I'm at the point in my life where things are starting to fail. I have to use one of those CPAP machines in order to get any kind of sleep at all. I took first place in a sleep apnea test a few years back. I had the highest number of wakings of anyone in my group with 61 per hour. That meant I was sleeping for less than a minute at a time before I stopped breathing. My autonomous nervous system decided that if everyone else in my body got to sleep, it did, too.
There are times where you just look at some part of your body and say, "Well, that's broken. Hmm."
My right knee has decided to pitch a fit lately. I went to my GP and he told me it wasn't a torn ligament. Hurray! I asked him how he knew. "Well, if it was a torn ligament, it would have healed by now."
Rats.
So I'm back to weightlifting. I figure this is the last chance I'll have in my life to really go hard, so I'm taking advantage of it, grumpy knee or no grumpy knee.
I had to bathe the Catican Guards this weekend and discovered that kneeling in the shower with them was very difficult. I missed the days when I could kneel with impunity. Now I have punity and I wish I didn't.
It made me realize I need to be grateful for all the things that still work. As I wondered how I might go about doing that, it occurred to me that it's not possible for each part. You don't know what's going to fail next. If you go around thinking to yourself, "Oh, pancreas, how I love you so!" your spleen might get jealous and say, "So what am I, chopped liver?" to which your liver will say, "Hey, I heard that!" and your spleen will have to apologize.
Where was I? Oh yes, gratitude. Since you can't be grateful for every individual, properly functioning body part, the next best thing is to be of good cheer as much as possible.
After all, things will get worse.
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| "Oh, little plant, I will appreciate you because by December, you'll be dead." |
Just call me Mr. Hope.
Note: I'm actually trying to make a serious point here. The best way to deal with bodily degeneration is to be happy with what you have right now.
7 comments:
Stolen.
Welcome to growing old. Being thankful for what works is a good way to look at it, but also don't assume you can't also delay your eventual decrepitude. Look into Hyaluronic acid knee injections. They can work wonders, at least until they don't. When they don't, consider Cortisone shots. Don't start with cortisone because all it does is mask the problem. When those stop working it is time for a knee replacement. I have those gardening knee pads all over the house when I need to kneel. That will also help.
I've reached the point where it's harder for me to go downstairs than up stairs, because of the knee pain. It's a great inducement to lose a couple of stone.
Still, my life is better now than in any previous decade of my life, and the physical pain pails by comparison to the stresses of being younger.
While it does beat the alternative, getting old sucks. Blame the Second Law of Thermodynamics, ΔS > 0
I'm pretty much in the general aches and pains area. I have a constant knot in the muscle near my shoulder blade. The left side of my neck will not stretch, and my left bicep might be torn. The good news on the left arm is that the kid I used to have is now moved out to Idaho, so our walks no longer involve throwing the football for 2 1/2 miles. I also have no lung capacity anymore.
I went out there with him to get settled. 4 days of hours and hours of work fixing up the house. Painted 70% of it. Unloading all the furnature. Brought in a washer/dryer, no 2-wheeler, long way around. Replaced the back door. Sorting out wiring. Outside faucet replacement. I was exhausted. I never want to see a paintbrush again.
But that's about it. Overall, I'm not too bad. I'll take it.
The success rate of hyaluronic acid injections varies when you compare what's reported and what happens in real life. Keep moving.
When in training in the 80s, i spent a few weeks in an ortho Shriners' hospital (seeing kids with very severe handicaps). Once, when presenting a case to the staff MD in the clinic, i was having a hard time. The staff MD who became a mentor suggested the following: Don't ask what they can't do, ask what they can do. It worked extremely well and i realized that most kids had adapted amazingly well to sometimes very challenging handicaps and, even more striking, the severe limitations (my perspective) did not prevent the large majority to enjoy life and be happy.
==I took first place in a sleep apnea test a few years back.==
If you are able to sleep on your stomach, that might help.
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