I was treating a very nice 90 year old man in the hospital and needed to do a very uncomfortable procedure onhim. To help distract him, I thought I would ask him questions about hisfamily. I could tell he was a talker; I recognized a bit of my daddy in him;-) 

What I learned from him was he was a teacherfor several decades teaching science to high school kids and he was veryathletic and coached the high school football team. He has 3 kids who are allsuccessful professionals and he was very proud. He was very proud of his ownaccomplishments mentoring high school students and it reminded me that elderlypeople have lived such a full life and sometimes we dismiss them as just beingold and slow and confused and bothersome, especially in the medical field. 

Despite what I was doing to him, he thanked mefor the time I spent listening to him and for the opportunity to talk aboutthings and people he was proud of in his life.

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