| A Word Edgewise by Mary Joe Clendenin |
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| A Word Edgewise by Mary Joe Clendenin |
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Last Updated 01/20/06
For more literature go
to Clendenin Books
Email: mjclen@our-town.com
GETTING OLD IS A
FULL TIME JOB
According to my outdated medical reference book, arthritis and rheumatism are
about the same, and neither word is very definitive without some other modifier--which
makes very little difference to the summons of pain to various parts of the body. Sometimes its joints, sometimes it muscles, but it
hurts.
Another book Future Youth, How to Reverse the Aging Process, by the
editors of Prevention Magazine, has much to say about the subject. They would have you believe it is just a normal
process of aging. "It helps to look at
your joints as parts of your body subject to stress, just like your eyes, hair and
skin." They go on to say that exercise
will build up muscles that can compensate for the damaged joint by relieving it of stress. According to them, a realistic attitude can really
improve a person's life. If you have a good
attitude you will function better than a person with a bad attitude. (That may mean that between pain spasms you have
to smile a lot.)
I remember my dad complaining of rheumatism years ago. He tried everything he heard of to try to stop the
pain. In those days, Glen Rose had a
sanatorium where one could take the cure, drink the water and soak in it--no, no, that
doesn't sound right. He was supposed to drink
lots of that sulphur water. Then he was also
to take the baths. He stayed there about two
weeks. When mother took us to see him, J Ed
and I had fun playing croquet there in the yard of the sanatorium, so we didn't vision it
as a haven for the suffering. Of course, we
had to go to the courthouse and get a drink of the smelly water where it came out of a
fake fountain made to look like an old stump. What passes as treats for some kids!
Dad might have felt better for a while after the treatment, but he wasn't
cured. He tried eating garlic with
everything except ice cream. He tried eating
brown rice and fresh fruit. His was not the
kind of arthritis that made the joints swell and deposited calcium to make big
deformations. But it must have been pretty
painful because I know one of the treatments was. He
resorted to letting bees sting him. He would
go out to tend the bees, get honey or feed them, and deliberately get stung. After the ouch went away, the rheumatism was still
there.
A member came back to our swimming group Monday, using a cane. She had been on a tour and she said, "Those
old Ritis brothers are bad news, and the worst of them, Arthur, went with me all the way
on vacation." I didn't ask her any other
questions. She seemed a little disgusted at
the inconvenience.
Mother used to say her arthritic leg predicted the weather with more accuracy
than the weather man. I'm not sure she could
differentiate between a thunderstorm and a general rain, but she knew some change was
coming. Ray says his arthritis hurts more
before a weather change too. Seems strange,
but who am I to doubt. Looks like I'm joining
the complaining chorus. This morning my
shoulder is far from comfortable. Holding the
newspaper open to read it was too painful. I
had to spread the paper open on the table--right in my cereal bowl.
Some experts (?) think sugar is a main culprit when people have arthritis.
Giving up sugar and loosing weight can make life more comfortable--but that takes care of
most of the fun. Some say just the right
vitamin combination is all you need. Wonder
which of my many supplements is working friendly?
I have a rebellious attitude when experts tell me to give up coffee, tea,
sugar, cake, frozen yogurt, fresh fruit, hot bread and butter. I may give up listening to experts. Someone has
reason for me to eliminate all the things I like from my diet. Guess it would be possible to loose weight under
those circumstances. But then, I need my
night cap of a bit of frozen yogurt. A cup
of coffee--I have only one--in the morning helps me get started. And I can give you good reasons for all the other
good stuff. I enjoy it.
All in all, getting old is a full-time job.
You have to be vigilant to do all the right things at the right time. Skipping the news before bedtime is a help. Cuts back on the nightmares and the tossing and
turning. Choosing the Discovery Channel on
television helps--though some of those animals get pretty mean. Watching old movies where you don't have to be
in suspense about the outcome passes the time safely.
I've even grown to like watching baseball after all these years of fussing at Ray
because he hears not a word I say when a game, of any kind, is on.
Aches and pains, by any name, just grin and bear it seems to be the name of
the biggest game in town. Some friends of
ours in Lubbock have a card which says, "Verna and Gaither Vanderver, the older we
get, the better we used to be." That's
me.