The one thing that most senior citizens don’t like is change. Every day we are scrambling to keep up with changes – changes in words and word meaning, changes in landscapes, communication methods and most of all, change in the medical world.
Take words and changes in their meaning as an example. We had cellars. Today we have basements. We had a door yard but today we have lawns. In our youth the word “gay” meant happy or cheerful. Now it is used to describe sexual orientation. Some of the kids in our classrooms years ago, who may not have been able to understand the class lessons, were described not unkindly as “slow.” Today they are “special needs” or “challenged.”
New words arrive on our linguistic doorstep every day. Whoever heard of text messaging? An iPod or rap music? A hard drive is what our dirt roads used to produce. We thought air mail was the fastest way to send a message, but that’s history.
Skylines and landscapes change daily. Going for a ride in an old neighborhood may only be a mental exercise, once one has viewed a new development, building or cleared area. The clotheslines have disappeared along clothespins and the trees from whence they came.
I’m still dealing with the newest theme for making my life better – going green. Didn’t we do this in the 1960s? Didn’t my generation start something called Earth Day, which set the standards for care of the earth for the future, resulting in environmental protection. Greening America has a redundant ring to it. I think those of us in the graying generation have been here before and this may be a change we are already embracing. Some of us view the tag “green” on anything from a new building to dish soap as a gimmick, but whatever it’s called, the goal of protecting Mother Earth is worth it.
One of the most difficult changes each of us who is older faces routinely, is the not so subtle responsibility we’ve accepted for our health care. For decades, we depended on someone at our doctor’s office to keep track of our health. Now we get involved in it more than we want and we ourselves have to keep track of what is being done.
We remember a general practitioner, the family doctor, to whom anyone in the family would go with any ailment. It didn’t matter if Aunt Tillie was having “spells” or the baby had a fever. The doctor would fix it. Doctors delivered babies, often in the home, and they took care of those babies and the other family members through old age.
Today we have primary care doctors who listen to a patient’s symptoms and as often as not, refer the patient to a specialist. The specialist diagnoses, more paperwork is produced, and off we go to a third appointment. Often this visit results in some kind of lab work, after which yet a fourth place will be visited. Then it’s back to the primary care doctor for the treatment plan.
Recently, I found out that patients sometimes need to pick up X-rays or lab results and take them to the third referral. There is so much responsibility laid on the patient, it’s a good idea to take a friend with you to the doctor’s, so there will be someone taking notes to which I guarantee you will refer.
We are given slips of paper with which we make appointments. Years ago, a doctor or dentist (and mine still does this) would remind a patient of an appointment. Today it is often left up to the patient. And in the midst of all the traveling, and the inevitable paperwork to be completed, one wonders if all these medical specialists keep in touch. Does the left hand know what the right hand has done? Often I’ve asked one doctor if another doctor had sent a report only to find out they have not.
About a month ago, I called my doctor’s office (primary care) to find out the results of some lab work I’d had done a week prior. This is a routine procedure, as a result of heart surgery, and I’ve been doing this for a dozen years. I was told they couldn’t tell me the results because the computer was down. It’s bad enough to hear this from the phone company, but very frustrating in a medical setting. I asked if someone could just take a look in my folder at that report, but again I had to face the change that “all the records have been put into the computer” and I’d have to wait. They were very polite, but the computer ruled. This delayed my making an appointment (as I’d been instructed to do) and probably helped my blood pressure go up. Good thing I’ve got those pills.
I don’t know about you, but I think the change in health care is amazing. Improvements in care and new techniques have resulted in increased life spans and healthier older people. Nowadays, I have confidence that the medical professionals with whom I have many dealings will be able to help me. Of course, you have to get used to the fact that most of them seem very young, but it’s just another change and we can deal with it.
Frankly, I think senior citizens deal with change much better than the younger generation. We know we can get through a few hours or even days without electricity, for example. Have you observed the antics of the younger folks when they find out the TV isn’t working?
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