I vote for roll the dice and make your choice. I'm a big fan of the patch though. After a hysterectomy at 40 followed by one week of hot flashes I went for the patch and used it for more than a dozen years. Finally gave it up when I figured I'd reached normal menopause age. No consequences, although I did end up having thyroid-related hot flashes instead.
Whew. I've seen my mother and one sister go through agonizingly protracted, years-long declines in which their quality of life sure looked dismal, if not absent. I have another sister in memory care with advanced Alzheimer's. So the request I've put in at the Universe Customer Service center is for a nice, quick, decisive myocardial infarction or maybe a one-and-done stroke. But . . . not today, please. Next Tuesday doesn't work for me either. And I'm afraid next year's out, and the year after . . . sigh. Were I in your shoes, I frankly don't know which decision I'd make, although I would be pretty leery of jumping back onto HRT without medical coaching.
OK Jan, here’s another wrinkle: Saw the cardiologist after I wrote this and he said don’t take the nitro after all, unless I start having angina regularly. And he said thanks for the articles on HRT and angina, which he hadn’t read (linked in the essay above). More to come…
Well, here's hoping you don't need the nitro — and kudos to you for educating your cardio doc, although it's a little scary that you have to. Sadly, even our specialists in medicine are only human, and probably overworked.
this shows the issue with our siloed medical system. The cardiologist doesn't know about how HRT might affect a heart condition, etc. etc. Thanks for a vulnerable post. This is something we're all confronting. Like you said, I used to think I'd never get old. Now, I see the end of my life so clearly.
My mother was an RN and used to get quite annoyed by specialists. She's say, if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
And, yes, in any case it's all temporary. Which can be depressing or liberating, depending on how you look at it. No wonder we live in denial so much of our lives. It takes a real grownup to see mortality clearly... not sure I'm that grown up yet.
The messages and content of this are well noted, coming from a typically robust seventy-one year old who is discovering many of the same "surprises" of the seventies. But Stella, you are one hell of a writer, too. I am looking very much forward to reading more of your work, including your "Bastard" book. You have an enviable eye and ear for writing.
My sixties were a walk in the park. This year, at seventy-four, I had a full knee replacement, which doesn't do much for walks in the park. That being said, the stiffness and the odd sensation of having hardware in my knee, is a small price to pay for continued Pilates classes, and user-friendly/age-friendly hiking. Oh, and I can still get in and out of a kayak. But . . . like you, this decade marks something new, the beginning of decay. The grandmother oak in my back yard showed me how it's done: first your dreams bud. Then they flourish in green gowns that dance in the morning breezes. Next the gown color changes to something more age appropriate, and as you move in colors that brighten and flame, you also let go and the leaves fall to the ground -- a shedding of what once was. Winter found me with gnarled branches reaching in prayer and gratitude toward the sky. This was the year I felt the "old" of my life in a new way. Gone is the quick bounce-back factor of youth, replaced by morning aches and a deepening of spirit that requires slow and quiet reflection, more of which is now witnessed by forest trails and a horizon where eternity lingers with an open palm and reaching fingers.
I love your Crone/author work. Really lovely. Big hugs to you this day, Stella.
"The most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted"
by: T. Colin Campbell II, MD. Scientific studies, the title is from a huge, years long study in China of diet and disease. There are other important studies in the book that have been reproduced and that are well documented. The information in this book will change your life.
I vote for roll the dice and make your choice. I'm a big fan of the patch though. After a hysterectomy at 40 followed by one week of hot flashes I went for the patch and used it for more than a dozen years. Finally gave it up when I figured I'd reached normal menopause age. No consequences, although I did end up having thyroid-related hot flashes instead.
Whew. I've seen my mother and one sister go through agonizingly protracted, years-long declines in which their quality of life sure looked dismal, if not absent. I have another sister in memory care with advanced Alzheimer's. So the request I've put in at the Universe Customer Service center is for a nice, quick, decisive myocardial infarction or maybe a one-and-done stroke. But . . . not today, please. Next Tuesday doesn't work for me either. And I'm afraid next year's out, and the year after . . . sigh. Were I in your shoes, I frankly don't know which decision I'd make, although I would be pretty leery of jumping back onto HRT without medical coaching.
OK Jan, here’s another wrinkle: Saw the cardiologist after I wrote this and he said don’t take the nitro after all, unless I start having angina regularly. And he said thanks for the articles on HRT and angina, which he hadn’t read (linked in the essay above). More to come…
Well, here's hoping you don't need the nitro — and kudos to you for educating your cardio doc, although it's a little scary that you have to. Sadly, even our specialists in medicine are only human, and probably overworked.
this shows the issue with our siloed medical system. The cardiologist doesn't know about how HRT might affect a heart condition, etc. etc. Thanks for a vulnerable post. This is something we're all confronting. Like you said, I used to think I'd never get old. Now, I see the end of my life so clearly.
My mother was an RN and used to get quite annoyed by specialists. She's say, if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
And, yes, in any case it's all temporary. Which can be depressing or liberating, depending on how you look at it. No wonder we live in denial so much of our lives. It takes a real grownup to see mortality clearly... not sure I'm that grown up yet.
The messages and content of this are well noted, coming from a typically robust seventy-one year old who is discovering many of the same "surprises" of the seventies. But Stella, you are one hell of a writer, too. I am looking very much forward to reading more of your work, including your "Bastard" book. You have an enviable eye and ear for writing.
My sixties were a walk in the park. This year, at seventy-four, I had a full knee replacement, which doesn't do much for walks in the park. That being said, the stiffness and the odd sensation of having hardware in my knee, is a small price to pay for continued Pilates classes, and user-friendly/age-friendly hiking. Oh, and I can still get in and out of a kayak. But . . . like you, this decade marks something new, the beginning of decay. The grandmother oak in my back yard showed me how it's done: first your dreams bud. Then they flourish in green gowns that dance in the morning breezes. Next the gown color changes to something more age appropriate, and as you move in colors that brighten and flame, you also let go and the leaves fall to the ground -- a shedding of what once was. Winter found me with gnarled branches reaching in prayer and gratitude toward the sky. This was the year I felt the "old" of my life in a new way. Gone is the quick bounce-back factor of youth, replaced by morning aches and a deepening of spirit that requires slow and quiet reflection, more of which is now witnessed by forest trails and a horizon where eternity lingers with an open palm and reaching fingers.
I love your Crone/author work. Really lovely. Big hugs to you this day, Stella.
Stephanie thank you for saying this so eloquently. Aging is a process, not a destination. The ultimate paradox of growth and loss.
Big hugs, Stella.
What’s its thesis?
"The most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted"
by: T. Colin Campbell II, MD. Scientific studies, the title is from a huge, years long study in China of diet and disease. There are other important studies in the book that have been reproduced and that are well documented. The information in this book will change your life.