Lately, it seems that all my conversations with friends and clients have revolved around health issues. Now maybe that’s because I’m a massage therapist and a self-proclaimed food Nazi – or maybe it’s because lately….everyone I know has had some kind of medical scare.
Hmm…..medical scare….that pretty much amounts to being told that all the crappy things you’ve been doing to your body have finally caught up with you.
The doctors give you the “I told you so” look before they coldly announce that your colon is now the size of a tube sock and your going to have to live out your life with a bag of shit tied to your waist.
My Grandfather, for example, who was 80 years old and had been smoking since his early 20’s, seemed genuinely horror-struck when given the news that he had lung cancer. Now, no one wants to actually hear, outloud, news like that – but you just can’t suck down a liter of tar into your lungs every day without knowing that there will be consequences. I’m almost certain the tooth fairy is made up – but I know for a fact – there is no lung fairy. And who really wants to wake up with that under their pillow.
I have heard more times than I can count….”I would rather do what I want and die happy”…..really??? Because I’ve yet to hear any reports of people on their death bed so giddy, that they can’t rip the feeding tube out fast enough. Fifty may sound like a good age to die when your 20, but not so much when your 43 – “well okay, I guess I’ve got 7 years to wrap things up then its off to the funeral home!”
My advice, to anyone who cares to hear it, is this…….Maybe we should exercise and eat better just on the off-chance that our bodies hold out until we’re 90. A client of mine, who is only 59 and admittedly has never eaten a vegetable, just found out she has 16 polyps in her colon and now she’s out tearing up the lawn like a billy goat.
For me, I’m going to keep doing the best I can, and when at some ‘undetermined age’ I find that I have a med-alert panic button strapped to my wrist or when I can’t leave the house without a diaper bag – That’s when stepping out into a busy intersection will be the right thing to do.
Dear Donut,
Let me be sure that I understand you. Your Grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer at 80? Were you implying that his life was cut short?
I think the point was that he was shocked by the diagnosis…