Not for the Faint of Heart

My Dad is a spry 90+ year old.  He still does most of their cooking, helps with housework, does some of his own yard work and delivers “Meals on Wheels” to folks decades younger than he.  He walks daily, hasn’t smoked since the first Surgeon General’s warning in 1964 and is much healthier than would be suspected for one his age.  His side of the family tend to exceed the average age rule, his grandmother living to 94, his mother to 88, his brother into his 80s.

This makes me young, right?  After all, I am a senior citizen, eligible for Social Security and Medicare, but still young.  Sometimes I feel like I can still climb mountains, have learned to ride a horse in the past couple of years, garden, drive a tractor and mow acres of land.  But this winter is making me feel not so young.  As a late 20 something, I separated a shoulder skiing.  As a mid 50 something, I broke a wrist roller blading with my daughter.  The shoulder was before they sent you to a specialist and physical therapy for such injuries.  The wrist was not cast correctly and has a 17º healed displacement.  Unfortunately, they aren’t the same arm and both are aggravating me this winter.  The wrist has encouraged arthritic deterioration of my wrist bones.  This was causing me pain and after a couple of steroid shots I agreed to surgery to remove the most damaged wrist bone at the base of my thumb.  This has caused the muscles to atrophy, reducing the strength of my hand and sadly only temporarily provided any relief.  The pain affects my radial nerve so I also have pain in my elbow and my shoulder.  Not wanting to take NSAIDs regularly, I have tried capsaicin cream, OTC herbal supplements that supposedly reduce inflammation, Tart Cherry juice and just about any other alternative.  I haven’t tried acupuncture, nor have I been willing to return to the orthopedist, though I wonder if there is anything else he could do other than more steroid shots which I also want to avoid.  To add insult to injury, it has also intensified trigger finger in my ring finger on that hand.

I’m not ready to accept aging, I’m still too young.