A Traveler's Guide to Geriatrica by Marilyn Heins

Author:Marilyn Heins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Awareness 3D LLC
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

REACHING 89

My 89th birthday! Yes, it’s a big number. Next year’s birthday will be a monumental one. In case I reach it I better learn, and remember, how to spell nonagenarian!

I am grateful to have reached this milestone. I am privileged to have lived a whole lot of life and accept the reality that I am now squarely in the stage of advanced old age. A white female born in 1930 had a life expectancy of 63.5 years, so I am ahead in the game of longevity. A white female born on the actual date of my birth can expect to live another 5.4 years.

But of course, one’s reality is not the same as a cohort bunched together for statistical purposes. An individual is only that, an individual. But numbers do funny things sometimes with no rhyme or reason ... we call it a coincidence. When I was assigned a cell phone number many years ago, it was the year of my birth. I bet not too many people living in Geriatrica can say that!

As I have written before, only the composer gets to write his or her own finale. And it’s a totally different kind of finale.

Of course, I have a bunch of complaints but, as of today, I am still vertical and mobile. I have at this writing a stable of medical professionals ... an internist, cardiologist, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, audiologist, and dentist. As I age the list may lengthen.

I am very grateful to be on Medicare. I started paying into Social Security in 1946 when I got my first summer job. I do pay for supplemental insurance and some prescription drugs but shudder to think of what my life and finances would be without Medicare. I shudder even more when I think of people without any health insurance.

I walk nearly every morning. However, I cover way less than the four miles of road I could do before breakfast when I moved here 40 years ago. Now we are the oldest, slowest walkers in the neighborhood. Everybody needs something to brag about, right?

Working out at the gym three times a week is a thing of the past. I still do floor and balance exercises in my home nearly every day but not at the speed or number of reps I once could do. A personal trainer checks in on me to make sure I am doing exercises correctly. Keeping mobile is an important goal for me, as it should be for my readers, so I plan to keep doing these exercises as long as I can still get up from the floor!

Aches and pains persist as I age. To be truthful, they increase but I don’t want this chapter to be a downer. A dear friend of my vintage said, “Pain has become my constant companion. Pain is always with me even during the night. He requires minimal attention, has few demands, and I can always count on his being with me no matter where I am!”

I have become a creature of habit.

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