on being elderly

on being elderly

 

 

 

arrogant physicians

with clumsy manner

and sometimes equally inept hands

 

diagnoses all over the charts

like roughly sketched treasure maps

feeling the incisions

of errant decisions,

 

we escape into anesthesia's woods

hoping to come out the other side

with elegant scars

and no poison ivy contrition 

 

lamenting our faith

in the Hippocratic oath

which often seems like

swearing on a seldom opened

Bible,

 

we are reeling from the feeling

that we are not really healing

 

just mis-believing     

in not-so miracle cures

and poor etiquette added in

for good measure.

 

 

erin-cilberto

4/23/16

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

bad day at the Docs eh!? i do not yet consider myself elderly, but remember clearly how "old" i thought my grand dad was when he visited us at the age of 65 ... it actually was quite old in those days as men living past 50 was doing pretty good ... for me your poem points out so vividly the need for us to be and have advocates in all areas of life but especially in the filed of medicine ... so easy to push the pill button .. gloss over the art of touch ..compassion and listening .. i am fearful that the situation under the grand blanket of socialist medicine will only worsen as physicians come under more time and money constraints ... up close and personal write sir! well said says i!
E.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, age expectations much higher these days...my dad is 96....and i still like a kid at 65...but it is different now...no doubt about it...thank you for your insightful words, E.

j.

[Einstein Noodle]

God bless your marvelous Dad! ...the eldest of my family members (my Aunt) just passed away last month ..about a week away from her 109th B-Day! :) what a lady ...lived at home all the way but for her last week in a hospital after a heart attack :( what a great thing we are living better and for so long!
E.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

oh my, 109...that is amazing...amazing.

[Lydia Shutter]

"we are reeling from the feeling
that we are not really healing"

OH YEA! I can not tell you how often doctors told my mother, aunt, mother in law...."well, what do you expect at HER age?" I expected to be given some real facts, but they were not forthcoming. Unfortunately, after a certain age, many doctors just go through the motions with patients. Marcus Welby, M.D. and Dr. Kildare do not exist. Wonderful write, Jacob. Lydi**

[jacob erin-cilberto]

that was how it was with my folks...yes...thank you, lydi..
j.

[Pryde Foltz]

The primary tool of healing is love ... sounds trite ... but without it one may keep her life but there will be no living it. Powerful write here, Jacob:)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

and that is the worst...just existing....thank you, Pryde.

j.

[hcarson]

So true and put together in a fantastic way. Sadly it isn't just the elderly treated like this...unless i'm in denial of my age..real possibility haha...you are right, they never explain properly what they are talking about, get frustrated if you ask them to explain because we of course..should know the same as them without going to med school..grr...great poem jacob!!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

so true, so true thank you for your words, h.

j.

[Alfred Kukitz]

Well said. As an old man, sometimes kindly referred to as old fart, I recall some of these guys, white jackets, diploma on the wall, arrogantly thinking what a big deal they must be. But ask them for a cure instead of a pill, you just might get an evil snare.

Regards,
Al

P.S. Dr. Veera my primary I love, I told her so.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, diploma on the wall, and their bedside manner in the other room...thank you, Al.

j.

[Shannon]

Of course the subject matter is sad, frustrating and difficult, to say nothing of being down frightening.
But the word choice...simply stunning. I sometimes find too much rhyming detracts for a piece, but this is so well executed, did not occur to me they were so prevalent until I started really examining the clever words.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, yes, i am not a big rhyme fan and seldom use it...unless it comes naturally.

j.

[Shannon]

Feels like it was meant to be read out loud (by a more gifted orator than I)

[Matching Socks]

I used to volunteer at a nursing home for elderly.
It was quite sad and the staff there for the most part treated them like cattle.
I helped with wheeling some of residents to the dining room, those who were immobile and helping with the feelings but I think the most important role I played was as a listener. That's when they came alive, when they got to tell their stories. I was a teenager at the time but it's stayed with me. Some wanted to live forever, some were just fed up. Anyway, this made me remember that time even though the poem is about so much more.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for sharing your story, Ana...you are precious to have helped them...my folks have received help, in home...some good, and very caring...some just putting in time and not devoted...

i hear you.

j.

[Matching Socks]

You can tell the difference that's for sure. it makes you wonder why the frig they even choose that as their occupation.

[andrew mitchell]

a catch 22, governments don't want the elderly around being financial burdens to society while medicine is trying to make us live longer.so outcasts we become meanwhile most cures lie in pharm... companies under lock and key cos there's no money in cures. topping all that religion is losing its flavour amongst our computerised technology. and after all that it's a nice piece of writing j.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insightful words, andrew...

j.

[Lyn Anderson]

This is very real and very frustrating, whether it be ourselves or our loved ones -- the faith we place in health professionals who constantly let us down, particularly when it comes to the elderly, can really get us down. Very well written.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, KL...

j.

[Valentine]

Guess I have been fortunate enough to see the best of both the medical world and also being prayed for and healed instantly after 10 long years of seizures. God is good, as are most doctors. There just was no promise we would live forever. Heck, who would want to? Valentine

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, you have been fortunate, Kathie...and i am so glad...thank you for your words,

j.