Rose was just into her eighties when she became my home care patient. Both she and her daughter were confused and frustrated by her growing list of physical ailments, including pain and stiffness in her lower left leg, difficulty walking, and anxiety.
This was a woman who had travelled the world in her 70s, having been to the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. She'd trekked into the African bush to encounter gorillas at age 80! Now, however, she barely was able to walk from her bedroom to her bathroom some 20 feet away.
A recent hysterectomy, emesis due to a liver cyst, interventional radiology, prolonged hospital and short-term rehabilitation stays — something or everything was causing her to stumble and fall in her home. She also had a host of comorbidities, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, chronic low back pain, and spinal stenosis.