DANG PICKLE JAR

It'll Be OK

I use to have fun moving the living room furniture around.  I could even push the piano across the room all by myself.   Now, I can barely lift the piano bench.  I actually got my arm stuck behind the sofa  recently when I was trying to plug in a lamp.

I had to laugh a couple of days ago when  I fell down planting three tomato seedlings. I guess when I started walking  away and turned back to glance at my handiwork, my  brain  couldn’t figure out which way I was going that fast.  

 But I really noticed I was losing  strength when my shoulder started hurting several years ago.  I couldn’t lift much with my right arm so I went to my doctor to see what was wrong.  Surprisingly, she announced , “You  need a mammogram, colonoscopy and  bone density  test.”  What????     When they asked me what my symptoms were at the colonoscopy consultation, I stubbornly wrote down  -- a bad shoulder.  The surgeon  laughed and said, “Oh, you’re here for maintenance work.”

Several days later, as I was lying on the table being prepped for the colonoscopy, the doctor leaned down and whispered in my ear,  “I’m going to try to get this up as far as I can to see what’s wrong with your shoulder.”  I think I was still laughing when I fell asleep.

As we age, our bodies take a lot of wear and tear. Few people realize that muscles grow larger and stronger  from ages one to thirty  then  begin losing mass and function after that.  The  reduction of nerve cells, lower levels of hormones and fewer calories from protein make  the natural loss of muscle tissue happen even faster around the age of 75,  causing the likelihood of falls.  

To slow down this muscle loss as we age,  there are things we can do. Doctors recommend  eating  plenty of protein, getting  lots of exercise, sleeping  7-8 hours a night  and taking Vitamin D.  

Personally, I’m thinking a good dose of humor with your maintenance work helps too.

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow older; you grow older because you stop laughing.”          ~ Maurice Chevalier

COMMENT: HAVE YOU LOST ANY OF YOUR PHYSICAL STRENGTH?

Humor is your best De-FENCE for a bad day