Aging: The Good, the Bad, and the Tolerable

I’ve taken care of older patients most of my 40 years in the nursing profession, the last 20 of those years as a nurse practitioner in direct patient care. It wasn’t until I entered my 80s that I realized most of what I knew, or thought I knew, didn’t relate to my own aging experience. 

I will share what I learn as I travel on my aging journey—good, bad, and tolerable.  

We are all aging from the moment we are born. Regardless of your current age, I hope you’ll find the commonalities we share as we grow up and grow older. To confront ageism, I suggest we look at growing older as a continuum of life—all benefiting from the stories that we tell and the stories that we hear.

Thanks in advance for commenting on my stories and sharing your own.

Adjustment

Right after my 80^th birthday, I overextended my left leg while exercising and popped two ligaments attached to my knee. I wrote about this in one of my posts. I hadn’t had any serious physical limitations up to that time; grateful for my mother’s genes and my life-long skill at denial of any issue that I could ignore until I couldn’t.

However, no longer was I the supple woman I thought I was: avoiding elevators and escalators, trekking the steps instead, traipsing up and down hills without getting winded. I felt “old.” Suddenly.

With time, a knee brace, and physical therapy, I would get to where I could walk without a cane and climb up and down stairs, albeit, slowly. On a recent vacation, I walked the New York City Streets but avoided the uneven and narrow subway steps. Taking the bus was slower but more conducive to sight-seeing, and therefore, more enjoyable. I did wear the knee brace that I rarely wore at home—just in case.

I realized that if I were to keep moving as my body aged, I had to make some adjustments. Denial didn’t work for me any longer.