Egad. Ibuprofen bothers my stomach now. That NEVER used to happen and I remember wondering what was wrong with those lily-livered people who wanted that special coating on their Advil.
It’s been going on for a few months, but I didn’t recognize it until just yesterday. I had some minor surgery on my ear and they gave me ibuprofen. I noticed my stomach hurt and started to think about what I’d recently eaten. Were the leftovers last night bad? Have I failed to get enough greens into my diet? Do I need to split up my vitamins into batches?
I told my husband and he confessed that for two weeks his stomach has been bothering him. He was taking ibuprofen because his knee was starting to hurt.
I’m 47 and he’s 46. That doesn’t seem old. Now in what seems like an “all of a sudden” moment, we are both having trouble taking the pain reliever.
How many signs will come and go that we will ignore that we are aging. We make jokes with our friends, but I recognize that I will fight aging just as fiercely as my parents. I hope I recognize and can accept when I need to consider adapting some new routines or accept limitations due to my health or the safety of others.
For now, I just asked him to get the coated kind when we need the refill. Lily-Livered
This post made me smile, and think of all the little things I’ve lost since I turned 40. Nope, we are not young forever. :-p
Kay,
I believe your post highlights how we humans struggle to interpret the signs and take the appropriate preventative actions to safe guard us and our future lively hood. Of course this is all speculative, but looking back, our family thought our parents were prepared, and we children assumed all would somehow work. The more we got involved and showed interest and concern, the more strained the relationship became (at times), and the more signs of trouble we uncovered with both our parents. Two years later we are struggling with keeping them safe and looking at possibly becoming a conservator as they are no longer competent to make decisions. How did we get here?!? I am not sure what we should have, or could have done differently to make this a smoother transition instead of running around the periphery until the wheels came off the cart. It certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying on all of our parts.
Sure we all complain about changes in the body and society from about 40 on. Various aches and pains, going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, food problems, acid reflux, memory, stamina, etc. There is no cure for aging (not for the lack of trying, and a combination of rationalization and basic denial) except vigilance, preparation, precaution, open and honest dialogue between parents, spouses, and children, and knowing the warning signs along the way and addressing head-on.
We have a saying in the human resources profession. Problems ARE NOT like fine wine, they DO NOT get better with time. This response comes from years of working with managers/leaders who put of personnel issues/problems until they simply blow up. I somehow think humans got the message that it is better to have somebody help you in emergency mode rather than plan ahead accordingly and address issues when they are manageable. It supports the joke phrase, why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Sound familiar? 😉
Our parents always told us not to worry about them, that they had everything covered, and I think we may have waited too long to seriously step in before something serious happened. I do know we all want our freedom and independence for as long as possible. There is no denying that!
Good point Kay!
Thanks!!!
e.