It’s never easy to get bad news about the health of someone you love. It’s even worse to be the person whose health is changing in negative ways. If this is your senior, she’s likely feeling some or all of these emotions about the situation.
Anger at Everyone and Everything
Anger is a really common initial reaction to bad health news. It’s also normal, even if it seems out of character for your senior. There might be a lot more anger than you expect, though, and it might be directed indiscriminately at seemingly everything around your senior. Working through her anger is going to be an important step for her to take.
Grief Over Her Loss
Your senior is experiencing a loss when she’s getting bad health news. She’s lost her idea of how she experienced her health and she’s probably lost her idea of what she expected her later years to look like. It can take time to grieve that loss and to come to terms with it in some way that is productive.
Denial of the Situation
Just because your elderly family member has gotten a diagnosis, that doesn’t mean she believes it. She could respond with flat denial about everything that she’s being told, no matter how much evidence backs up the diagnosis. Shock is a completely reasonable response, but denial is not a solid long-term solution.
Fear of the Situation and What Might Happen
It’s also reasonable for your elderly family member to be afraid of what this new frightening diagnosis is going to mean for her in the future. She likely had some very specific plans and visions about the future and this news derails those plans. Solutions like treatment plans and help from elder care providers can definitely be options, but your senior’s fear might keep her from seeing those as valid options just yet.
Calm Acceptance about What’s Going On
Your elderly family member might go through all of the above emotions before finally getting to a calm acceptance about her diagnosis. Once your elderly family member does get to this stage, though, she may be far more open to talking about possible solutions, both with you and with your doctor.
It’s possible that your senior spends some time in all of these emotions at different times. She may even find that she’s initially thrown for an emotional loop but recovers quickly. The important thing is that you and other family members are there for her.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering elder care in Aurora, CO, please contact the caring staff at SYNERGY HomeCare today. Call us at (303) 756-9322.
