Not long ago I wrote a blog about the wonderful world we live in and how the medical community can supply us with new body parts. (Any part used every day for eighty, ninety, one hundred years is destined to wear out at some point.) In that same blog, I explained my feeling about my body…liking it to an old car, a little bit rusty in places complete with tires that are almost bald and an AM radio that is mostly static. And did I mention that almost everything under the hood is out of warranty? Yes, I’ve known for several years that the conveyance that gets me around is a rinky-dink older model that isn’t manufactured any more, a model that someday might need a new part.
That day
has come and gone.
Luckily for me, an abundance of replacement parts are available and a young (you know doctors are all young nowadays) surgeon with amazing credentials gave me a new hip. He said the surgery would take him an hour and a half to two hours. (Most of my naps are longer than that.)
We truly
are living in an era that should working parts go bad we can order new ones. It’s
an era when hip replacements are common. We might even ask, who doesn’t have
one?
I’ve
discovered when a hip goes wonky that just walking can be dangerous. I’ve been
known to lose my balance…but have not fallen thank goodness - I can still
answer those wellness tests, “No fall. Ever.”
Several weeks ago, in order to circumvent any minor tragedy, I started carrying a cane to keep me upright and on track. Frankly, my drugstore cane made me feel old. I’m convinced that if you feel old you will look old and worse, you will act old. (You will understand the feeling when you buy your first package of butterscotch candies.) I depend more on my sleek Jaguar-head cane, (I am a Jacksonville Jaguars fan) a gift from my daughter-in-law.
So while reflecting on how I shall live in this New Year, I decided to only write one blog a week, this month you’re reading what may be the only blog. Taking my new hip for a spin as often as possible will be my priority. When time becomes precious - which it should for anyone my age or more, setting the proper priorities is vital. I went from walker to cane in three days, from cane to look-no-hands in two days.
In the process I discovered I have sarcopenia - age related loss of muscle mass. Instead of bending down I scooched in the grocery store the other day and my body froze. You know the old, “I can’t get up” story. That was me. Sooo embarrassed. Kind shoppers came to my rescue and I soon became ambulatory again. (Once on my feet again, held on to the grocery cart for dear life!)
I no
longer scooch and I have a new topic to blog. Watch for - sarcopenia,
body-building over eighty.
Sharing my
adventures in aging with you will continue to be one of my top priorities. So,
scooch or no, weekly or monthly, I’ll be back. The best way to age is to do it
together!
