Dr. Vonda Wright

Number two, what's happened to her is she's laying there in a pile of her own urine because she was not treated for the gynecourinary syndrome and menopause.

Her pelvic floor got weak.

So many women do not talk about the fact that they become incontinent in late in life and have urinary tract infection.

So she's painful.

She is incontinent, which if she even realizes it is pretty, she feels ashamed about that.

I need to do a 45-minute surgery on her where because she's broken her hip, I need to put a rod down that, the size of my thumb, actually.

I cannot do that if her heart is not healthy enough to withstand anesthesia.

And many times, her heart is so unhealthy because she's taking care of everybody else in the world except herself that the hospitalists have a hard time clearing her heart.

And do you know what else?

She either has a touch of dementia or she has full-blown Alzheimer's.

That is the state of women that I see every time I go to fix a hip on call.

And do you know in her lucid moments what she is saying to me?

She is standing there with her daughter.

It's usually the eldest daughter at the bedside.

She's looking at me.

She's looking at her daughter.

And time after time again, she'll say something like, I've not always been like this.

I don't know how I got here.

Don't ever let this happen to you.

Don't get old.