I need an ALA,
an Aging Limitation Adviser.
An ALA would be the one
to help me understand,
"Okay, this is something you need
to accept and live with,
because--at your age--it's not going to get better."
Take, for example, the question of running.
From my late teens until my late 50s,
I loved to run.
When I ran I felt alive, connected, sexy.
I enjoyed running in all seasons, in all weather.
I was outdoors, seeing people and trees,
buildings and landscapes.
Running = joy.
And then I started having running-caused problems,
like occasional knee pain,
or a sore foot,
or the one that stopped it all--back issues
that caused muscles in my butt to seize up
and weird sensations to course down my legs.
I saw a sports specialist who is also a spine specialist.
But here's where an ALA would have been helpful,
because the spine guy (and, in fact, any other medical person I saw)
was loathe to answer the question:
"Is it time for me to stop running?"
The medical people don't want to tell you such things;
they want you to reach that conclusion.
I imagine them saying to themselves,
"Yes, buddy, for heaven's sake,
wake up and smell the time's-passing coffee;
stop with the running."
But they won't say that aloud.
But a ruthlessly honest, well-trained ALA would:
"Sweetie, I know running means a lot to you,
but like Elsa, it may be time to let it go.
This is your limit--
accept it."
Letting go is hard,
but I'd rather let it go, based on reasonable discussion,
than risk greater injury or well, death by heart attack
on some lonely, remote trail.
So I gave up running,
simply because it hurt too much,
and there was no way to fix it.
And I did the wise, aging thing--
I looked for other ways to get outside (like walking)
and get aerobic exercise (like ellipticaling [though I'm not sure that's a word]).
And now my feet hurt.
I have new orthotics,
and I've been to visit the pedorthist (yes, that's a thing)
several times for adjustments,
but I'm wondering if it's time for an ALA to step in and say,
"This is the new reality;
from now on, your feet will hurt;
you will walk anyway, because you must,
because you want to,
but this is how it will feel."
Or, conversely, my ALA might say,
"No, you need to keep fighting on this one;
foot health is possible.
You don't have to be in pain."
At Tim's job they have an acronym--
MMI--
which stands for maximum medical improvement,
meaning all the treatments, therapies, medicines, etc.
have done all they can.
Where are the MMI standards
for this process of aging?
So, anyway,
if you hear of a good ALA,
let me know.
Text and image © 2018 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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