Thoughts on Aging

I went to the doctor's.  Now, nothing good ever comes after that sentence, at least at my age. 

I NOW have FOUR medicines I have to take every day just to make my body perform in within normal ranges, chemically.  Three!  I don't even LIKE taking pills.  I have tried to ignore the situation, but when your body actually NEEDS something...it can make your day very unpleasant when you don't take it.  Who is in charge here any way???  Obliviously, it's my body.  Crap.

I went in because I hurt my knee last month.  I have arthritis in both knees (and most of the rest of my body) and had decided that riding a bike would be a good exercise.  It was going well until I fell.  Of course, I hit my knee.  The good one. 

Structurally, it is fine.  I can stand and walk on level surfaces with no pain.  Anything else - there is pain.  The action determines HOW much pain.  Climbing stairs, going uphill or downhill, twisting, rising, lowering - you get the picture.  I went back to the doctor because I haven't gotten back to the functioning level I was before the fall.  The good news?  I probably won't without an orthopedic surgeon's help.  Now, later - it doesn't really matter.  I WILL be going if I want to stay mobile.  Yippie-ki-yay.

And I got a two-fer on this visit.  In addition to that good news, my blood pressure is high and I now have to take medicine for that. 

Which brings me to the title I chose.  I'm struggling with the concept that my body is wearing out.  I feel just the same inside as I ever did.  But I find my body not being able to keep up with my desires.  The things my body used to do without me even knowing or considering their importance, now, hold my activity hostage.

I don't remember ever even considering how important my kidneys were.  I doubt you have either.  The kidneys are important organs with many functions in the body, including producing hormones, absorbing minerals, and filtering blood and urine.  Now I have to consider what might harm them.  Seems a little late in the day for that.

I used to hike and run around and never even knew I had a butt.  But these days, all I do is drag it around.  There are days when it is all I can do to haul my wrinkly ol' keister out of the recliner.  I think of the poem that says "How do I know that my youth’s all spent?   Well, my get up and go has got up and went."  But INSIDE, I still want to go and do!

I don't even think I knew what a thyroid was when I younger.  I certainly didn't know what it controlled, which is almost everything.  It's like a mini-PLC (programmable logic control center) for your body.  I know I never thought about mine.  Now it controls ME.  My thyroid needs a back-up generator to keep my body on track.  And the generator I have to use (medication) is not self-regulating.  Unless you do the blood labs, you don't know how the dosage is fitting in with your body's activities.  My body used to do that all on it's own.

I'm afraid I am going to be appreciating more things I knew nothing about as time goes on.