PATCH, PATCH, PATCH!

 I like to think of my old body as a '57 Thunderbird. I loved that car. I coveted that car. But, alas, I never owned one. The Thunderbird boasted the roaring energy of a V-8 engine apart from its sleek, awesome style...energy and style similar to my body way back in the day. Now, like the old classic car, my parts are wearing out. Fortunately, today's medical community provides replacement parts. Or, has determined, thanks to evolution, that the human body no longer requires certain parts - think appendix. Think a lung lobe.

There are body parts that are scary when they go awry. Any part in the heart for example. This is why we need the support and the encouragement of souls who have marched before us into these types of replacement or treatment adventures and have prevailed.

Not long ago a hunch became a reality when I was diagnosed with an obstruction in one of my heart arteries. Anxiety set in. (It's a family thing.)

"You mean I can't participate in Tai Chi?" Not until further testing.

"So what do I do while I wait? You're talking to a former type A personality here! I cannot just wait for answers." (Drama is another family thing.)

And yet, wait is what I did initially. Afraid to move. Besides the meds made me sleepy. I could sleep standing up. Oddly enough the statistics on women's medical issues are quite different from the perceptions. While one in thirty-nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, one in five women will suffer from heart disease. I did not know. Did you?

There is a history of heart disease in my family so while I was genuinely shocked at the statistics I was not surprised by the test results. And while I waited for the follow-up test results, I read. I read books. I read the fine print, the notes and the footnotes. Until I realized I was wasting precious time. Wasting time is the real rub. If I were on the brink of death the day the threat was discovered, I would have been hospitalized then and there. Immediately. But I was free and happy to be! 

I am thankful and amazed at the incredible machines that can see into our bodies and allow physicians to pinpoint what they could have only guessed at a few short years ago.

I can walk in the sun, taking in the Florida beauty of nature and wildlife surrounding me. Things I took for granted in my young past.

I can manage household chores. (Not cleaning the fridge today, thank you. Any excuse.)

I'm able to share my experiences on this blog and assure you no matter what there is still quite a bit of living to do ahead. Be ready for it. There are treatments. There are cures.

I can give myself a spa day, call old friends, and shop online. (Although shopping online proved dangerous to my wallet during the Covid lockdown.)

Lame reasoning above? Perhaps, but I came of age during the time of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and his message of positivity. Just making the shortlist of can-do's snapped me out of my anxiety and impending depression...and launched me on the road to mental recovery, which is half the battle. Good news! My broken body part can be and will be fixed as whatever part you might need fixed or replaced in the future will be. 

By the bye, if you're one of those lucky people who own a '57 Thunderbird I understand you can still find parts.

And remember the immortal words of the late actor Jimmy Stewart, "After age seventy, it's patch, patch, patch."

So happy we can patch.