“I started as a nurses aid at 17 yrs old, and immediately loved working with seniors.  Little did I know at the time, it would be my life’s work.  I have spent my adult life advocating for better treatment and care of our elder generation.  I have witnessed excellent care and treatment, horrible care and everything in between.  I have spent thousands of hours in conversation with senior’s and their families.  There have been countless conversations about senior living, and all that entails.   These conversations have been joyful, and tearful, but one thing remains the same, it isn’t easy living as a senior. 

Imagine for a moment….

Imagine losing your abilities.  Not being able to participate in activities that bring you joy because you are declining physically.  The hands that once painted, wrote, or played golf, are now arthritic, or shake from Parkinson’s disease.  The legs that carried you from one place to the next without a thought, are now weak, painful, or  too swollen to move you.  The eyes you used to maneuver yourself around, read, watch TV, or drive are slowly deteriorating to blindness from macular degeneration.  The bowels and bladder that used to alert you to void no longer alert you because you are stricken with dementia, an enlarged prostate, diabetic complications, or muscle weakness due to age.  The thoughts and memory that you could count on daily are slowly being stolen from you by the devastating and life changing disease of Alzheimer’s.

Imagine losing your independence.  Your doctor and family telling you, you can no longer drive, or live alone.  Having to count on other people to take you to the store, the hairdresser, a restaurant, or a doctor appointment.  Being moved from your friends and  the home you love, to be closer to your children, or into a facility because you’re no longer safe alone.  Now just for a minute imagine being in a facility that tells you when you wake up, eat your meals, have a shower, take a nap, enjoy an activity, and go to bed.  Imagine dwindling your possessions to the few that will fit in your room, and sharing your personal space and bathroom with a stranger.

Imagine losing your place in a conversation, forgetting to eat or bathe, not remembering how to get home, or what your son or daughter’s name is, and realizing a disease called Alzheimer’s is stealing your life.  Imagine losing your social life because you can no longer drive,  you are incontinent and too embarrassed to go out, or your friends are dying, one after another.  Imagine losing your spouse, the best friend you  talk to, confide in, share meals with, and spend your days with.  Imagine the depression that can take a hold of you because you are having such difficulty adjusting to these losses.

This is not the life of every senior by any means.  Many seniors are healthy, independent, and are enjoying life.  The fact is the life I describe above is all too common and real for countless seniors.  Illnesses and injuries don’t discriminate.  The healthiest person can have a life changing event in an instant, such as a stroke, or a head injury from a fall.  The most accomplished and successful people are devastated by Alzheimer’s disease.  The truth is we don’t know what our aging future holds.