"'Why do you always grip the dashboard like that when I am driving?' It's the bleary-eyed 5am run to rowing practice and I have just relented to the eager Can I drive?' When your teenager takes a reluctant I guess' as full-throated approval, you still want to show grace. Especially when there are many more mandated hours of supervision en route to a probationary licence. Instead of the dashboard, I grip my ribs and sit stiff with attention, mute of tongue."
"I often think that my geriatric oncology clinic provides a window into the sweep of human conditions. Here, I meet couples in a touchingly long marriage and those who have lost a spouse through estrangement or death. Also, people impaired through cognitive decline, organ failure and that most ubiquitous and insidious of things, loneliness. We suggest all patients attend their appointment with another adult because there is a lot to take in."
A parent describes tense early-morning driving lessons with a teenager, sitting rigidly and silent while supervising mandated hours toward a probationary licence. Relieved moments coexist with worry, such as reacting to a truck's honk and sharing quiet conversation en route. Clinical work in geriatric oncology provides encounters with diverse elder experiences including long marriages, estrangement, cognitive decline, organ failure and pervasive loneliness. Appointments often require accompaniment because of complex information and logistical needs. Companions are predominantly women: daughters, daughters-in-law, nieces, granddaughters, friends and neighbours. Those companions also enable telehealth by helping patients connect to video links.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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