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When I was in high school, there was a sign at the end of the locker room, which we’d see as we were running out of the building toward the football field: “Pain Is Temporary. Pride Is Forever.” It’s one of those dumb and inspiring things you believe at 15, and it seemed true. Even when you were in pain from a big hit, your coaches and teammates would remind you that “you’re not in pain” and to “suck it up!” Pain was subjective, invisible to everyone but the sufferer, and somehow seemingly shameful. As the years went by, the pride that came from beating our rivals faded, but pain—both its presence, and the idea that it was both private and a sign of weakness—persisted.
The word ergonomics comes from the Greek words “ergon” (work), and “nomoi” (natural laws)—it’s the science of making our environment work well with the ‘laws’ set by our body and its physical capabilities. But as we get older, the ‘laws’ that our body sets start to change, and that alters the way we work, see, and move. What’s ‘ergonomic’ for someone in their 30s could be completely different than what’s ‘ergonomic’ for someone from an older generation.
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Aging has transformed remarkably over the last few generations. It wasn’t very long ago that aging comfortably was a luxury reserved for the lucky few. A longer life often meant penury and misery, not to mention ill-health. Advances in medicine began to change that, as getting older no longer just meant sickness. More importantly, Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy sought to stamp out the scourge of our retirees living in poverty because they could no longer work, had no source of income, and their pensions were small or nonexistent. Social Security, Medicare, and other advancements meant that retiring and getting older was a new beginning—not an end.
During my career as an RN, I worked in a busy emergency department. One day I answered a call light from a patient whose assigned nurse was busy. When I walked into the room, the woman, close to my age and visibly pregnant, was obviously embarrassed. “I’ve been coughing,” she said, “and I’m so sorry, but I wet the bed.” I assured her that this happens all the time and was nothing to be embarrassed of—and I wasn’t lying. Urinary incontinence, the loss of bladder control, is a condition that affects many, many people, and elderly incontinence is very common. It very likely affects your aging loved one because, like pregnancy, aging is one of the contributing factors for having bladder control issues.
When we were kids, my mom bought a brand new popcorn maker. This was, in the early 80s, the height of popcorn technology: a round base on which you poured oil and the popcorn, a handle that spun around to move the kernels, and a clear dome that held in the popcorn as it exploded, a process children could gleefully watch. It was a simple machine, which means that it was virtually indestructible. Eventually my mom, who stopped eating popcorn, gave it to me. Recently my wife asked if I wanted to throw it out, to get a new one that popped cleaner and with less oil. I was surprised at my vehemence. How could we throw this away?
On January 8th, David Bowie released his 25th full-length studio album, Blackstar. Many of its songs had already been released, including the haunting new single “Lazarus,” whose video shows Bowie in a hospital, often floating above his bed, before retreating into an armoire. Jan 8th was also his 69th birthday, making it a truly remarkable day in music history. On Sunday night, David Bowie died, of cancer, a sickness he had been battling in private for nearly two years.
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