We’ve been living in the country 6 years now. One of the first things that happened to me after we completely left Melrose was that I jammed my knee walking down Neil’s back steps. We were staying in the Orchard House and hadn’t even moved into 707. The pain was excruciating. I spent a night dealing with it and went to Rapid Care in the morning. Thus started a long haul of engagement with the medical team at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson, about 30 minutes away.
After that there were follow-ups at the bone and joint center for a few months and then, after we threatened to operate, the pain subsided. In the first few years of being here, my gall bladder was removed, I was diagnosed with emphysema (the disease that killed my grandfather), my tinnitus became really noticeable, I got torn triceps in both arms and my dizziness got worse.
I generally don’t like to dwell on my ailments but this weekend I started to feel really knocked out by them. I worked a table advocating for a local solar farm on Saturday morning and went to a fair in Great Barrington in the afternoon. But at the fair I really started to feel unsteady and dizzy and had Tami drive home. I took it slow for the rest of the weekend.
I have been struggling with exercise out here. I took a yoga class for a couple of years but during the pandemic the time changed and it became hard to fit in. I try to walk the dogs for about a mile every day but I don’t always do it. I don’t like riding my bike on the roads here because it’s really hilly and the cars are all going 55 mph, much faster than the city which I am used to. Now Tami has gotten me an e-bike, which is good because it can give you an assist going up hills. I haven’t ridden in about a week due to dizziness and stuff, but I think it will help me in the long run.
A lot of good stuff has happened to me since we’ve been out here. But it occurred to me this week that my health has really taken a dive compared to the city. And I was spoiled by the world class Boston healthcare. Plus, I’m getting old. All of my peers are suffering the same ravages of age that I am. I feel like the healthcare system here is not going to produce any miracles so I will need to mostly rely on myself for health maintenance. I have a few prescriptions and I have a good pulmonologist, Dr Mehjabin Zahir, a wonderful Bangladeshi woman who is both smart and caring.
I’ll be on Medicare next year. I’ll be okay. My mother raised us healthy which we hated at the time but which is paying off now. Years of smoking and partying are no match for Virginia Hussey’s vitamins, natural foods, and clean living.
Conceptual Irregularities 