Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand
I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can?
[Jackson Browne - "Doctor my eyes"]
Every so often, I have minor health problems. You do too, I am sure. Mostly aches and pains, stiffness, and the like. When I was young, I often just ignored them. Unless they lasted for more than a day or two. Even then, all I had to do is back off anything strenuous (a rarity anyway) for a few days and all would usually be fine.
About the only time that didn't work was some back trouble that started when I was 16. It does not end well when you pretend you are walking the high wire as you try to walk across the backs of row seats in a bowling alley. Why would I do that, you ask? Consider the strong possibility that alcohol was involved. In any event, it happened and I paid the price. I am sure everyone has a story that explains why he cannot help you move that old refrigerator or sleeper sofa. Most involve a bit of youthful stupidity.
Because of that minor injury, I must avoid any shoes with hard heels or standing on my feet for very long. I must also sit up straight, avoid slouching in chairs, or just about anything that involves jumping up and down or repeated standing up and sitting down. I must make sure my lower back muscles are kept strong without overtaxing them. This was not medical advice, just lessons learned from experience.
The doctor I saw at the time told me I might be using a cane by the time I was 30. He was wrong. As doctors often are.
All of that came to me as I read this article about the overuse of MRI's. [link]
I wonder if I was lucky that my injury occurred before they had Magnetic Resonance Imaging?
And now I am at that age where all around me are people having knee or hip replacements, or carpal tunnel surgery, and I wonder how I will fare over the next decade of my life?
3 comments:
I think you will fare just fine because of your positive attitude. As for doctors: a good friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and the doctor told her to put her affairs in order and prepare for the end. That was nearly seventeen years ago. As for me: I can still swallow all of my pills in one gulp, but it's getting to be a mouthful!
I do have a kind of positive attitude but it is not what you think. I am, perhaps, a fatalist. Or maybe I was just overly influenced by Doris Day's rendition of "que sera sera". There are things over which we have no control, I have learned to accept that. Faye survived breast cancer and she handled all the crap that went with it very well. I was mostly a wreck. I vowed many years ago that I would not be dependent on medication and, so far, I have been lucky.
Bala will attempt to invent a medical tricorder for you.
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