In July 2003, Robert was shocked when we landed in my homeland of Auckland, New Zealand. He’d been there before, but was not a fan of winter visits. The 50 degree Fahrenheit drop in temperature from Florida’s 90 to Auckland’s 40 revealed Robert’s dependency on indoor temperature control. Telling him that the drop was only 27.5 degrees in Celsius was no consolation. Robert compensated by using dad’s two-month supply of kerosene for the heater in only three days.
Despite being irritated by this unexpected depletion in his fuel supply, my father threw open all the windows to let some fresh air into the over-heated room.
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Robert was shocked again. He had not learned how to adapt to New Zealand’s way of staying warm—only use a heater to take the chill off the early morning air and wear winter clothes inside.
When we flew to Sydney, Australia to visit my siblings and other family members, it was my turn to adapt. Shortly after a surprise 50th birthday celebration—where I was crowned the queen—I was rudely reminded of my advancing years. I fell and severely sprained my wrist the day before we flew home. I had one night to ice it, then fellow passengers across the Pacific suffered with me as I massaged my wrist with the penetrating and aromatic Goanna extra-strength heat cream. The healing process was impeded by the need to continue lifting myself on and off chairs, toilets, and in and out of the car.
I was also losing range of motion in my ankles. The pain interrupted my sleep, reduced my already limited walking distance, made stairs and curbs impossible to climb without a railing, and required avoidance of uneven surfaces like grass and gravel.
At the end of August, I went to a local orthopedist for x-rays. After looking at the images, he came into the room, was surprised not to see a wheelchair and amazed I could walk independently. He pronounced severe arthritis and prescribed a scooter and a lift to get it in and out of the car.
In September, I brought the x-rays to Dr. Mary Matejcyk, the same orthopedist who replaced Robert’s hips in 1997. She advised that the spontaneous fusion of my ankle joints was causing the pain. This sounds bad, but it was actually good news. Surgical intervention would be to fuse the joints and my ankles were doing this on their own. The only concern was that the ankles fuse in the right position for standing; thankfully, this appeared to be happening. When the fusion was complete the pain would end. And she was right.
Robert had no health incidents in 2003. However, he got quite a scare on the scales at the doctor’s office. The calibration on our home scale was off by seven pounds. We both admitted we needed to lose weight to reduce the stress on our joints.
So how were you reminded of National Senior Citizens Day on August 21st?
Read more about dwarfism issues in my dwarfism trilogy, https://angelamuirvanetten.com/books/.
2 replies on “Adapting to Changes in Climate and Age”
Getting older as an LP is a challenge. Great post
Thanks Mark. The secret is to learn how to age gracefully.