Q. A recent column contained a question about an elderly father living alone. You gave some really good suggestions. The best solution is that he not live alone. It will extend the quality of his life and maintain mental acuity; it also fights depression.
My own dear mother’s improvement has been so dramatic since she moved into an assisted living home. It is a small home, 28 residents, and there is a minimum loss of independence. Five women live in a three-bedroom house next to the “big house”; their meals are taken in a congregate dining room, and laundry and cleaning is taken care of. They can have companionship when they want it and privacy when they don’t.
The idea is to move before you need to.
Another alternative is a small group of friends living together–you know, like the Golden Girls. Just think, four men or women, pooling their resources, both material and physical, would have a much-improved lifestyle.
This simply must happen more and more as the number of elderly people increases and the cost of living goes through the roof. I am a strong advocate of quality of life for the elderly. Loneliness can cause more damage than disease in our elderly. I know this is not an original idea; still, how can we promote home-sharing?
A. I hope we are all strong advocates for quality of life for the elderly–whether you are a friend, family member or neighbor, and especially if you are elderly yourself.
I also strongly agree that isolation and loneliness will do as much damage to a person’s overall health as physical deterioration. An ounce of prevention, as with physical ailments, is worth a pound of cure.
A first step we can all take is to spend more time with those we know are at risk. But, often, that may not be enough. So talking with the person about alternative group living opportunities is the next step. The discussion will improve the person’s understanding of the alternatives, and perhaps they will embrace the idea.
Q. Our endocrinologist did a blood test and she found that our 11-month-old son has undescended testicles. Now, he is having hormone shots three times a week for the next four weeks. My sister’s son had one testicle undescended and had the surgery and no shots. What exactly are the doctors hoping will happen? Why can’t he just have the surgery? Could these shots prevent him from having the surgery?
A. Your son is one of the approximately 3 percent of males in this country born with undescended testes. But the fact that it happens to a lot of boys may not be very comforting.
More than three-quarters of the cases of undescended testes (also called cryptorchidism) correct themselves by the time the boys are a year or so old. In other cases, descent occurs during puberty, sometimes helped along by naturally occurring male hormones, known as gonadotropins.
In one type of cryptorchidism, the testes develop normally, but are prevented from descending; in another type, the testes develop abnormally. In yet another type, the testes have a tendency to ascend back into the abdomen. Treatment plans can be different for each.
Since I don’t know the type of cryptorchidism your son has, I would not presume to second-guess your endocrinologist on the use of hormones.
Perhaps she is hoping the hormone therapy will work and save your son the rigors of surgery at such an early age. In any event, surgery is often an available option into puberty.
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Write to Dr. Douma in care of the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
