The Benefits of Aging

As another year ends and another year begins, I cannot help but yell a squeal of delight. Yahoo! I made it through another year! Yahoo! I am another year older! I know, most people sorrow over growing older. "Oh, if only I could be young again," seems to be a common lament. However, if you have a chronic illness, being "young" is one's biggest pitfall.

When I first became severely sick, I was told by doctor after doctor, you are too young to be sick. I was told I was just making up my symptoms to gain attention. When my heart rate and blood pressure soared sky-high upon standing upright, I was told it was anxiety. (Yes, I was terribly anxious about standing up. If only I could overcome my fear of standing, I would be as good as new.) When my GI tract shut down day after day, leaving me severely malnourished and on the verge of starvation, I was told I was anorexic. I was told I just did not want to eat. (One doctor threatened, "If you don't eat, I will put a feeding tube in you." I replied, "Oh, thank you! I will finally be able to get some nutrition and won't die of starvation!" The doctor upon hearing my words, walked out of my room and discharged me from the hospital without a feeding tube and without any remedy to my severe GI tract dysfunction.)

Yes, it seems, as each system in my body flared up, I was told by doctor after doctor I was the sole reason for my symptoms...because I was "young" and could not possibly be sick and could not possibly have all these maladies. "You are too young to have gall bladder attacks. You are too young to have chronic pancreatitis. You are too young to have osteoarthritis..."

But now, as the digits in my age grow larger and larger, doctors suddenly take my symptoms seriously. For this, I am grateful. It is also a tremendous blessing that as my body ages, my metabolism has slowed down. I now can eat smaller quantities of food (which greatly reduces the stress on my GI tract) and not lose weight. As I grow older and older, I find more and more blessings in which to rejoice. It is with great joy, I celebrate 2017! "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies." (Psalm 103:1-4)