My 88 year old father was recently in the ER and I saw that his toenails looked horrible, thick and yellow. But even worse was when I took my 93 year old mother to see her doctor and her toenails were really long, the large nails were also thick and discolored and the skin around her toes looked very flaky. Frankly, it was gross and I was shocked. The doctor said he sees this all the time. I know my dad was taking my mom to see a podiatrist, but he's had shingles for several months and I'm just now finding out a lot of things they've kept pretty well hidden.
Besides the fact that I want to take care of my parents (they are going into a wonderful assisted living facility this weekend), I'm wondering if horrible looking feet is an inevitable part of aging. My husband and I don't have children and we are seeing how important it is to take care of ourselves! We're trying to learn from my parents and take care of ourselves.
My dad has always been outgoing, with lots of friends and activities. He'll be 88 next month and has done quite well until recently. He's been a little more confused recently because of medication, but I can still have a decent conversation with him.
I wanted to add that I'm also into photography and I'm a colored pencil artist. I just submitted a drawing of my horse to a competition. I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging, although I guess in a way I am. But as I've mentioned, I turned 60 this year and I'm happy that I have so many interests and activities I'm able to do.
I notice that I have more aches and pains now, but I can still do the things I love. Warm-up time is just a bit slower! And one last thing (sorry). I feel extremely fortunate to have my horses. I've been really stressed over my parents and tired, but yesterday I took my horse to some gorgeous wooded trails and rode bareback for an hour and a half. I met one person walking her dog, but most of the ride was just me, my horse and nature. I'm truly blessed.
Sounds like you all have it under control..I swear though that BAG BALM is the greatest oitment and you do not have to use alot. Never knew about it until I moved to a small town and somebody told me what they used it for. I"ll be.. Thanks for the tip on VICKS. Im a old school girl and I was a faithful user of that as a child. Learn something every day....God Bless you all.
I need to do a separate post now on my mom's incontinence and her hiding her used pads all over the place!
Thank you guys!
I had to laugh when I saw your post, because I knew exactly how you felt when you first saw those toenails. :-)
His feet....gross. Sad thing is he doesn't have much feeling past his knees, so he had wounds on his feet that he didn't even know he had (prior to him living here)...so now I have to soak / scrub / care for his gross feet.
The nails are fairly yellowish, some art thick, but not horriby so. What grosses me out is the smell and the dead skin....no matter how often I clean them and slather them up with the special foot cream, they always look gross. I bought the latex gloves to wear when I deal with his feet.
He got a small open spot on the back of his heel that quickly got bigger than a quarter. It has been since April and is still not healed up...
I think age just makes feet gross...