There have been numerous trips to numerous doctors since I last broached this subject in this column, but the question has not been answered, so the search goes on: Where do I find ‘The Book’”on growing old? All these ailments, aches and pains may be normal, but why do they come without warning?
Why do all the symptoms of serious illness get confused with the results of everyday work efforts that were unnoticed when we had younger bodies?
The doctors don’t take my request seriously, so if someone knows about a thorough assessment (read warning) of the complications of the aging process, please let me know.
The trips to doctors’ offices which seem a normal part of life after 65, were not even in our thoughts at a younger age. Not only are they more frequent, but they are also far more costly due to numerous prescriptions required to continue the aging process and subdue the pain from the activities we mustcontinue because “we always have done them.” The elbow that used to function well on the tennis and racket ball courts now requires a cortisone shot to deal with the discomforts of manual labor. And, the old cast iron style post hole digger that worked well for my grandfather, father and a younger me proved to be a boon to the chiropractor until I recognized its merits as a museum piece and replaced it with an auger on the tractor.
A single act like walking across a field or along a sidewalk now exposes a weakness in ankles that once played baseball, football and basketball. The years of slowly decreasing the activities of our youth leave joints that yield to an unseen acorn or pebble giving a resultant lurch that would prompt a law enforcement officer to whip out his or her pen during a sobriety test after a traffic stop. How does one explain to the grandchildren that there was nothing in your iced tea that wasn’t in their glass at lunch? When we stand too quickly and have to sit back down in a clumsy, uncontrolled manner, it is difficult to convince one’s self that this is probably part of the price we pay in our declining years.
When we look in the mirror and wonder who that person looking back at us is, we are shocked into the reality of growing older - not better as the AARP advertisement would have us believe.
As I have aged, the crawl space under the house has shrunk to the extent that it is a major project to check the conditions there.
And, my lack of fl exibility means it is bordering on the impossible to crouch and crawl the full length of the house in the attic.
Although I can still climb a ladder, clearing the gutters is a much more strenuous task because the hands don’t grip the scraper quite as well as I remember fromlast year - or was it fi ve years ago when it wasn’t such a chore?
Some things which were previously a true luxury are now a necessity - like spending time watching television on a Saturday afternoon. Finding the motivation to work a full day, even in the beauty of a warm fall afternoon is difficult and the television becomes a justifi cation for not pushing the aging body to its physical limits.
Do you suppose someone like Dr. Oz would have empathy for us seniors and write a book on this subject before I’m too infi rm to hold it, or even read it?
Maybe he can explain why in a full six hours of work, I can accomplish only two hours of productive labor.
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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Opinion, Pages 4 on 11/06/2013