Managing health as one grows older!!!!
By Hari Chand Aneja
Hindustan Times
In 2002, my voice would get hoarse at times. The family doctor immediately referred me to an oncologist. Cancerous cells were getting hold of my voice box. The doctors were apprehensive that they may have to remove it. However, they were able to treat me with radiation and save my voice. In health matters, a stitch in time can literally save nine.
punjab Updated: Feb 28, 2016 09:41 IST
Have you visited the doctor?” asked my nervous father, as I suffered from a cruel cold. We were seated in his office in Tandalianwala in undivided Punjab in erstwhile India in 1930.
When I maintained a guilty silence he counselled me, “The best asset you have is good health. Money comes and goes. Opportunities come, but so do adversaries. With good health, you can always seek riches and opportunities. With a sound body, there is always a future.” Over the decades, I have pondered over his advice and learnt some lessons of my own too.
It is important to take action on the early symptoms of any health issue. In 2002, my voice would get hoarse at times. The family doctor immediately referred me to an oncologist. Cancerous cells were getting hold of my voice box. The doctors were apprehensive that they may have to remove it. However, they were able to treat me with radiation and save my voice. In health matters, a stitch in time can literally save nine.
Try to select a doctor who does not merely treat the symptoms with some pills, but also studies the underlying health pattern. It is useful to get the best medical attention that is possible. Going to the best specialists ensures that you access the latest medical developments through them. Now, medical services are becoming increasingly pricey. Senior citizens do not enjoy free medical services in developing countries like India. However, many hospitals and top medical practioners do provide some services ex-gratia.
Having identified a good doctor, it is important to maintain faith in him and be patient. As we get older, our bodies too age. They take longer to respond to treatment. It is important to go through the prescribed programme, rather than be impatient and change doctors or medicines hastily. Give nature and time a chance to heal.
Irrespective of doctors and medicines, it is important to keep a positive attitude when you fall ill. This is as important as the medicines, if not more. A patient must want to recover. He must want to live. And, he should look forward to enjoying life even after a morale crippling ailment like cancer.
However, good health in the later years is not automatic. The design of the human body is brilliant divine engineering. However, one has to nurture the body for sound health and performance in later years. I follow a five-point plan.
Firstly, however, repetitive it may sound, it is best to eschew tobacco-related products like cigarettes. Smoking has a severe impact on the heart and lungs. Second, it is important to undertake some physical activity or daily exercise. As one gets older, even a morning walk suffices to energise the muscles and tissues.
Next, live by moderation. Whether it’s food or fun, one must practice restraint. The spicy Punjabi “samosas” may be delectable. Nevertheless, one must know when to stop the next bite.
Fourth, the adage, “Early to bed and early to rise,” is a prudent policy. I try to get to bed by 10pm every night, so that I can awaken by 5.30am. By 8am, I am shaved and ready to take on the day and spend four hours in my office.
Finally, one must be tranquil when confronted with setbacks. One must genuinely “keep cool!” Negative emotions, loss of temper and anger can create avoidable blood pressure issues. Whatever the calamity, things fall in place after a good night’s sleep. Good times do not last forever, nor do the bad times.
Thus, good health in old age cannot be taken for granted. It has to be planned for. It involves being vigilant, getting the best medical attention, enjoying life, but also being spartan and saying no to the second helping of an exotic Tiramisu dessert.
Patience, trust, will, prayer: the keys to surviving cancer.
The doctor’s face showed genuine concern. “There is some growth on your vocal cords,” he said very softly. “We need to take a sample and check it.” He had very gentle eyes. It is not easy for any doctor in the world to tell his patient that he may have cancer.
For some years, my voice had been hoarse and tapered off in mid-sentence. Some days, I was unable to utter a word. I went through a succession of meetings with doctors and a battery of tests.
After that critical meeting with the specialist, I dwelt on the ramifications for many evenings. If the growth were malignant, it might result in the removal of my voice box. I would never speak again. I would have to write or learn sign language to communicate with anyone.
Countless worries assailed me. What if I am alone and there is an emergency? How do I ask for directions on a street? And my grandchildren would never hear my voice. At 75, my eyesight and hands were also weakening. How could I depend only on writing?
The prospect of losing your voice permanently is nerve-racking. The voice of a person – the sound, resonance, timbre, modulation and pitch – reveals volumes about personality, character and mood.
It was then that I realised that cancer is a lonely battle, which each person fights on his own.
Since many types of cancers are life threatening, the word itself has become intimidating. A few days ago, I read that a 23-year-old man had committed suicide after he was diagnosed with cancer. I recount my own struggle so that other patients do not give up.
In my fight, I learnt three lessons.
The first lesson was that, although there is intense pain and fear while combating cancer, one has to be infinitely patient. I visited six hospitals in all, many repeatedly. I interacted with eight doctors. Each time you visit a new hospital or doctor, you repeat your agonising story.
There are challenging moments. For instance, I needed a surgical biopsy to be performed under local anaesthesia. But the doctor could not reach the vocal cords through the pipe inserted in my mouth. There was intense pain and some bleeding in my mouth and throat and, after trying for hours, the doctor said the procedure could not be completed. I refused to give up. At my insistence, another doctor was arranged.
That day I spent hours in an awkward position, taking no water, with a dry, parched throat. Finally the sample was taken, but only after four and a half hours.
Then, there is the waiting period to determine whether the growth is malignant or benign. Every second, passes like a millennium. You pray. And the suspense steals your sleep.
The second lesson is that you have to trust your doctors. I did rigorous homework about to which doctors, treatments and hospitals I would entrust myself. However, after the decision, I placed myself in their care with absolute faith. During radiation sessions my entire face was covered, except my mouth. Which is then Administered under general anaesthesia, these sessions were gruelling. However, you have to trust the doctors. And remember: it is nerve-racking for them too.
The third lesson is that one must have strong willpower. However exhausting the processes, you have to grit your teeth and just hang on. Sometimes, when the growth is malignant, the treatment is protracted over years.
A touch of concern from the doctor, the love of your family, an encouraging word from a colleague, a kind touch from a nurse – all of these buoy the spirit.
And one more conclusive lesson: in our age of technology, the power of prayer is still paramount. This sounds old-fashioned, but from my own experience, prayer does work.
After a surreal fight lasting three years, filled with CT Scans, radiation therapy, laser treatments and surgery, my vocal cords were spared. For me, it has been a miracle to be able to talk in the years since. Every word I utter is a blessing, every day a gift.
Combating cancer is tough, but it is possible to cope through discipline and courage. There is urgent need, everywhere, for more cancer research and treatment.
Our world spends trillions of dollars on military machines every year. If some of the money spent on guns were diverted to cancer research, we could prevent millions of deaths. Those priorities have to change.
Hari Chand Aneja (The writer is a Mumbai-based 95-year-old former corporate executive based in Mumbai.) who now keeps busy with charity work 🙂
Your mentality about your circumstance creates how it’s going to go. Any situation can go either way, but what we deep down expect to happen?? Usually seems to be what’s happens!!! Expecting it to be awful, to not have a good time or not go your way in way? Results dictate Then you won’t and it won’t! But what if you decide that you will have a good time no matter what or that you will accept what ever happens and let it go, and just choose to be happy? Then Damn the situation flow better then, and becomes a lot more bearable!
http://www.collective-evolution.com/?s=The+Effects+Of+Negative+Emotions+On+Our+Health
ALSO A Florida woman says she has found ‘ the fountain of youth!!”
Annette Larkins shows off her garden in her Miami-Dade County backyard. It’s full of fruits and vegetables. Every corner of her garden has something that is edible. She also collects rainwater to drink and water her plants.
Annette says the food in her garden is her ‘Fountain of Youth.’
…
“I am very vibrant, I have lots of energy, as I told you before, I am up no later than 5:30 in the morning as a rule, and I am ready to go,” she said.
Annette says she does not eat animal products– her food is unprocessed and uncooked. “My diet consists of fruits, nuts, vegetables and seeds. I do a lot of sprouting of seeds and as you can see from my garden and of course these are the raw foods that I eat.”
Annette also juices fruits and veggies. You name it, she can juice it. Grapefruits, pineapples, even spinach. But not everyone in the Larkins family eats and drinks this way.
Amos says people even wonder if Annette is his wife. “They will ask me ‘what am I doing with a young girl? or they will say ‘you’ve got your granddaughter with you,’ things like that.”
Annette says because friends and strangers kept asking her questions about her health and youthful appearance, she decided to publish two Journey To Health booklets, and she produced a DVD 12 years ago.
“The Discovery Channel, they took sections of the booklet and translated them into Spanish which is, by the way, my second language.”
Her husband says she is vibrant person. “She is an amazing person, she does everything. I mean she builds computers, makes all of her own clothes, grows her own food, speak three languages, it’s amazing.”
Preview Annette Larkins (74 yrs): “What I Eat in a Day” (Interview) Part 1
