Aging Veteran Care
Elmer was 83 years old and had served during World War II. He wasn’t directly involved in any active combat situation, but he knew a number of friends who were. Some of them never returned home.
Through the years Elmer remained active within his community, especially through the VFW. He was constantly marching in parades, spending time with other veterans, sharing stories, and providing support whenever he could. When he was in his 70s, his wife of 43 years passed away and left him alone. He learned to cope by spending more time with his brothers in combat. As a veteran, he never considered he would ever need professional home care services.
One day while he was working around his house, walking slowly around because of his decreased balance and limited strength, he noticed something odd. His eyes were not quite as good as they used to be. He didn’t really notice it before that moment, but things didn’t quite seem to come into focus. He figured he just needed a new prescription for his eyeglasses, and he kept putting off a visit to his eye doctor.
Over time, things became even more difficult to see. At night, he was having extreme difficulty seeing when he was driving back from the VFW or some other function. One day while he was talking to a friend at the local VFW, his friend mentioned he noticed something odd with his eyes. He decided right then to make an appointment with his eye doctor, he talked to the receptionist and described the challenges he was facing, and he also mentioned what his friend had said, and they urged him to come in right away. He went to see his eye doctor and was told almost immediately that he was developing cataracts.
Elmer had known about cataracts, even though he didn’t know anybody who had it. At first he thought this was the beginning of the end, that he was going to lose his vision, but when the eye care professional told him that they could remove the cataracts with laser surgery and he would once again be able to see clearly, he felt relieved.
At first Elmer had been devastated to think he could be going blind, but when he realized that getting a regular eye exam and treatment could help prevent permanent or total vision loss, he felt like he was given a second lease on life.
For more information and to learn about aging veteran care, contact Veteran’s Home Care at (888) 314-6075.
