preview

Aging Interview

Better Essays

The humanity of aging is a concept sometimes hard to grasp. Understanding why we are the way we are can be challenging and aging, even so much more. Taking care of the physical body and ignoring the mind, heart and soul can be deadly. When faced with sickness and the challenges of life, mental health is just as important as physical health. Your faith or belief system will be challenged and a positive outlook on life and health is imperative. In this paper I will be analyzing my personal interview with Mr. O, a 75-year-old Cuban immigrant. He is a resilient senior who has overcome a language barrier, family issues, diseases, financial insecurities and the loss of his first spouse. During his interview, we discussed his childhood, …show more content…

When Mr. O was young, his family was very active in his community. He was a happy, well-educated child and was considered wealthy to many. When he became an adult, he got married and was not able to feely express himself in his country without the fear of going to prison. He had family members living in Miami so when the opportunity came during the Cuban Exodus of 1980, he immigrated to the United States. This was a significant turning point in his life. He was in his late twenties and excited for the opportunity to come to America but he quickly realized that things would not be easy. The first large obstacle he faced was a language barrier. It was difficult for him to get a job so they stayed with family members until he was able to save enough money to rent his own apartment with his family. He also had family members back in Cuba who were depending on him financially. He explained that for many immigrants, taking care of family comes first and because many end up in low paying jobs, finding time to go to school is usually not a priority. According to Dumez …show more content…

If allowed to grow, they can become disfiguring and deadly. Overexposure over a lifetime to ultraviolet light can cause Squamous Cell Carcinoma. It can occur in different areas of the body, such as face, lip, scalp, neck hands and arms. The skin in these areas will show signs of sun damage with pigments, age spots, freckles and broken vesicles. (Skin Cancer Foundation, n.d.). He is thankful for having access to medical care because it helped him to get the care he needed expeditiously. He was screened early and caught the diagnosis of ear cancer before the disease could spread. The doctor removed his entire right ear to make sure they got all the cancer. He said that although he misses his ear, things could have been a lot worse and having access to medical care helped him to address the issue. Having surgery corrected the problem and prevented his health from declining. After Mr. O went into remission, he developed a hernia that was very painful. He went into surgery and explained that the hernia was more painful than the cancer and kept him in the hospital for a longer period of time. When I asked him how is life now? He explained that surviving on a day-to-day basis

Get Access