Saturday, February 25, 2023
[If you prefer to watch rather than read, scroll past the text for a video of this post.]
My mom passed away at age 86—just one week after I celebrated my 60th birthday. She lived a great life, and I sure do miss her. What I don’t miss is feeling so sorry for all the pain she was in during her the last decade of her life.
When I was growing up with my five siblings, we really weren’t allowed to be sick. If we were, my mom’s philosophy was to “get to work, you’ll feel better!” We were a very healthy family for sure! In fact, I never remember either of my parents ever taking a day off of work due to illness.
Even after a couple of surgeries—including a hysterectomy and mastectomy for due to breast cancer—she never wanted attention or pity. She didn’t have time for it! She had a household of six kids and was the first full-time working mom in our neighborhood. When I was little, I would hear people say to mom, “Your floors are so clean, we could eat off of them.” I thought that was strange for people to want to eat off the floor. I took our always-tidy house for granted.
My mom was the queen of ironing for sure! She ironed everything including bras and pillowcases! She was also known for having bags of “sprinkled” laundry in the freezer! I’d better explain this one. After clothes came out of the dryer, she took an empty Pepsi bottle filled with water, put her index finger over the opening and sprinkled water on the clothes. Then she rolled the clothes up and put them in plastic bags and placed in the freezer until she had time to iron them. I’m not making this up!
She wanted her house and her family to look nice and ironing clothes was the way to accomplish this!
I share these facts to point out that I never ever thought my mom would be sick even as she aged.
For most of my married life, I lived across the country from my parents and siblings. When I’d go back to visit, I easily recognized the signs of their aging, more so than my siblings who saw them on a regular basis.
When my mom entered her seventh decade, I really saw a decline. That’s when her back gave her a lot of problems and she began prescription protocols that would last through the remainder of her life.
After my Dad passed away, Mom moved to an assisted living facility (a really nice one) so she could have help managing her medications. By now the side effects of her “meds” were causing issues and she’d be given a medication for her medication.
My siblings and I all participated in her care to the very end. During the last 15 months of her life, my husband and I were in a position to relocate to her city and moved into her home because she didn’t want to sell it, since she wouldn’t be staying in assisted living very long (caregiver hint: always agree with your aging parents on issues like this). She never went back to her house, but I always acted like she would.
My sisters and I took her to doctor’s appointments—each of us assigned to a specific doctor. One of my responsibilities was her Primary care physician. Each time the doctor would go through the three pages of her medications and try to eliminate one or two that might be unnecessary—like Vitamin D pills.
A couple of days after she died, I came down with a sore throat and cold symptoms. Maybe it was from the stress of the situation, maybe it’s because I had been visiting my son 2,000 miles away and had been on multiple airplanes. When I spoke at her funeral, my voice was weak. I felt so awful that I can’t really remember who attended. I just wanted to go home and go to bed.
That was my wake up call. Mom was gone, and now I was starting down a path of ill health. No!! I will not do this!!
I connected with a friend who had been telling me how she was staying healthy and ageless. I was all in! For the past six years, I have only missed a day or two of using this high-tech formula. During that time, I have taken only 3 “pain relievers” because my dentist was trying to determine a cause of a tooth pain.
Now that I am entering my 66th year on earth, I realize the daily rituals I have created for my health have made an enormous difference in the way I feel and age. I don’t have the problems that some of my “older” friends do (some are my same age and even younger). They often tell me, “just wait until you are ____ years old. Well, I’m not waiting for that! I am focusing on my health every day!
Let me be clear that I am not anti-prescription medication. Absolutely not. Prescribed drugs keep many people comfortable and alive.
What I am determined is to do all in MY POWER with my daily choices and lifestyle to ward off diseases and to build the cells, muscles, and bones in my body.
If I could live pain-free, prescription-free, and full of boundless energy, I would want to live to one hundred. While I don’t have a goal of living to a specific age, I do have a target to live every day where I am HAPPY and HEALTHY.
I invite you to join me regardless of your health (or not-so-healthy) status. I didn’t have a wake up call until I was 60 years old. It’s not too late to make small and simple changes—little hacks—that will make a huge difference in your life.
Are you ready to come along?
Stay tuned to videos and blogs on our journey together.
P.S Bring a friend or two who feels like you—determined to do all you can to age without aching.
Encourager and Educator
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