Old Age: It's not for the Weak

Alert:  Sometimes old age creeps upon us. Now it has scored a direct hit. 

Marvin has been short winded, noticeably since just before Christmas. He’d yawn while talking on the phone, a classic symptom of begging for air. The whole S.O.B. thing came to the surface when he was exposed to God-knows-what inside a house he bought to flip.Now he is using an inhaler for asthmatic bronchial symptoms and his breathing is remarkably better. 

While sheer willpower has kept him going, and going, and going…will-power became “I’m done; I have no power at all,” this week. His blood pressure bottomed out on Wednesday, even with the medicines for treating A-fib, which began January 6, at first discovery.

Nurse Nancy-Jane Ratchet said, “Get your butt into the Highlander.  You have a room at NEA Baptist.”  He got into the passenger side and “did not say a mumbling’ word…,”  did not tell me which lane to get into, how to drive; I knew the man did not feel good at all.

The new reality –

A-fib:  erratic heart beat and High heart rate. 

Goal:  reduce heart rate to under 100, no spiking to 150+ - conservative treatment. Get the heart into an efficient working rate and pattern which will improve everything.

Probably, Marvin will be dealing with both conditions from now on.  While A-fib is not unusual, it is a bummer for Superman. He has reached a new stage in his life.

The doctors are marvelous and are treating the condition(s) conservatively – not overmedicating and not jumping into fancy procedures.  That fact, tempered with Marvin’s “healthy skepticism” makes for a good combination.

Welcome to the New World – We are getting older and while our minds may still be young and spry, our bodies beg to differ.