Geriatrics 

The first week was definitely not easy. It was a sudden change from rehab- where you mostly work with persons with stroke, head injury and road traffic accidents. Most of the patients there have good rehab potential. You work on their balance, how they function in daily life, and the physiotherapists help them to walk and yea, sometimes in a few weeks you see them walk out of the hospital! And they're mostly young. When I say young, i mean young-old, between 50-70s. 


But hey whoa, a quick check down my list tells me my youngest patient is 78, the oldest being 99. (you might be surprised tt the 99 yo is the best of the lot, she walks by herself with a walking stick!) 


What do you do when most of your patients have dementia, all in various stages, some bedbound for years with stage 4 pressure sores with an ng tube stuck down their nose, contractures in all 4 limbs groaning and moaning in pain, hitting and banging of tables, families that disown them... 


and toothless grins when all else fails  :) 


So you don't go throwing your hands in the air, but instead smoothen their hair, caress their wrinkled face, look into their tired eyes, and shout "TIME FOR EXERCISE!" into their ears (because they just might have severe hearing impairment) 


It's impossible not to love these wrinkly beings about a century old:)