Sport – A Poem on Frailty

An extremely pleasant 89 year old patient of mine has recently been
struggling with functional decline. She has developed some new swelling in her ankles and has not been able to get
around like she used to.  She is still
active and at her most recent visit, she brought in a poem that she wrote with her poetry group.
She was flattered that I wanted to post her poem but she did not want me to say anything else about her. The fact that she participates in a poetry
group should tell you a lot about the type of thoughtful person she is.

Sport 

Not jumping broad nor high
Not running fast nor straight
My only sport is reading fate
In dramas now and late 

My body’s strength
Is measured by painful pressure
on delicate vessels a high systolic measure 

Oedipus gave us edema in ankles
While all humans
sport their pulses and crankles 

sport can be used as ridicule
by those who lack the tool
of coordination

There is a tension between respecting frailty and preventing
frailty.  One of the recurrent themes of
this Geripal blog has been to highlight how important it is to respect frail
patients.  Her last paragraph in particular
captures this perfectly. 

Curated by: Dan Matlock