The beauty and wisdom of age and illness

A recent event in ‘my life’ has been another of those treasures that are witnessed all too rarely in society as it is at the moment. It feels natural to share it with people who would probably see what is being said here clearly for the positive in it.

I have recently been helping to look after an elderly person who has become unwell, managing things like preparing meals, helping with medication, etc. Confidentiality is maintained here, as no person that I know reads Ode unfortunately – well, not yet anyway – and I have not said whether the person is male or female. And the person concerned has also agreed to have their recent story written in this way and to appear on the website.) There had been a recent rapid deterioration in mental faculties, leading to weakness in the body and confusion in those areas of Life taken somewhat for granted, e.g. recognition of the day of the week, time of the day, remembering most recent events.

As the illness has progressed, many health professionals have become more involved with this person. The family have been rather dismayed by the decline, and have been unsure about how to approach the situation. However, in the last three days, there has been a significant improvement in the situation, leading to a gradual recovery of sense of time and memory in particular. It has been a joy to observe the unfolding of this, as I have ‘known’ this person for many years and it has been a privilege to share this lifetime with them.

The important parts of the story are these. Firstly, the modern medical professionals started communicating with me and others involved in the person’s care, including the family. And although in some countries this may be seen as commonplace, it is still a rarity in the U.K. And it is this combination of medical professionals listening to others – and the person concerned despite her obvious confusion – and using their medical knowledge, and the common ‘care’ of those who know and love them (preparing nutritious food, sitting with them and simply talking to them), that has brought about the beginning of a recovery in this person. Secondly, throughout their period of apparent ‘decline’, there has been laughter, wisdom and dignity shining forth from them at times when these may have been least expected.

I suppose the bottom lines here are that:

• the ‘complex’ and the ‘simple’ have to come together as a whole to improve people’s lives. The drug medicine and the ‘love medicine’ both have their place;
• dignity is always with all of us all of the time, even in what seem like the darkest and most difficult times;
• to ‘care’ is an intrinsic part of our true nature, but is so often overlooked in the story of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Be your true nature in all things, and watch the ‘outside’ change with the ‘inside’ – then there is beauty in all things, even illness!