Medical screenings after 65

Recommendations for medical screenings change once we’re in our senior years. Some procedures are added, some go away. Most women can skip cervical cancer screening after 65, and most men prostate cancer screening after 70. People over 75 with negative previous screenings for colon cancer can stop having colonoscopies. 

On the addition side is a DEXA scan to detect bone loss, which can lead to debilitating fractures. A number of medical organizations recommend a first DEXA scan for women at 65 and men at 70.

Also recommended for older people are the one-time pneumonia vaccine and the Shingrix vaccine to guard against shingles, a painful rash.

Do actors’ accents perplex you?

I’m not the only person who has trouble understanding accents.

Many people complain about having difficulty on the phone with a customer service person whose native language is not English.

Those interactions bother me, too, but what I’m particularly vexed by is having trouble understanding accents on stage.

Taking a middle way on decluttering

In the 38 months before our mother’s death last October, my siblings and I cleaned out three residences of our parents: the 1,500-square-foot condo where they’d lived for 17 years; their one-bedroom, full-kitchen apartment in an assisted living home; and finally Mom’s room in a nursing home. 

Only the last one was a simple cleanout. Our parents didn’t let go of much. I resolved to be easier on my survivors.