Franco, Danica A.

BSN 3Y1-1 NCMB 314

Mrs. Lee 75 years-old, looks tiny, shows wrinkles, dry skin, weight 72 kilos, slow in walking
and movement, with difficulty talking to her daughter due to some problem in hearing.
They live together with her daughter in a small apartment at the center town, Ms. Lee, an
engineer. Mrs. Lee speaks no English. Ms. Lee maintains her professional dress and is used
to giving directions and working with Americans. She works six days a week and is seldom
home before 10 p.m. She attends church, but her mother does not join her. Mrs. Lee
continues to wear her native dress and cook her native foods and continually chastises her
daughter for not doing the same. While Ms. Lee works her mother cleans the apartment,
cooks the meals and does all the laundry. There are no visitors to the apartment, and the
two women do not take part in any local activities together. When Mrs. Lee must visit the
doctor, her daughter takes time off from work. They also consult a native herbalist who
prescribes teas, which Mrs. Lee prefers to her Western medications.

1. List the common problems facing the aged.

Answer:

 Looks tiny
 Shoes wrinkles
 Dry skin
 Malnutrition
 Slow in walking and movement
 Difficulty talking because of hearing problem
 Muscles and bones become weak
 Lose eyesight
 Susceptibility to disease are at high risk
 Impaired immune system integrity

2. Discuss your feelings about aging.

Answer:

Aging has been defined as a universal, internally predictable biologic process following maturity
(MS Nursing, Joyce Black). Before, I am afraid of aging because I always think of the word
“aging” is synonymous to “death” but now as I have grown older, I learn to embrace this word.
Why? Because aging seems to be a beautiful change that every individual should embrace. Yes,
the physical look may appear ugly because of the wrinkles or dry skin they have but I think,
older people are very influential to me. Since they are old, they experience things in life that
make them mature in life and I want to learn from them because it made me stronger. As I age
every day, I am one step closer to my purpose in this life and I now know that death is also an
unstoppable thing like aging so I must embrace and adapt to change. In addition, I compare
“older people” into babies because they need special attention and care because they are more
susceptible to diseases. Furthermore, for me “aging” is the phase in life in which we should be
excited about because as your age adds, the knowledge you knew about life adds up too, and you
learn to face life with maturity and you can inspire other people because you have knowledge in
everything because I believe in the quote, “You cannot preach what you do not know, have or
have experience.”

II. PHYSICAL CHANGES of AGING (In Tabular Form)

Body System Organ “Normal aging Change”

Skin  Show wrinkles
 Dry skin
 Looks thinner
 Skin looks paler and clear (translucent)
 Loose elasticity of skin
 Increasing number of spots, freckles or moles
and other skin pigmentation

Eyes  Weaken the vision

 May have age related eye problem include:
 Presbyopia, glaucoma, cataract and temporal
arteritis
 Dry eyes

Ear  Hearing loss

III. List down many social changes that affect the elderly.

1. List down some Mental Changes.

Answer:

 Personality changes
 Becoming irritable easily
 Emotionally much more volatile than before
 Depression
 Lack of interest in activities
 Inability to enjoy activities one used to enjoy
 At risk in experiencing dementia, Alzheimer or delirium
2. Psychosocial changes and spiritual changes

Answer:

Psychosocial changes of older people are often the most challenging and demanding phases in
their life. Some challenges are caused by changes in roles, relationships and living organism like
retirement, bereavement, loss of independence, relocation, ageism, fear of mortality, and
neglect/abuse. They have trouble in these changes because the lifestyle they have before can no
longer be applied to the aged they are in now. For me the spiritual changes they might
experience is that they are more devoted in their spiritual life because they think that when they
die, the after life is also important. They become more active into church gatherings, devotions,
and prayers to have salvation.

Reference:

 Medical Surgical Nursing by Joyce Black

 https://medlineplus.com
 https://my.cleavelandclinic.org
 https://www.ncbi.nih.com.gov