It sucks getting old

 I have spent the largest portion of my life healthy and unconcerned about any problems related to my health. At 73, I thought I was doing quite well, but then the symptoms appeared.

I had some trouble breathing, which turned out to be because of my heart. It's enlarged (which I have known most of my life) but never caused any major problems before.

According to my doctor, it also beats too fast. On the occasions that he sent me to the ER, they concur, but, medications for it don't seem to help much. These are what I came back with the last time: 

Annoyingly, my memory has gone through the mill for the last thirty years, too. Fortunately, Hubby is very understanding about it and takes it mostly in stride, answering questions that I should know the answers to. The good news is that I have never been very social, so sitting at home and not stressing in the world works just fine for me.

I was taken aback a bit at my last doctor's visit. I have a small rough patch just behind my left ear for a month or two. And when I mentioned it to the doctor on my last visit, he looked at it with a magnifying glass and very nonchalantly pronounced it was cancer.  Of course, this was very unexpected, but he said we'll take a biopsy and take it off, if necessary within the next several weeks. 

Before this week, my concept of 'cancer' was an overtaking invasion and organ failure. Bit now I know it can be taken care of from a small beginning. 

I will keep you posted on the progress, even though it sounds like it will be slower than I prefer.

It definitely sucks getting old.

the things I learn

I have learned a lot of things since I've been blogging. Really.

I enjoy posts that have gorgeous photos and then a bit of historical facts to go with them. 

I love it when bloggy readers help me out with identifying flowers. 

And I enjoy  seeing places that I will probably never see for myself unless I win the lottery.

What I never expected was what I learned at the doctor's office yesterday. I went in about my back. Again.

All three times I called the clinic for an appointment about my back, they were backed up with patients because the doctors were out of the office for some reason or other and I had to be squeezed in.

The first one I saw was not my regular MD. He got me started on my way to recovery, but I re-injured myself at the end of the second week and saw my regular doctor the second time for a repeat of meds.

Well, I seemed to almost be well and I thought that time would make it all ok. But it didn't. I seemed to get worse.

So, I made a third appointment. Again, they were all backed up and I was asked if I wanted to see a Locum (which is British for temporary replacement). I wasn't particularly fussy so I agreed.

And, that's when the lessons began. He actually knew my history and connected some dots for me. 

1. I had thyroid problems about 20 years ago and take daily meds for thyroid hormone replacement since. Now, in retrospect, I know my lower legs lost strength because of this problem. For example, if I sat on a seat that was lower than my knees, I could not stand up like everybody else. I had to re-position myself so I could use my arms to hoist myself up. I've never had a doctor tell me this was true, but I know for a fact that my thyroid caused this problem.
And I felt a bit like the Lone Ranger in this knowledge until I saw the Locum. He knew that thyroid problems caused muscle problems! Yay! And so he suggested that maybe that was part of my back problem.

2. He noticed that I am taking Methotrexate for psoriasis. Apparently, my case is quite severe since the dermatologist told me on my last visit that he was worried about me when I first came in. That's something you want to hear. Not. But I digress. Anyhow, the Locum informed me that psoriasis is one of several diseases that can lead to arthritis. Neither my regular MD nor the dermatologist mentioned this possibility. Because of this, the Locum said that if this medication doesn't help we should take xrays of my back.

The prescriptions that he game me are for the same pain and anti-inflammatory that I had before but in different dosages. Even after a day and a half, I feel a lot better. Weird, huh? But, I'll take it!

As Bette Davis said, 'Old age ain't for sissies.'