A Thousand Little Pestilences

That's what ageing is - a plague of a thousand little pestilences. 

Since the beginning of this year, I seem to be plagued with one little thing after another. First it was an inflammation of my right upper eyelid. Dr. Google confirmed it was a clogged oil gland, such as we have at the base of our eyelashes. At my vision screening the eye doc confirmed the diagnosis, and I treated it with an antibiotic ointment and warm compresses. In fact, in looking through his microscopic lens, he saw that most of the eye lid glands were clogged, and recommended that I make warm compresses a part of my daily routine. It seems it's not unusual in older people. 

I did this for a while and then stopped, not wanting to bother. So now I have an inflation on the edge of my lower eyelid. I am back to warm compresses daily and using the antibiotic ointment. However the ointment gets into my eye and causes the vision in my right eye to be blurry. So much fun. One good thing, though.  I use a kitchen timer set for five minutes for the compress. The cat hears this and comes to find me, sits on my chest, sticks her nose under the towel covering the warm washcloth, and purrs.  Thank you, Josy. 

About the same time, the mole on my face just under my nose got all swollen and angry. Dr. Google assured me it wasn't serious, so I rode it out and it settled down in about a week. But then for the second time in about three months, it became inflamed again. I called the doc and I have an appointment next week to have it looked at. It's settled down again now, but I need to see if it should be removed. 

Appointments. Seems like I am now going into the Capitol Hill Group Health Medical Center all too often. That's where the specialist clinics are, and where I go to have my hearing aids checked and adjusted. I go again on Wednesday. I'm still having adjustment issues. Everyone is lisping. More on that later. 

It's easy to put on weight as an older person. The pounds just sneak on. To fight that, we walk. Because of the big bunion on my right foot (thanks, Mom, for those genes!) I have to buy wide walking shoes. I try to find something that works, but I guess my last try wasn't  a very good choice. I developed a corn on the outside edge of my left foot. I tried to ignore it for a while, but then went to the Dr. Scholls  section of the grocery store and bought corn pads and liquid corn remover. Of course I can't bend my leg to see the bottom of my own foot, so Tom has to apply this stuff for me. Meanwhile, I am just putting up with that irritation too.

Walking has always been my exercise of choice. In the last year and a half, Tom has joined me. We try to do 3 to 3.75 miles a day five days a week, unless we are doing heavy gardening all day. Today we walked 3.7 miles and then spent over four hours working in the yard, with a break for lunch. 

Up until lately all was good. But now I am having trouble recovering from that walking. I can still do it, but then my legs hurt most of the day afterward. After today's work out, when I get out of my chair to cook dinner, I will be hobbling until I get by legs going again. It makes me feel like an old woman. My arthritic right knee is twinging a lot more and there are flashes of instability as it seems to buckle for an instant. Believe me, I hang on tight to stair rails. But I keep on walking. 

I am not about to give in to these minor pestilences. Hopefully anything more serious is still a long way off in the future. We are both fortunate to be in good health, and I count my blessings.

But getting old is irritating!