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Millicenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00310566458995263259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-16673996919518467422016-08-31T03:50:20.431+00:002016-08-31T03:50:20.431+00:00Thank you for who you are and for caring John.
I c...Thank you for who you are and for caring John.<br />I care for my younger mentally challenged sister. My biggest fear is she will end up up in one of those horrible places. My daily prayer is for strength, patience and to live 5 minutes longer than she. I am 10 years older. Millicenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00310566458995263259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-70706608409344133972016-08-30T23:29:10.427+00:002016-08-30T23:29:10.427+00:00Lets hope we never have to experience the same sys...Lets hope we never have to experience the same system carol xJohn Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-1655182938364261522016-08-30T22:50:08.869+00:002016-08-30T22:50:08.869+00:00We have many sub standard homes for the elderly he...We have many sub standard homes for the elderly here in the US. But some are trying hard to do a difficult and thankless job. My sister who is 83 landed in a very good facility even though she has little money. I am grateful every time I visit. I have no fear of enging my days in a home. I have a real fear of my family having to take care of me.Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03183553318309692138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-19424792317531703552016-08-30T22:30:42.824+00:002016-08-30T22:30:42.824+00:00The situation here is much the same. You may not g...The situation here is much the same. You may not get the softest toilet paper in the public system, but it is very accountable, which is why politicians prefer that it was all private.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-6385099559558632662016-08-30T20:13:12.635+00:002016-08-30T20:13:12.635+00:00Number one: you are in the right place and I am gl...Number one: you are in the right place and I am glad you have these thoughts at all. Please don't get burned out!!<br />Number two: the state of things when it comes to care, both at hospitals and at home, is a miserable story. Luckily, there are places where people actually get treated like persons, with respect and dignity. Here in Sweden we often say that when we grow old and need to leave our houses we'll move to Denmark....even here it helps if you belong to a certain standard or have some money in the bank. But the danish, always treated with some suspicion, knows that people still have needs when they grow old, and most of them are even still people!!!<br />We have good healthcare, in comparison. It's the way we treat patients and clinical staff that is a failure. Absurd workingschedules, ridiculous wages, unbelievable political decisions ... well, I'm still glad there are nurses like you, John.Fairtraderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02517527131786415943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-43194792652689038902016-08-30T16:56:45.357+00:002016-08-30T16:56:45.357+00:00There's a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine t...There's a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine this week of two Eskimos setting an elderly person afloat on an ice floe. It's obviously a commentary about global climate change because one Eskimo is saying to the other that they're going to run out of ice floes for the Boomers. :)TexasTrailerParkTrashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02299289643138589897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-73645081324077889892016-08-30T15:08:22.956+00:002016-08-30T15:08:22.956+00:00Little victories can be just as sweet as big ones ...Little victories can be just as sweet as big ones eh? XJohn Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-36532270705317234042016-08-30T15:07:24.791+00:002016-08-30T15:07:24.791+00:00Just the me thinks Just the me thinks John Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-81349598032098703002016-08-30T15:06:56.500+00:002016-08-30T15:06:56.500+00:00Indeed YP IT WAS UNHEARD OF when i was a ladIndeed YP IT WAS UNHEARD OF when i was a ladJohn Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-51453337257932603812016-08-30T15:05:25.025+00:002016-08-30T15:05:25.025+00:00I think this post may be pertinent to bloggers we ...I think this post may be pertinent to bloggers we are all roughly of a certain ageJohn Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-15453571215181000092016-08-30T15:04:21.312+00:002016-08-30T15:04:21.312+00:00I am reminded here of my own mother.....who had go...I am reminded here of my own mother.....who had good to adequate care in her care home. A home she hatedJohn Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-39144505354651498242016-08-30T15:03:11.680+00:002016-08-30T15:03:11.680+00:00Not read that one.....off to google itNot read that one.....off to google itJohn Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-26794317334924090532016-08-30T15:02:30.605+00:002016-08-30T15:02:30.605+00:00Thank you for this.
I too dont want to be that old...Thank you for this.<br />I too dont want to be that old bloke at the end of the bar.<br />I aim to " go" a littleyounger ......failing that im off on the ice flows like the eskimos John Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-72630926888330325402016-08-30T13:39:02.056+00:002016-08-30T13:39:02.056+00:00I volunteer at a US Veteran's Hospital on Sund...I volunteer at a US Veteran's Hospital on Sundays. I do a coffee shop in the morning along with having newspapers and the occasional doughnuts. If there isn't a bus trip, I take anyone who's interested to RC church. Afterwards, we have bingo sponsored by a visiting group or by the recreational therapy department at which we award canteen books as prizes. I've watched the ranks of WWII veterans thin out. Now, I'm watching the same thing happen to Korean War veterans. I also see the Vietnam veterans, many of whom have had legs amputated due to diabetes, which I attribute to Agent Orange. The reason I started doing it was that my mother was in a nursing home. The dementia caught up to her and she just stared off. She stopped reacting to the cream puffs and eclairs and pineapple sundaes my son and I would bring to her. I'm so proud of my son. Never once did he say "Dad, I don't want to go." or "Dad, why do we have to go there?" or "Dad, I want to go now.". Never once. As my mother declined, I knew I'd have to find something else to do. I didn't want to turn into that lonely old guy sitting at the end of the bar at a gay bar. I was too damned old for that and I cared about myself and I suppose my pride. I also knew it wouldn't set a very good example for my son. And that's how I started volunteering at the VA hospital. My mother died a couple months later. It's been almost 10 years and I'm still doing it. I hope to do it until, well, until I no longer can. When I can't, maybe then I'll know it's time to go. carlnepahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05840845700615739547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-75800766960878939222016-08-30T13:35:11.053+00:002016-08-30T13:35:11.053+00:00In the midst of all sorts of political controversy...In the midst of all sorts of political controversy over here in the States about medical care, it was very interesting to read your post and the earlier comments. <br /><br />I am wondering if you've read Nina Stibbe's Paradise Lodge. It is mostly set within a care home...with financial issues.Franceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08352407314710067616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-3060657152281591702016-08-30T13:00:56.304+00:002016-08-30T13:00:56.304+00:00I visited the aunt of a friend, abandoned by her c...I visited the aunt of a friend, abandoned by her children to a home with the substandard care you describe. It was sad and depressing. Sadder than the smell, and the obvious ill care of the woman, her pleasure at meeting someone who could tell her of her family, though she had never met me.Joanne Noragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16601010208310707750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-71140182908809187832016-08-30T12:06:21.518+00:002016-08-30T12:06:21.518+00:00Frightening isn't it.It's one reason (amon...Frightening isn't it.It's one reason (amongst many others) to make sure that you keep fit, eat a proper diet, take plenty of excercise, & keep mentally alert,so that you don't end up in one of these places in your old age. Sadly My MiL is in one, like Andi's English Attic's, and the situation is very similar. She's the only one that has a daily newspaper delivered and tries to keep up with what's going on, even though she suffers from dementia, the rest are all in the armchairs watching (or not!) rubbish on the telly. I'd rather die than end up in one of these places. Thank God for people like you John, and your agency nurse colleague.Sue Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16463317651625459406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-8029231628522791182016-08-30T11:10:01.980+00:002016-08-30T11:10:01.980+00:00My MiL is in a care home. Just last Sunday she wa...My MiL is in a care home. Just last Sunday she was telling me that the old ladies who just sit and stare into space all day start tapping their fingers when my MiL practices the piano (only scales) where they sit. Otherwise, these ladies are just dumped in the armchair every day with the tv playing. It's very sad. It makes me wish I could play the piano so I could go up there sometimes and play for them.Andi's English Attichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04136573194920355678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-91349139028554043662016-08-30T11:05:54.000+00:002016-08-30T11:05:54.000+00:00I wouldn't think those places he spoke of woul...I wouldn't think those places he spoke of would be able to keep good staff for very long.only slightly confusedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08165115156889904978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-80954190678015884422016-08-30T10:46:07.536+00:002016-08-30T10:46:07.536+00:00I bet you can remember a time when agency staff we...I bet you can remember a time when agency staff were very rare in hospitals. Why have these agencies been allowed to blossom at public expense? Hospitals, like schools, need staff who are committed to particular institutions - not floating around from job to job. Obviously this is largely the fault of the system but there are "professionals" out there who prefer not to commit. Dip in. Grab the money and go. At least that's how it seems to me.Yorkshire Puddinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06019673884543913089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-44013020313689519192016-08-30T10:22:36.891+00:002016-08-30T10:22:36.891+00:00These are the tales (the ones you were told) which...These are the tales (the ones you were told) which we want to blank out of our minds as though they didn't happen - especially for those of us approaching, or already in, our 'twilight' years, and have no money to finance a greater likelihood of comfort and better care in our declining stages. It's pretty scary. But you already appreciate that.Raybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12424095016313843883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-16052407251364407412016-08-30T10:14:54.995+00:002016-08-30T10:14:54.995+00:00I was in the best - J remarked that I was in the &...I was in the best - J remarked that I was in the "good insurance wing" and the care varied with who the nurse was. Some were very good, some - - - well I am still not ready to talk about. Travelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07787024407420088973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20303812.post-54799812535407017202016-08-30T09:34:47.523+00:002016-08-30T09:34:47.523+00:00variable here also; money talks and gets the best ...variable here also; money talks and gets the best care available.anne marie in phillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11765140782182605141noreply@blogger.com