Yikes I'm Getting Old!

[traumaRUs]

We all must face it - we are aging. Oh yeah, when I was 20, 30, even 40, heck I was NOT going to get old. I was going to keep learning, stay current with evidence based practices and be on TOP!

However, there was something else in store for me: many more birthdays. I am now uh hmmm in my mid-50's. Fortunately, my health is excellent - I can still run with the 20 and 30 year old nurses and think on my feet.

But, how long will I remain healthy?

Is it a given I will be fit enough to continue to work full time, take frequent call, remain mentally sharp enough and physically able to do my job until I'm 70?

Although not as physically taxing as being a staff nurse in a busy (>100k visits/yr) ER, my current position still expects me to run a code, remember protocols, be able to troubleshoot patient care issues and deal with irate patients and family members. And of course, see my 200 patients weekly.

So, what do I need to do now?

Well, the first thing is I must keep my naturally dark brown hair as natural-looking as I can while still hiding the gray - :). This requires frequent visits to the local discount store where I buy Nice and Easy #7A in bulk. It has also meant that I must lose weight as hauling around an extra 50 pounds makes it difficult to run to these codes.

So, check that off as a done - now to maintain the loss. Positive from this is that I got to buy new clothes as even my patients were making comments that my clothes were too big.

I was fortunate to make the choice about ten years ago to go back to school. So besides school loans which will be paid off with my social security check, I have the requisite MSN and a couple of other certificates. Hopefully, this education will keep me employable.

In this day of continued Medicare/Medicaid cuts I will need to continue to stay on top of my game. So, I guess the moral to this musing is that to stay employed as you age, you need: experience, education, ability to adapt quickly and constantly reinvent yourself.

Happy Birthday everyone!

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I don't think there is an idea that gray hair is bad - some women look lovely with gray hair.

I simply do not. Mine is not the glorious gray . . might is mousy ugly gray. I was a blonde so we usually don't gray well. Redheads usually have the kind of gray I might be able to live with.

Most of the docs I work with are around my age. A few are in their 30's and early 40's.

Helen Mirren is beautiful either way but definitely looks younger with the blonde hair on the bottom photo. ;-)

[HangInThere, BSN, RN]

After years of being told, with appreciation, that I, "think out the box", I recently received a card from my boss saying that I bring wisdom to my workplace. I think it's because I now have gray hair, because my way of thinking has not changed. Love the compliment.

[workingharder]

I now realize why weight lifting is actually so important as you age. I used to have a weak back but started to do squats and dead lifts and I have now a much stronger back then I used to have when 20. Start lifting weights yall...I'm not even going to talk about the hormone production, I'll let you find that out on your own.

I also lift weights an a regular basis. But, this bad knee just ain't getting any better on it's own. I'm afraid I'm going to have to trade it in on a newer model one of these days.

[Vishwamitr]

Hola Christina,

I think that there is some credibility to the aphorism, "Age is only a number". Mental acuity is also an asset. So relative-youth needs to be enjoyed every day. Vivalasviejasyviejos.

[Mijourney]

You know what? I'm actually grateful for being at an age that I can sit back and appreciate life and its many wisdoms. I can only wish that the wisdom that I have now, I could have had 20 years ago. But hey, life is a journey and growing in wisdom is what it is about.

My hats off to those of you who have incorporated exercise and especially strength training into your daily routine. I wish you health, strength and longevity.

[Vishwamitr]

You know what? I'm actually grateful for being at an age that I can sit back and appreciate life and its many wisdoms. I can only wish that the wisdom that I have now, I could have had 20 years ago. But hey, life is a journey and growing in wisdom is what it is about.

My hats off to those of you who have incorporated exercise and especially strength training into your daily routine. I wish you health, strength and longevity.

Hi Mijourney,

Nice post. Perhaps, that is the reason why it is said that hindsight is 20/20.:) I'll accept your wishes for health and strength but I don't know about the longevity.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Well, it seems nobody in my family lives past a certain age---I call it "the curse of 66"---and it's not looking good for my sister either, so I may very well have to be the one to break the mold. In fact, several people in my life, including my head doc, have told me recently that they are going to be HUGELY PO'd if I don't, so I guess I've got to take care of myself so I can avoid disappointing them. So......here's to eating apples instead of chocolates, and keeping my stress levels down so I don't use myself up too soon. LOL

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

i'm getting old, wahhhhh ! my eyesight is bad ( i always had 20/20 vision) and good old arthritis is in my knees and fingers. But I thank Heavenly Father every day so i can get out of bed and go to work . i never thought i'd get old and that i would be young forever, boy was i wrong .. :)

[sharpeimom]

I don't color my hair because strange as it sounds, I only have a few random strands, other than by my ears, which is strange for a 63 year old. As I see the people I went to school with, worked with, and grew up with, they frequently comment that I look so young that they just know I've had extensive plastic surgery done. Wrong! Actually, that attitude annoys me quite a bit because it doesn't factor in basic genetics, good diet, regular trips to the gym, several miles walked virtually daily for decades, avoiding elevators, etc. I was told not long ago that "You still have such beautiful skin!" Great, except it was said so accusingly instead of in a complimentary way. Hey! I was born with typical peachy-pink very fair Swedish skin which is just like my dad's was, I've always taken good care of it, and didn't suntan or burn often. I have some tiny lines and a few tiny wrinkles. I use moisterizer like crazy. If I still have small pored nice skin now, it isn't by magic.

I have managed to avoid many eye problems that go with growing older because I've always had a nearsighted and a farsighted eye. For much of my life, I've read with one eye shut. It drove my teachers nuts!

I remember a cousin who was very nearsighted telling me I had "weird eyes!"

In my family, there are mostly tall, willowy women who are between 5'10" and 6'. There are a few who are 5' or under, with boobs from their chins to their knees, and very high waists. My mother, aunts, and most female cousins are mostly the first. A few cousins and I are a variation of number two. Despite having two very tall parents, I'm 5'4" and tend toward extra weight if I don't watch like a hawk. As my younger cousin said with complete and utter disgust when she was eleven, "Cousins Kathy, Mary, Frannie, and I are all made from leftover parts!"

But you know what? The tall skinny cousins and the "leftover parts" ones all turned out to be pretty fantastic

and terrific women!

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

It really bothers me when I hear talk about increasing the age to qualify for Medicare. After all, "we are living longer today!" My father died at age 43; my son died at age 29; my mother died at 70. I know lots of older people; I don't know lots of older people who can still work in their 70's or beyond. Those are a rarity.

[ianursing22]

My aunt who is in her early 60’s still takes care of her patients, and I hope that I can also be like her someday! Anyway...Age maybe a threat to job security and income, but maybe we should not be threatened by aging especially if we have invested financially and physically!

[BostonTerrierLover, BSN, RN]

I'm thirty, but I still feel that clock burning inside me. Some days I wake up in a near anxiety attack that yesterday I was 18, surrounded by youthful nursing students. Now I'm the big 3-0 without kids, a wife, or even a general plan of where my life is going. I've traveled every continent but Antartica, and my heart burns for just my own family, and to know I won't die lonely and a hermit.

Time is unstoppable and cruel, but it can heal pain, it can hide our mistakes, but it eventually even erodes away steel. I feel like sometimes I am being pushed at 80mph while I smell brake pads burning and sparks flying out.

I remember an elderly lady in nursing school tell me, when I asked her if she had any regrets. She said sure, but what she really regretted were the things she DIDN'T do out of fear, doubt, or various other reasons that didn't seem good enough to her now failing body, and youthful mind, left to die alone without friends and family surrounding her deathbed.

I don't want to be like her. I hope I'm not her. I can only pray, like Paul, at the end I can say "I fought the good fight!" ...and regret not. Only time will tell.