STAYING INDEPENDENT
Independence with regard to self-care skills is a completely different issue. In part, this may be due to modesty. As Dr. Longie remarked regarding his hospital experience following his injury: I remember being totally embarrassed every time the nurses bathed me, and doctors examined me (keep in mind at this stage I was still completely paralyzed below the waist and couldn’t lift my left arm it was so weak). This reservation boy was not used to have strange people constantly observing me in my “birthday suit.” I also remember being wheeled out of my room and into a classroom where the doctor/instructor more or less used me as a guinea pig. He described my condition to a group of medical students all the while pointing at or lifting different parts of my body. I was extremely embarrassed through it all. Similarly, an older woman on the Turtle Mountain reservation stated to her daughters that, were she to become infirm, she did not want to be cared for by relatives having to 'wipe her butt for her' and would prefer to be in a nursing home if it came to that.There are two ways to maintain your physical independence as long as possible, and in this section, we will discuss both of these:
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