phyllis

attention: this is a serious post. sort of depressing, actually.

phyllis is a very talented woman. stanford poet and professor, , and well-known palo alto figure. at least, she was all of these things until 3 months ago. 3 months ago, phyllis unexpectedly had a stroke. she had none of the typical risk factors (was thin, normal cholesterol and blood pressure levels, didn't smoke). what did she have? undiagnosed atrial fibrillation, a heart arrhythmia that is more common in older people. she probably hadn't been to a doctor lately, and so wouldn't have noticed anything until she suddenly couldn't move half of her body. she was taken to stanford, where they administered thrombolytics (anti-coagulants or blood thinners) which didn't resolve the clot - instead, she developed a bleed and so had to have part of her skull removed in resolving the hematoma. long story short, she is now a long term resident of lytton gardens, an assisted care facility near stanford.

last friday was my group's turn to visit lytton gardens for our practice of medicine course. i was intrigued by ms. koestenbaum's story, and so visited her with clark and ehete. when i saw her, i was dismayed at the state to which her humanity had been reduced - she could hardly move her head and was lying in bed watching jerry springer, as there was nothing else on. she chatted more freely as we talked to her, speaking animatedly about the terrible food in the nursing home and about her plans for the future. her husband has parkinson's and so they will have to have 24 hour care in their home or move permanently to a place like lytton.

it is sobering to think about aging in this way. dr. pompei, who works at lytton part time, told us that he refuses to buy life insurance so that he will never end up in a place like that. if he can no longer take care of himself, he plans to live with his children. if things get really bad, he told us that he is counting on us to "slip him some drugs." the really awful thing? he wasn't joking. how is it that medicine can prolong life, but the life we give is not always wanted by its recipients?

on saturday, ehete and i visited Amber India, Phyllis's favorite restaurant. it was a lovely restaurant, and the host was so glad to hear that we knew Phyllis. we were treated royally and very much enjoyed ourselves. i only wish phyllis could have been there to enjoy it with us!