14 Comments

When Dan had surgery, his body recovered in a short period of time, but his memory never did. When I had surgery for a detached retina, I asked questions, talked with the anesthetist beforehand, and voiced my concerns - there was no problem.

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Oh god that sucks - being a new retired baby boomer that is the part that worries me the most - heard enough stories of people like your husband - healthy happy and than wham - some weird illness and "gone", figuratively speaking.

Have you seen the Netflix series on how to a 100, aka the blue zones? It's really good!

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Hi Rob, I've heard about blue zones, but haven't seen the NetFlex series. I will check into it further. Thanks so much!

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I second that suggestion. A very eye opening documentary.

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Highly recommended - very well done!

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Love the llama

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Thanks, Janice. This is important information to have.

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Wow, Janice. I am so glad I have my son to advocate for me. I will copy this post for him , so he will know what he is up against.

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My 92-yo father became combative whenever he needed hospital care following his stroke. Because of that, the hospital regularly gave him Haldol, a drug used to treat schizophrenia. It knocked him out for days. They continued to give it to him, even though we asked them not to and to make a note of it in his chart. I suspect that contributed to his decline, as did the recurring UTIs, and being in isolation from a shingles outbreak (a disease that he never had in his younger days).

Elder medical care is appalling.

Thank you for this article.

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One of my disagreements with the hospital was the amount of medications they gave Dan. Prior to his hospitalization, he took no prescription drugs, they gave him three full pages of drugs while he was there. I admit, he was combative and difficult - he was scared - so that may have been part of it, but I knew better and could do nothing.

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Thank you, Janice, for this very valuable info. I was not aware of any of this and so appreciate you sharing!

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Cherie, I had no clue about any of it either. Then, the surgery happened so fast that I wasn't prepared in many ways.

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I so wholeheartedly agree with you. I go to holistic doctors when I can, rather than conventional medicine doctors. It is heartbreaking, I know. I felt that the hospital my dad was taken to (when he was 92 and had fallen when getting out of bed in his retirement home) basically killed him. It started with dehydration, they only gave him a thick liquid and wouldn’t let him have water. Supposedly he failed their bogus “swallow test”, so they wouldn’t give him water. It all got worse from there. I’m so sorry for your experience. I think that sadly, many people have these experiences in our medical system and our hospital systems.

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Hi Karen, I think you're right, unfortunately. It is in our best interest to be as fully informed as we can be.

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