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Health See other Health Articles Title: The New Old The New Old By Berkson (We all want to live longer and younger but none of us wants to age, but if you’re the one aging, move over, no one seems to want you) A day in my life. I’m in my 60’s. I didn’t realize how many examples of “age racism” I could and would bump into in just 24 hours while my peers and myself continue to contribute. I woke up finishing intake notes to patients. Had extra sprouts so gave some tasty lentil, Mung bean and broccoli to a patient whose colon we saved from surgery. Now her autoimmune disease is under control without any of the meds she was on for 15 years while being guaranteed that 1) she could never stop taking them and 2) food had nothing what so ever to do with her incurable disease. Went to the gym to stretch and remember God. Had amazing conversations with other gym rats while outside appreciating Quarry Lake. The sun’s warmth on my skin was delicious. Mark came over in his truck and we drove down to the kidney clinic. We got the patent on our drug and were discussing new ways to get the medicine out to people that need us: those suffering with dangerous wounds that are tough to heal (bed sores, wounds in diabetics and even those on dialysis). We work with Dr. Jack Moncrief. Dr. Moncrief is honored as one of the 7 men who have made kidney medicine (nephrology) what it is today. He brought organ transplantation to Austin. He opened this first dialysis center in Austin. He has directed a dialysis center for over 40 years. He actually came up with idea and co-invented the home dialysis unit (CAPD). He came up with the idea of telemedicine and signed the bill with Bush. He’ll be 79 next month. The office we met Dr. M at was no longer the dialysis center. When I asked what happened, Dr. M said, “They felt I was too old to be a director anymore.” Dr. M radiates strength. He married his high school sweet heart several years ago and still looks like a man on a honeymoon. “You look better than you did when I first met you”, I said. “Well, let me tell you, age is a changing hurtle.” “Meaning?” “I had a patient with some kidney disease, a woman of 89. I asked like I always did in an initial intake, ‘So what did your mother die of?’ ‘Die, she responded, she’s not dead!’ “No? How old is she?” “107.” “Amazing! Where does she live? How is her health?” “She lives with me. She walks, gardens, goes to our church dances on Sunday nights and reads to kindergarten kids. She’s fine.” “Do me a favor,” Dr. Moncrief inquired. “Next time you come for an appointment, could you please also bring your mother?” Six weeks later in walked two old but healthy women. Dr. Moncrief explained that there isn’t much difference in appearance between someone in their late 80’s and someone over 100 if they are both basically “healthy.” So, in walked two upright agile “old” ladies looking fairly similar. “So,” Dr. Moncrief laughed, “I never again ask how did your mother die but rather, is your mother still alive? No matter how old my patient is.” “Aging is changing,” he continued, but “not the bias against it.” “You’ll see soon enough’” he said,” doctors are pretty age biased themselves. “A friend of a friend of mine is 77 years and got diagnosed with several cancers. He asked his oncologist what were his chances of beating the cancers with the recommended chemo. The smug oncologist said, “At your age? Don’t you think it’s time to throw in the towel, that enough is enough?” The very doctor he was going to, to try to save his life, wasn’t sure his life was worth saving! We left and those words rang in my head. Yikes. I needed a gluten-free beer. Mark and I had noticed a new pub on our drive down town so we went to check if they had beer without grain. The line was too long and Austin traffic too slow. So we wound our way back through the awesome vistas of water, cliffs, and greenery and happened past a place that I had been longing to patronize for years. But it’s only open a few hours a day a few days a week. But it was open. The Dry Creek Café. A literal Texas hole in the wall with room for only 4 cars in the parking area. You buy your beer from Angel. An oldie but goodie with no front teeth but lots of angel jewelry and mesmerizing stories of which musicians had stopped by on a lark and chugged a beer, sang a song and all for free. We bought the beer and got ourselves a koozie out a huge pile on an old broken table. We tread gently up the outdoor staircase and the terrace, if you could call it that, cracked as we stepped on the broken pieces of roof that felt like they would fall in if we merely jumped up and down once or twice. The bathroom sink was outside next to an oak tree trunk and the rusted metal paper dispenser said in old hand printed sharpie, “No Paper.” There were a group of buffed young men sitting in metal chairs at old partially painted wood tables, also enjoying the sunset. Right out of the shoot and rather unexpectedly Mark and them slid into a dialogue about how it’s now a woman’s world, and only the bitchy women who subtlety control their men, are the ladies who in fact get their men. But, they do have to be young. Yep. Men like their woman, young. I sat back and listened to some more age irony. Forget that women live longer and it makes more sense for older women to hang with younger men. One of the guys said, “You should see Hollywood. I was just there. It looks like men who go back to nursing homes at night are out for dinner with Barbie Dolls. These couples are everywhere. And no matter how young they are, they still hold us under their thumbs.” Mark and them toasted their koozies. Once home I made dinner at home of guac and sprouts and got ready to go dancing at Dallas Night Club. It was closing this weekend. After 35 years. Many dancers like myself had the pleasure to dance for thousands of hours over many years at that Austin honky tonk. That night I danced at a frenzied aerobic level for 3 ½ hours. We are not talking slow waltzes. The club was open to 2 AM and many brought changes of clothes in their car. There was no stopping us, most of us over 50, 60 and even 70. Dancers live longer. A mouse study from Southwest Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas found that experimental dancing mice lived longer and better than couch potato mice! A girlfriend of mine had two aunts, both completely healthy till almost 100 years old. One danced, walked and gardened. She only died because a train hit her. Her family members laugh it took a train to take her out. The other one lived to 100 because she was famous for saying, “And, that’s that.” She simply didn’t get stressed out, even when her husband whom she loved dearly, was hit by a car and died. She was 80 then. She answered this harsh act of fate by reminding those who wanted to console her, “Well, and that’s that.” Perspective. So much time on this planet earth, gives a more global picture, if one has intention and health to see it, use it or share it. “Older” but “healthier” folks are amazing chronicles and resources for perspective and wisdom. They have lived to tell the story. To understand their stories. But this society does not honor these stories. We choose to blunder about on our own youthful blast of hormones, heat and lack of experience. When I was young I actively sought out older mentors to guide me. I remember a sign on a building in Santa Fe, New Mexico that sums up my thinking: remembering the past is a sure way to preserve your future. I hung with the Nearings who I met while in their 80’s. We stayed close up till Scott fasted himself peacefully to death when he turned 100 as he felt he was no longer a contributing member of society. I lived, learned, built log homes and farmed along side Helen and Scott (the original gurus of the back to the land and organic food movement who also jumped started Elliot Coleman). They wrote the introduction to my “Foot Book”. I hung with Bucky Fuller. I did my first rotation in integrative medicine with Dr. Jonathan Wright, the father of bioidentical hormones (the rest is history). I got to work, hang and shoot the breeze with older wiser scientists who created the field of endocrine disruption at the Tulane think tank. And I have worked part time for over 5 years with Dr. Jerome Block, another mentor in Tulsa, who blends internal medicine, functional medicine, nutrition and media in a tapestry crafted from almost 50 years of service. If we live better earlier, we enjoy a richer later. But who are the docs and bosses who will value our lives and our contributions when we achieve a thriving, surviving and better “later?” Dr. Wright and his wife Holly, several years ago, bought a multi-million dollar building and started a new functional medicine clinic with a hotel across the parking lot for patients to fly in from all over the world. I went to Tukwila, Washington for the opening. They worked 12-hour days. Tons of energy. No complaining. No fatigue. They are madly in love. Their patients love them. Why not? They offer cutting edge functional medicine that heals the root cause of disease: nutrition, food, hormones and even cell injection therapy for organ rejuvenation. I used and luckily helped regrow some of my damaged optic nerve fibers that my ophthalmologist insisted could never be resurrected. The injections are FDA approved but not standard care. The Wright’s offer ways to heal, not just drugs to hold symptoms at bay. They work tirelessly but lovingly, all the while continuing to serve and to teach. They are both almost 80. Two years back I took a 40-hour relicensing course with the neuro-surgeon turned nutritional doctor, Norm Shealy MD PhD. He invented the genre of medicine called “pain management”. Dr. Shealy is visionary and tireless. He recently came up with the idea of a new PhD in psychology called “Conscious Psychology” that will incorporate spirituality and nutrition. He donated land and buildings for the new campus. During the 40-hour course that he taught by himself, he didn’t yawn once. He didn’t look pooped. He radiated aliveness. Dr. Shealy has embraced nutrition with a fierce passion. He eats no carbs. He shared the history of the Tens unit he helped create (along with a chiropractor and naturopath). Dr. S told the 30-yr history of the only integrative hospital wing that he helped create and direct which is now part of the impetus for this new psychology higher graduate program. Dr. Shealy is going strong in motivation, inspiration and creation. He is 82 years young. We are the NEW OLD. Hopefully you are coming our way. Everyone wants to live longer. But no one wants to age. Yeech. Move aside for the fasted growing global demographic and be open to what you might learn for when you get here, which is just around life’s corner. Poster Comment: Thought y'all might enjoy this. Dr. Lindsey is a dance friend of mine. Here is her bio-- http://drlindseyberkson.com/ Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#2. To: christine (#0)
Great! thank you, dancing queen.
Keep dancing, christine. It's what keeps you young inside as well as the outside. It certainly does me!
awww, thanks y'all. what kind of dance do you do, purplerose?
Professional Burlesque and vaudeville entertainment. Costume and all. Did it for 23 years. And I'm still in shape after all this time. :)
#11. To: purplerose (#10)
you, go, girl. would love to see video!
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