Now You Know What it Feels Like – hmmmppph!  OR Five ways to empathize with your aging patient

Ever hear that?  Fell down on the black ice – hurt my, ahem, bottomside (what side is that anyway, doesn’t it matter which way you land?).  Anyway – so I call my friend, and say ‘I really hurt my hip and my back goes ‘squeak’’ to which she replies, ‘see, now you know what it feels like.’  I guess she means that she always has hip and back pain and I’m just not tuned in to it.

It’s difficult sometimes to know what someone is going through if you’ve never been there before.  We, as caregivers, can get frustrated by this at times.  So, here’s five ways to empathize with your aging patient:

1. Put on really thick gloves and write your name, or better yet, open that pill bottle.
2. Put some soap on your glasses and write your name, or read those instructions one more time.
3. Here’s something I did as a kid, but it works here too…. Take a hand mirror, place it in front of you like a tray and walk through your rooms looking down into it. 
4. Wear your sunglasses at night, inside your house and sort out your aspirin from your non-aspirin.
5. And lastly, if you have a long bathrobe, put it on, don’t grab hold of it, and try walking down the stairs.

So, now that you can’t pick anything up, (1), or see because it’s fuzzy (2) or really, really dark (4) – and you’re hungry, but can’t seem to make it to the kitchen because your perception is a bit off and you feel a little imbalanced (3), or truly can’t quite make it down the stairs (5), Now You Know What It Feels Like!

I always center myself with a few deep breaths, and calibrate my feelings when I know I’m going to visit “Alice” – these little reminders work like a charm.