I will scramble many details here because of concerns about privacy.
A few days ago, I overheard a woman who looked as if she were in her 50s talking on the subway to another woman who looked to be in her 50s.
One told the other, “My mother is coming to New York. But she’ll have a hard time getting around. She can’t climb up stairs, or walk so good.”
The other woman asked, “Why not?
The first woman said, “Her leg is still infected.”
“Still?” asked the second woman. “But it’s been infected for months. When will it clear up?”
The first woman tried to explain to the second woman that, sometimes, people in their 70s have health problems that stick around for months, or years, even though the patient follows doctors’ orders and takes the right medicines.