Ericascheel's Blog

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ericascheel — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:15:03 +0000

This article was very informative and helpful. I am scared of death and I don’t know how to talk about it (nor do I like to). I think the section on how to be with a dying person was helpful and practical. Seeing as though many people fear death (most right up until they die), making people face it by not denying the topic and just being with the dying person is great advice. Having read that I feel more equipped to deal with a situation that could involve someone on their deathbed.

One part of the article that sparked interest in me was the section on “the reality of assisted suicide”. I knew that euthanasia was a controversial topic, but I did not know that it was only legal in Oregon, and that it still difficult to follow through with even in Oregon. I believe that the rules concerning assisted suicide should be more lax. I don’t think it’s fair to tell someone in pain, who is embracing death and is ready to die, that they cannot die on their own terms. It contradicts the notion that we should comfort the dying the best we can. Also, if we are supposed to be giving the patient as much power a possible wouldn’t assisted suicide be the ultimate power? Death is scary and I do not think anyone wants help dying unless they have reached a place where they are comfortable with death. I imagine it would take a lot of soul-searching and deep contemplation to reach the point of being ok with death. Therefore, I think assisted suicide should be a more accesible option for individuals close to death.

The Grieving Process

ericascheel — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:57:06 +0000

The article on the grieving process gives a detailed description of the grieving process that people go through when they deal with the loss of someone close to them. It describes the steps ; shock and denial, disorganization, volatile emotions, guilt, loss and lonliness, relief, and reestablishment. I think that Kavanaugh’s steps accurately describe the transition people go through when they lose someone close to them. I have never lost someone very close to me but when my best friend’s father passed away, unexpectedely, I went through some of the steps. Upon first hearing the news I was in shock in denial. I felt sick and detached from reality for a couple of days. I really was in shock until I saw the reality of the funeral. I also went through the disorganization stage. I felt out of touch with reality, especially on my way to the funeral. Because my friend’s father was not super close to me, I did not go through the other stages but I have watched my friend go through them. I agree that those are the stages one goes through, and in that order. I watched my friend go through all of the other stages over the last two years and I’d say she is finally in the final stage of reestablishment. For awhile she was extremely angry, and then it turned into excessive guilt. She kept saying things like, “if only I wasn’t at work I’d have been there with him” etc. She also felt extremely lonely at times and I noticed that she ignored all of the painful times she had with her dad and focused only on the good times. I don’t know if she ever felt relief, but she did move on to reestablishing her life without her father in the picture. Today she is so much stronger and is somewhat of a new person in light of having gone through her loss. She still goes through depressing and lonely times, but overall she has a positive outlook on things and focuses on the present and future. Wathcing my friend go through the grieving process and reading this article confirm my belief’s in Kavanaugh’s stages of grieving.

Work/retiremtn choices and lifestyle patterns of older Americans

ericascheel — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:24:35 +0000

Reading this article I was suprised at all of the negatives that retirement brought for some people. I always looked at retirement as being a joyous and exciting time for most elderly, but to learn that many elder people end up working again, some for money and some for pleasure, suprised me. I guess I never realized that retiring could be boring, especially for workaholics that once used their careers to define them as individuals. I never saw retirement as a time where one could have an identitiy crisis either. It does make sense though since it is a major life transition, I just never think about retirement. What also suprised me was the number of elder people that are considered, “formally retired”. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to retire and then return to work after a while, especially if one has to do it out of necessity. What’s even more gloomy is that those who do go back to work aren’t paid a lot, and if they do get jobs it is more challenging to get them. The fact that it is so hard for elderly people to find work is a great example of agism negatively effecting individuals. It not only hurts elders’ egos, but can hurt their wallets as well if they are trying to get a job out of necessity. It’s unfortunate that agism has to impact this part of people’s lives.

Trust and Betrayal in the older years

ericascheel — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:46:52 +0000

This article suprised me. I never really thought that stealing money and assets from one’s elderly parents was a huge problem. I was shocked to see how common it actually is. It’s really sad that so many elderly people are taken advantage of; and by their own children! What’s more, the elderly are ignored when they claim abuse and their allegations are attributed to “poor memory”. In one part of the article the question, “where is the law, where is the protection?” is pointed out. I would like to know that myself. It makes no sense to me why police cannot go and get the elderly’s money and possessions back for them. As long as there is no case of dementia reported in their past medical history, I feel that the elder person should not even be second-guessed. Of course there would have to be proof, but if the elder person really was stolen from it shouldn’t be difficult to obtain such proof. If one had dementia then it would be more complicated to prove theft. However, if more systems were put into place to prevent the stealing of one’s assets perhaps the problem would die down. Maybe a system could be put into place where the elder person always had to be present when taking money from an account and give their permission.( even when another family member is said to be in charge of the finances). It’s sad and unfortunate that families steal from their elders, especially when they are suffering from dementia. Until this issue is made more publically aware, I believe it will continue. I think that part of what makes it an easy crime to get away with is the fact that it is such an appaling and heartless crime. Most people in society gawk at the idea of it and do not think people in the world would be capable of commiting such a dishonest act against their own flesh and blood. Most are ignorant to the fact that it occurs and I think that because of that , people get away with it.

Society Fears the Aging Process

ericascheel — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:19:29 +0000

This article could not have rung more true for me. I am so scared of aging! I took this course to learn more about it in hopes that my fears would go down. I totally agree with the fact that young people are ignorant of and prejudiced towards the elderly. The media teches us to do this with all of its messages that emphasize “beauty=youth”. I can also relate to the fact that many people avoid spending time with the elderly because they view old people negatively and spending time with older people reminds us of death and illness and overall it depresses us. I had been putting off calling my grandmother to schedule lunch with her for three months. Although I love the time we spend together, it makes me sad to think that she is old and will die sooner than later. I feel absolutely awful that I think this way, but this article did clear it up for me a little bit. She seems so lonely and it depresses me to think that she has to feel this way and that I will too someday. She even told me she was lonely over the phone which made me feel even worse! Reading in print that people avoid visiting with the elderly because it makes them sad made me realize that that was why I had been avoiding my grandmother and that that was unfair and selfish of me. This article helped me understand why I feel as I do and it made my visit with her go over a little smoother. I wasn’t in such a rush to leave and do my own thing. I asked her lots of questions about her life and I just listened and enjoyed every minute I spent with her. I was also aware of my helping her open doors and I consciously tried to help without being overbearing, as I didn’t want her to feel that she was being too dependent on me. I enjoyed this article more than the others because it was relevent to me. I think this article can speak to everyone.

The Disappearing Mind

ericascheel — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:23:39 +0000

The article, “The Disappearing Mind” talks about new medicines and medicine proposals for the treatment of Alzheimer’s, particularly for the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s. I think Alzheimer’s is such a debilitating and sad disease. If these new experimental medicines that reduce amyloid buildup could actually work in humans as they do in mice, it would be such an exciting innovation. However, we are only on the horizon of that.

On another note, it’s fantastic that PET scans can now spot neuritic plaque in patients. I wonder, if these PET scans were to be conducted routinely for everyone, would that do more harm than good? Many people may not even want to know if they were in their early stages of Alzheimers. Especially since in the very early stages, it’s not debilitating and the slight changes in memory are usually attributed to normative againg. If not getting the PET scan meant one more year or so of a happy, productive life, in which one would be blissfully ignorant of the disease I think many people would rather have that. So finding out early could be a double-edged sword. On one hand, with that information one could get treatment earlier possibly delaying the progression of the disease. On the other hand, it could launch one into a state of depressionand worry. I know if I had the choice I would probably choose to not know. The statement, “Ignornance is bliss” really can ring true , and I think it especially would in a situation like this.

(Not) the Same Old Story

ericascheel — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:21:05 +0000

After reading Chuck Salter’s article, “Not the Same Old Story” I would have to say that I think the Eden Alternative Program is great. When I think of an old folks home I think of a dark, depressing place in which the elderly are poorly treated. I think that the media dramatizes how awful olf folks homes are, but only to a slight degree. I have heard horror stories about what goes on in nursing homes. Not to mention, it costs so much to send the elderly to nursing homes, which makes it even more unacceptable to me that once they are there they are treated poorly. It’s about time that someone has started the deinstitutionalization of nursing homes. Based on what I’ve learned in the previous class article I think it’s a very good thing that we’re starting to create positive and nurturing environments for the eldrely since positive attitudes promote longer,happier lives. I think it’s great that employees at the Eden Alternative programs are told to form relationships with the residents despite the former trend of keeping distance from them. Reading that made me think, “No wonder the majority of nursing home residents are lonely and sad! No one wants to get too close to them out of fear of getting hurt!” Sure it’s sad to get attached to someone shortly before they die, but everyone dies and we can die at anytime. I never knew about the beginning of the deinstitutionalization of nursing homes until I read this article, and I’m happy to see that someone kick started the process.

Article 10: We Can Control How We Age

ericascheel — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:54:50 +0000

Dr. George E. Vaillant’s Seven Keys to Aging Well were somewhat of a suprise to me. I did agree with the fact that not smoking or quitting early in life was beneficial to aging, and I also believe exercising promotes physical AND psychological well-being. However, I wouldn’t have suspected that “taking life’s ups and downs in stride” would be beneficial to one’s well-being. If that’s the case than I’m in trouble! I tend to be pessimistic more times than not and get discouraged and angry easily if things go differently than I planned. So if Dr. Vaillant is on to something, I need to lighten up! I was also suprised that a strong marriage benefited one’s physical health. Sure, a strong marriage would make one happier and more psychologically stable, but I was suprised to read that Dr. Vaillant found that it benefited people physically too.

I was a bit skeptical of this article, because it was based on the results of one study. However, if the results came about from multiple more longitutdinal studies like this one, I may become less of a skeptic.

Can We Slow Aging?

ericascheel — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:09:43 +0000

After reading this article I had a couple of thoughts. First of all, I was suprised to read that research has been conducted and has found that cutting food intake 30-30 percent in some animals slowed aging. If that had the same effects on humans, I wonder if people would willingly do it. With America being as food-obsessed as it is, I think many people would rather eat and be happy, then not eat just to slow aging a bit. I don’t think that I could restict my caloric intake by 30-40 percent given that I love food so much.

The second thing I picked up on from the reading was the discussion about resveratol. I think that the studies on animals invloving resveratol intake led to some of the hype that drinking red wine daily is good for one’s health. Reading further and seeing that one would have to drink 1,000 glasses of red wine a day to reap the health benefits of resveratol that the mice in the experiment got made me wonder why that information is not public. Because of studies that have, “proven the health benefits of red wine” people are overindulging on red wine and not taking into account the adverse effects of the alcohol in the wine which no doubt cancel out resveratol’s positive benefits. I know red wine in moderation is healthy in other aspects besides the resveratol’s effects, but I think that that information about those experiments discussed in the article needs to be spread to the public to prevent some misunderstanding.

Article 5; “Will You Live to be 100?”

ericascheel — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:51:25 +0000

After taking the quiz in article 5 I discovered that my life expectancy is 89 years. I was happy to see that, assuming that this quiz is somewhat accurate in predicting life expectancy. I wasn’t too suprised by my results, I have a lot of healthy habits. I exercise, avoid fatty foods and cigarettes, and only drink occasionally. However, I was suprised by the science behind some of the quiz questions. For example, I didn’t know that chronic gum disease (which can form from not flossing) can contribute to later heart disease! I also do not know too much about my ancestor’s lives and how old they lived to be. If I knew that I could probably predict my life expectancy better. I liked taking this quiz because it shed light on some of my living habits.