About This Getting Older Business

Just want to share some thoughts about getting older. I recently turned 52. It seems I've had a downward spiral in health since hitting that half century mark. If you are a regular reader, you know I was diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroid Disease about a year ago. This past spring we found out that my normal body temp was 97.5* which explains why I was cold so much. That has been fixed with low dose natural thyroid meds. Now, I'm hot all the time! Plus, that getting older and gaining weight thing doesn't help. I have struggled with joint pain since age 18 due to the trauma of my car/train accident but the older I get, the worse it gets. 

Four days ago I had a partial hysterectomy because of multiple uterine fibroids. Surprisingly, I have had little pain. I'm tender and slow moving but not having to live on pain killers. Easiest surgery I've ever had as far as pain goes. What is my surgery count? Let's see... tonsillectomy 1984, surgery to put steel nail in right femur (thigh bone) 1985, surgery to remove nail 1990, laparoscopy to unblock Fallopian tubes 1990 (they ended up not being blocked when they got in there!) C-section 1991, tuba ligation 1993, uterine balloon oblation 2000 (not a real surgery but I was knocked out for procedure and was pretty sore after), appendectomy 2002, hysterectomy 2018. That's nine surgeries!  At least they were spread out over the years! :) This may be too much info for some of you but oh well. My life is often an open book. Hoping the last one helps with many symptoms. 

A friend of ours who is older than us, once told us that "getting old ain't for sissies!" He sure was right! Some days you just want to stop dealing with it and are ready for the Lord to come. Watching your body stop working the way it once did is hard some days. But, I am thankful it's not worse. I know many, many people suffer and deal with more health issues than I do. 

One of the hardest things to deal with being so stiff and achy and not being as strong as I used to be, is not being able to play with my grandkids as I would like. I just can't have them jumping on me or get on the floor as easily as I used to. It hurts! Sometimes I have trouble picking them up because of joint pain. I find ways to enjoy them anyway though. 

I reckon the point of this post is that even though my body is slowly deteriorating, I'm still glad to be above ground. I'm glad I'm still here on earth to enjoy the things God has provided. Also, if you are young, do the things necessary to keep your body more agile and healthy. No matter what you do, you will not live forever on this earth (you can have eternal life in heaven though, if you accept what Jesus did on the cross) but you can keep yourself strong, agile, and healthy longer, if you try. It's much easier to maintain than to fix and rebuild as I am having to do. I had no example to follow of maintaining good health as I grew up or in my young adulthood. When we know better we can strive to do better! Don't assume your young body will hold out into old age without routine maintenance because it won't! Do what's necessary NOW! Make changes where you need to and ward off old age ailments as long as you can. Keep the above meme in mind as you grow older. There is only one classic you!