Wednesday, June 28, 2017

What Do You Do...

when life smacks you upside the head to get your attention and then proceeds to add some difficulties to your life.  When you get to be my age, those difficulties are mostly medical.

Those who are regular readers know of my physical limitations because I whine about them periodically.  Those new visitors, take heart.  I promise to keep the whining about fun stuff like arthritis and cellulitis to a minimum.

To my way of thinking, there are two things a person can do.

The first is to crawl into bed, pull the covers up to your ears and just wait to die.

The second, and my personal choice, is to just to get on with it.  Make peace with the fact that life has changed and there is bloody little a person can do about that.  So after you get through the initial anger and frustration and periods of weepy self pity, find ways to adapt to the situation.

Everyone has different situations to deal with.  Many are much worse than mine.  I still have a mind that works - well, sort of.  I can still walk - sort of.  I can still take care of myself as far as personal hygiene, cooking, keeping my apartment clean enough to stay the health department, etc.  But each task needed to be thought out as to how to do it in my present condition.

The hardest part for me was knowing that I was not the Wonder Woman of the past who could work hard from dawn to dark and beyond.  That fact pretty much shredded my ego.  I have never been one to cry for help unless it was obvious that the task at hand could not be accomplished alone.  So having to call on my kids to do for me was not high on my list of things I enjoyed.  But, after swallowing some of my pride, I did it.  Thankfully I have grown children who are more than willing to help out when needed.

Adapting to current limitations has been a challenge.  I know that I can not stand or walk for more than 10 minutes at a time before the arthritic pain becomes overwhelming.  So I have learned to do the chores either in ten minute increments or do what I can while seated at my kitchen table.  Youngest Son and his family gave me a walker for Mother's Day so I can now leave my apartment and enjoy the outdoors.  Admitting to myself that I needed a walker was tough.  I have learned that if I do too much one day, I will spend the next day quietly recovering.  Sometimes it is worth it - sometimes not.

I believe the most important thing about dealing with limitations is attitude.  I suppose I could sit around in a puddle of self pity, but I won't.  I haven't the time nor do I have the patience for it.  I think that concentrating on what I can do rather than what I can't makes all the difference.

The point of this post is not to dwell on my physical problems, but to encourage anyone out there who is facing life-changing obstacles.  If just one person who reads this is able to realize that life, even with limitations, can be good, then this was worth posting.  Just do the best you can with what you have to work with.

Oh yeah...keep your sense of humor.  Laughter is the very best medicine.  Really - it is.

14 comments:

  1. Well said, Vicki. We may not be able to do what we once did, but we can still do SOMETHING, and that beats doing nothing!

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    1. That is the whole point of this post, Gorges. I just wanted to show folks that even with the difficulties (I know you know all about that pesky cellulitis thing.) that go with this aging process, we can still manage to live a good life.

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  2. What Gorges Smythe wrote, above.

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    1. Thank you, Rev. Paul. It is my hope that maybe someone who needs encouragement will find it and they won't feel alone.

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  3. hi.
    i want a rollator eventually.
    once in a while aldi's grocery store has them.
    it is a walker with a seat.
    if you are crippling you can roll from where you are working at the table over to the oven without having to haul yourself up in order to limp across the floor.
    shouldn't replace walking when you are ale but can be a real asset when you are down.
    last year they were 60$ but i hadn't the lucre then. waiting for the next chance.

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    1. deborah...The walker my kids gave me has wheels, brakes and a seat. My apartment is just too small for it to be useful here. I can still manage indoors. But it is just the ticket for when I want to spend time outdoors. It is easy to maneuver and I can sit when I need to. The rollator you describe sounds perfect for those who have the space to use it.

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  4. Well said! As I grow older, I have learned that I need medical tests and what not. Not fun. I try to used natural remedies and this week it's a healing herbal tea.

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    1. Thank you, Kristina. I think that having to deal so much with the medical profession is my greatest annoyance. Seems to me all they want to do is run expensive tests, send you to a specialist and prescribe drugs. I'm learning all I can about herbal alternatives, mostly because I believe they are better for me than a pill with a laundry list of side effects, but partly just to tick them off when I refuse their pills. I'm sort of ornery that way. :)

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  5. I really needed to read this post this morning. I was/am in a whiney mood.. I crashed yesterday from doing too much. No, I did not physically run into anything (thank the Lord) but my energy drained away in the afternoon and I felt punk. So that means I need to be an adult and have a quiet day today. Not what I had planned. I'm signed up for an over40s water aerobics class that starts today. It's in an outdoor pool, in the middle of a park and surrounded by huge trees. I look forward to this class every year. It only runs 8weeks and I've got to miss the first session. Whine-whine-whine.
    So what your wrote was important for me today, thank-you so much. SJ

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    1. SJ... Don't feel bad about having a whiney day. We all have them from time to time. I think a good whine or a good cry is the way we get the bad stuff out of our systems so we can keep on going.

      So sorry you have to miss the first day of a class you enjoy so much. That's the evil part of having limitations. There are things we really want to do and sometimes we just can not. And sometimes being a grown-up about it is tough. Sometimes I just want to throw a world class tantrum at the unfairness of it all.

      You and I - we have been having conversations for quite some time now. I know that you are not one to dive head first into a pool of self pity. I really debated about this post, for I usually don't do posts like this. But this time I felt like someone somewhere needed a little bit of encouragement. I'm glad if it helped you in some small way. You need to know that it works both ways. There have been times when your comments have made things better for me.

      So go - rest - do whatever you need to do to be able to attend the next class. And then tell me all about it. :)

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  6. Yup. Good job, Mom.

    Life is about little victories.

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    1. Thank you, Glen. You are right about the little victories. When you add them all up, it makes for a pretty good life. :)

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  7. Vicki, did you ever get your Vitamin D checked? Julia

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  8. Julia...Not yet. Because going anywhere can be a chore, I wait to have everything done in one office visit to my doctor. I will be going in to have prescriptions refilled in another month or so and I have that on my ''to do' list. Thanks for asking. :)

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