Week #7 Terese Cloonan

Physical development among the elderly can be the loss of hearing and eye sight. All five senses are affected by aging. Arthritis occurs and many elders with start having health issues. Cancer is a huge concern with the older a person is getting. Heart disease and strokes are very common in elderly. Nutrition and staying healthy is very important for elderly.

Death is considered a typical part of life. As our book tells us in chapter 12, on page 281, "Overall, a family may expect to live 20 years without one of its members dying." In chapter 12, it talks about people's fears and one being buried alive. I myself have this fear. I used to freak out when I was a child when someone would put a pillow over my face. I thought it was funny how our book mentioned that being a strong fear in the 19th century. There are four types of death. The first being clinical death, which is an individual is dead when his of her breathing and heartbeat have stopped. Brain death occurs when it fails to receive a sufficient supply of oxygen for a period of time and all electrical activity has stopped, as taught to us on page 281. Biological death occurs when it is no longer possible to discern an electrical charge in the tissues of the heart and lungs, thus signaling the permanent end of all life functions. Social death is the point at which an individual is treated as dead although the person is still biologically alive. The legal definition of death is "unreceptivity and unresponsivity, no movements or breathing, no reflexes, and a flat EEG reading that remains flat for 24 hours." Page 282 in LifeSmart. A persons age has a lot to do with how a person interprets death. I remember when I was a child and my parents would take me to wakes, I had no idea what was going on. I remember seeing all of my cousins and running around the funeral homes as if it was a party. When I was in 8th grade, my best friends dad died. I remember feeling so helpless. My friend needed sympathy but I remember not being able to relate because my father was still alive. That was the first time death was a very hard issue for me. Now, being in my twenties, death is hard. My grandmother died on Christmas morning three years ago and every time the holidays roll around my family is reminded of her passing. We try and celebrate Christmas morning but it is so hard to do. My grandmother was in an old age and we saw it coming, however, the holidays is a very bad timing to loose someone. I thank God that my family is so close and we celebrated my grandmothers life and we still make the best Christmas memories as a family.

Grief is an emotional response to the loss of another person, and includes feelings of anxiety, despair, sadness, and loneliness. (page 284.) Grief and fear have a lot in common. Most grieving people are frightened by their feelings. There are three types of grief reactions, there is delayed reaction, distorted reaction, and complicated grief. For some people, grief can come days, months or years later. Chapter 12 reminds us that dealing with death of a loved one is overcoming the funeral process. I remember being in high school and a friend and classmate of mine had died on New Years Day. Her parents put off the funeral for a couple of days. I remember not being back in school yet, as we were still on Christmas break. The funeral day came and went and we were all helpless. We were 18 years old and just had to bury a friend. The funeral day seemed like a dream, didn't feel real. I remember the death of my friend finally hitting me when we all had to go back to school. We all showed up to school and it hit me that she was no longer in the halls and in her seat. We left her locker exactly how she left it the entire school year. Myself and my friends grieved all year long. We had to graduate without our friend but we never stopped celebrating her life. Even until today, we go out and celebrate her birthday and the anniversary of her death.