Dental Health (5)

Peter Cheung and Others

28 December 2011

Virginia:	So glad that we can all share the life experience of taking care of our elderly parents and in-laws. It is not an easy task. Everybody will become old one day and will change from a very capable person to less mobile and less functional in different degree. We have our share. Julian's mom was a very sharp and intelligent woman. She worked all her life as a nurse and was very willing to learn when she immigrated to Canada. Then she had Alzheimer in the last 4-5 years of her life...did not recognise any of us and had no idea of what's going on around her. It was very sad but that's what happened in life. If fact, she was at Yee Hong (in Toronto) where Sue has mentioned that you are volunteering at the Geriatric center.
	Both my parents and parents-in-laws have passed away quite a long time ago, so we do not have much to talk about. Julian and I have witnessed so many patients that were young and energetic, 20, 30 years ago,(like us now), coming in for general check up, and telling us about their travel stories and cracking jokes and talking lively. Now at their older age, late 80's and 90 years old, they are behaving very differently, some are still very energetic and mobile and independent, and some are on walkers and wheelchairs. It is interesting to watch the progression, months by months, and years by years, how people's health can change their life. Well, it is a very good discussion about taking care of ourselves.
	I am sure we are all learning from this. Sue, thank you for sharing the stories of your mom's and your in-laws. You are a very good daughter and daughter-in-law to be able to spend time and energy to take care of them. I hope they are on their roads of recovery very soon. Need a lot of patience. Please send them our regards. For now, take good care of ourselves so hopefully we will give fewer burdens to our kids.
Sue:	Thanks for your support and reminder to us all in taking care of ourselves. We do that by not only caring for others by to give ourselves time to smell the roses, travel when we are still able, play when we still have energy, feed ourselves with good healthy food and feed our souls by sharing our sentiments with our love ones and friends...............
Norman:	Danny, your story brings back a lot memory for me about my mom whom I miss so much. She had colon cancer and passed away at relatively young age. We were not aware of colon cancer risk at that time and she did not want to see doctor even though she had some problems on and off. She always blamed it on hemorrhoid and waited too long..... I started doing my colonoscopy every 3 years since I was 40. I hate those drinks before the colonoscopy but you have done what you have to do. For people with no genetic risks, doing colonoscopy every 5 years after 50 is recommended because the precancerous poly could become cancer in 5 to 10 years. When we are 70 years or older, then we have to decide between the risk and reward of doing colonoscopy because there is a small chance of punctured colon during colonoscopy especially when we are older. So finding a skilled and experienced doctor is the key. Colon cancer is one of the most preventable cancers. So if you have not had a colonoscopy, get it done for yourself and your family please....

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