Aging, Medicine, Continuous Care Retirement Communities and "Old Dogs"

For almost 17 years my Mom has been living in a Continuous Care Retirement Community (CCRC).  My Dad was with her for the first three years before he passed away due to complications related to cancer.  Mom coordinated volunteers at the community's shop for thirteen years.  I frequently helped her create the calendars and send them to all the volunteers involved.  We used a Macintosh computer and had lots of fun with it.

Mom lived in her own apartment with her dog for the first thirteen years at the CCRC and has lived in an assisted living unit for the last four years.  Two of her former volunteers live on the same floor she does and I saw the names of two more volunteers living in the medical wing of the CCRC on the floor below Mom's apartment.

Innovations in medicine contribute to the extension of quality of life and I have seen it with my parents.  Last year Mom was accidentally given a dose of medication for another resident.  I was there almost as soon as it happened.  I contacted the pharmacy and was relieved to learn that most of the medicine would not have a negative impact on Mom.  She was "out of it" for about 24-hours, then recovered well as the foreign medicines left her system.

The movie Old Dogs I found to be very funny and fun to watch.  Part of the movie has the two main characters, Robin Williams and John Travolta, accidentally taking the wrong medicine and shows side effects that made me laugh out loud.  I take my own medicine (more vitamins than prescriptions) twice a day and have set-up my Mother's medicine for years.  (Her medicine is now packaged by a local pharmacy for distribution at the CCRC.)

Mom will be 95 in December and her medicine and the CCRC are contributing to her high quality of life at this point in her life.  I am happy to be sharing this quality time with her.