Exhaustipated

[BrianK]

True story:

I always ask patients how they are doing, or "What's new?" every time I walk in the treatment room. A standard response is, "Well, I checked the obituaries this morning, and I wasn't in there."

One guy always said, "I'm vertical and taking nutrition." Another guy routinely says, "I'm looking down at the grass and not up at the roots."

A couple months ago one little old lady deadpanned, "These are supposed to be my 'Golden Years.' The only thing golden about my 'Golden Years' is my pee."

But this morning, I had a patient who said he was "exhaustipated." He said he's just too tired to give a crap.

 

[begreen]

Dunno what it means doc, but exhaustipated sounds like a plumbing problem with something not coming out in the end.

 

[Blue Vomit]

Yup, too tired to poop.

 

[webbie]

People would live 100% differently if we were all taught the truth about life.


Look at the names they give it "golden years" , "Silver and Gold Anniversaries", "leisure and retirement".......

The truth of the matter is that many of us who live in the semi-normal world (family, friends, etc) are likely to see a bunch of BIG changes starting at about 55 or so. They include, but are not limited to:

1. Our own health going downhill (this may or may not happen - some is luck and some is personal responsibility). But even if we remain healthy, it's usually not the "wake up and feel like running a marathon" type of healthy - more like "a hot shower, coffee, a couple pills and moving around will have me feeling normal by noon".

You may be watching those cialis or low-T commercials and thinking.....hmmmm.....

2. A realization that most of it is all downhill from here. This is not always a bad thing, because if you read my other points, you may determine that pushing daisies may not be so bad.

3. Understanding, if you have a sense of responsibility, that you are not probably in the "Sandwich" Generation, meaning that your parents are probably sicker than you are and may need your help and care - AND, depending on how much you have bred, your children may need a LOT of support from you (for a myriad of things, from disease to accidents to relationships, etc.).

4. Seeing the funerals of many of your peers broadcast on Facebook.

On the other hand, you have probably accumulated the talents and wisdom to help many people in many ways.....including yourself. BUT, many who should be asking your advice are NOT, so you have to end up trying to hold up the world because your charges made stupid decisions without asking you.

I could go on. But that could get depressing.

 

[BrianK]

Being in a geriatric specialty, what is truly amazing is the joy so many of my patients experience and share even in the midst of physical and sometimes mental decline and suffering. It's a privilege to work with the elderly. I wish our generation and those behind me (I was born in '66) appreciated that more

However I would have to say this was more true of the generation I treated when I started practice in the 1990s. They survived WWI and the Great Depression and had a simpler and more appreciative way about them. They were in a word a more noble generation. I would like to say the Greatest Generation shares this trait, but they don't. They are more entitlement minded, more closed in on themselves, and they simply don't hold a candle to that prior generation in nobility and wisdom and just basic goodness. There are notable exceptions of course but as a whole this seems true.

 

[begreen]

Interesting insight Brian.

 

[webbie]

My MIL is 94 and is of the true depression generation...is very tight with a penny and very happy, despite being about the only one of her peers still alive. If someone gave her a million, she would live no differently....

I think she is of the generation Brian is referring to.

My folks, on the other hand, are only 10-12 years younger yet their early life was all about striving for the materials (as well as family/kids) big wins. They were caught up in that post-war growth spurt where it seemed everyone pined for a fancy car (or 2) and a house in the bubs, etc.
Now that they are over 80, they are starting to see the benefit of less.....now they won't buy anything unless it is as Costco or Wally World...

There is some truth in those generalizations - but don't forget there have been a lot of generations since!

My own generation runs both ends. On one hand we have MANY saints (the 60's!) who saw and rejected all the crazy post-war materialism. But there are MANY MANY who fell into it and never got out. Still, I was lucky enough to fall in with a group of folks who at least aspired to greatness - greatness, in their opinion, being service to others. The Facebook funeral thing, although meant somewhat as a funny, referred to one Saint who was buried this week. This was a dude who taught me carpentry and many other things. He and his wife could not have kids so they took in unwanted children and raised them as their own. That's just a tad of what he was.

It's a funny thing. The really great people in this world are often the ones you would never hear about. It's a heck of a lot harder dealing in the trenches 24/7 with unwanted kids than giving speeches and getting awards.

Anyway, I'm gonna smile and keep moving today! One of my hearth industry friends who is about 7 years older than I and quite wise says that is the secret - "keep moving". I see his point. I am never happier than when my hands are on a drill, snow shovel or helping someone do something.

 

[BrianK]

My MIL is 94 and is of the true depression generation...is very tight with a penny and very happy, despite being about the only one of her peers still alive. If someone gave her a million, she would live no differently....

One of the things I've heard most often, the thing that is most striking, is that this depression generation says, "We were really poor, but we didn't know we were poor. That's how everyone lived, and we were happy, and we helped each other." And they don't regret growing up that way. They learned to be self reliant and independent.

I have this display set up in one of my treatment rooms:

You should see how the eyes of those who grew up in the depression light up when they see these. They remember their parents fixing their own shoes. They were so poor they couldn't afford new shoes, but these shoe lasts, which most families owned, bring back fond memories, not bitter ones, for them.

My own generation runs both ends. On one hand we have MANY saints ...

The really great people in this world are often the ones you would never hear about.

Amen.

 

[firefighterjake]

Being in a geriatric specialty, what is truly amazing is the joy so many of my patients experience and share even in the midst of physical and sometimes mental decline and suffering. It's a privilege to work with the elderly. I wish our generation and those behind me (I was born in '66) appreciated that more

However I would have to say this was more true of the generation I treated when I started practice in the 1990s. They survived WWI and the Great Depression and had a simpler and more appreciative way about them. They were in a word a more noble generation. I would like to say the Greatest Generation shares this trait, but they don't. They are more entitlement minded, more closed in on themselves, and they simply don't hold a candle to that prior generation in nobility and wisdom and just basic goodness. There are notable exceptions of course but as a whole this seems true.

When I ran on the ambulance I always liked treating older patients better than the young ones . . . as a rule most of the seniors who called 911 often needed the service whereas many of the young ones simply were sick with the flu and after several days of puking decided they needed to be seen by a doctor . . . at 2 or 3 in the morning.

Also . . . as a rule . . . seniors are tough. You could poke 'em, prod 'em and know they've got to be in pain, but they would just grimace and suck it up to the point where you would want to try to make them more comfortable whereas the 18-24 year olds would whine and cry about everything . . . some would even yell out in "pain" from having the blood pressure cuff inflate.

Two examples: Got called to a home where an elderly woman was throwing up what looked like dried coffee grounds. Her frail husband was all apologetic, but said he couldn't drive and didn't know what to do. Poor woman had been doing this for days. As some of you may or may not know, the dried "coffee grounds" in vomit is a classic sign of internal bleeding.

On another call I had a guy in his 30s who told the EMT I was with that he didn't want an IV since he hated needles and the pain . . . which was fine until you looked down and saw the classic needle track design on his lower arm. Guess it depended on what was in the needle . . .

As a rule . . . I like old people better . . . probably why I like Dennis so much.

 

[webbie]

One of the things I've heard most often, the thing that is most striking, is that this depression generation says, "We were really poor, but we didn't know we were poor.

You should see how the eyes of those who grew up in the depression light up when they see these. They remember their parents fixing their own shoes. They were so poor they couldn't afford new shoes, but these shoe lasts, which most families owned, bring back fond memories, not bitter ones, for them.
.

I remember when some of my cohorts did volunteer work in Central America. They came back and told us that people actually straighten bent nails that they remove from old lumber - and reuse them! That puts things in perspective!

When it comes to shoes and clothes, though, I make them rags before I do away with them. Put it this way - my cast-offs are so bad that the charities don't want them!





I told my wife "look around at the poor folks - they are dressed better than us - they don't want our crap".


Luckily, those old T's make good rags.

 

[firefighterjake]

I remember when some of my cohorts did volunteer work in Central America. They came back and told us that people actually straighten bent nails that they remove from old lumber - and reuse them! That puts things in perspective!

When it comes to shoes and clothes, though, I make them rags before I do away with them. Put it this way - my cast-offs are so bad that the charities don't want them!





I told my wife "look around at the poor folks - they are dressed better than us - they don't want our crap".


Luckily, those old T's make good rags.

Same here . . . my boxer shorts get recycled into shop rags when it gets to the point where I could go to the bathroom and could probably get away without even hauling them down around my ankles due to the large holes in them. T-shirts are the same way . . . when I can apply anti-perspirant to the pits simply by holding up my arm and using the large holes there I figure it's time for the T-shirt to be re-born as a shop rag.

 

[webbie]

Please bleach them well before you let others use them in the shop!

 

[fossil]

I remember when some of my cohorts did volunteer work in Central America. They came back and told us that people actually straighten bent nails that they remove from old lumber - and reuse them! That puts things in perspective!

When I was a kid I helped my grandfather do the same thing. Living through the Great Depression taught folks to reuse everything they possibly could. Rick

 

[webbie]

older is happier, i guess
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/neil-seeman/older-happy_b_2521939.html?

 

[BrianK]

older is happier, i guess
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/neil-seeman/older-happy_b_2521939.html?

Great article! It definitely correlates with what I have observed since I started practice 20 years ago.

From the article:

Maybe world views change with maturity. You get wise and realize, by the time you reach your 80s, that possessions and earthly glory don't count. It's the emotional-spiritual dimension that really matters.

Very astute observation.

 

[Jack Straw]

I have been having stomach problems for 3 weeks now, I know what exhaustipated and diarrheatired means, and that's all I'm gonna say about that.

 

[begreen]

Sorry to hear that Jack. Always thought of you as such a regular guy.

Hope you get better soon.