I was humbled and moved to tears to see how many Arizona Daily Star readers read and worried about my recent fall that led to vertigo. My inbox must have stretched to accommodate all my email.
I was surprised to see how many strangers as well as old friends still use our valiant postal service that delivered a recipe for chicken soup and special prayers. Many fellow vertigo sufferers shared their horrors and vertigo-busting tips, and all wished me well. I answered every one though it took a long while.
It worked. Except for that first jolt of morning dizziness when I go from horizontal to upright and the world dances, I am pleased to report that I am healing and have learned to walk again. I still use a walker or cane when I am feeling wobbly, but from flat-on-my-back to no longer screaming when I sit up is a big improvement.
My thanks to those who cared, or are still caring, for me. And who teach me safe ways to learn to walk again and coax me to move or yell at me for not walking (there is only one of those!)
Mobility is taken for granted until it is lost. As I myself aged and began to research aging, I learned about safe and healthy ways to stay active. But the main reason that I exercised and took a morning walk was my almost morbid fear of losing mobility.
I bemoaned the fact that my once super active mother fell in her garden and broke her hip. She developed what I am struggling to avoid: fear of falling.
Falls are one of the most dangerous events one of us oldies can have. But physical therapy and balance exercises can both help prevent falls and show us ways to recover from them. If you are wobbly, dizzy or unsteady on your feet get thee to a balance clinic.(t)
THE WAIT IS OVER
At long last, my book, “A Traveler’s Guide to Geriatrica” will be published on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Let me share an announcement sent to a bunch of hopefully eager readers I know.
The official music video for Brandi Carlile's 'The Mother' from the album "By The Way, I Forgive You" available now. http://elektrar.ec/Brandi…
Dear Friend, Relative, Colleague, Reader,
This is a thrice postponed birth announcement I am delighted to finally send to you!
After a prolonged gestation period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, my book on aging will be published and will finally see the light of day on November 10, 2020. You can now preorder “A Traveler’s Guide to Geriatrica” by Marilyn Heins MD, illustrated by Dave Fitzsimmons and published by 3adimpressions at Amazon Books.
Books make great gifts. Writing and publishing “Geriatrica” was a gift to me. It gave me a purpose. It engaged my mind …or what’s left of it! I learned a lot. It was fun, especially working with the funniest illustrator on the planet. And it was a delight to work with the two nicest guys in publishing, Rick Wamer and Donn Poll. If you have some spare “pandemic time” on your hands, think about reading it. Or clean out the garage.
And what about me now? The Arizona Daily Star, my favorite newspaper, has offered to let me continue to write an occasional column. I will do that until I get really old or decide to take up knitting or parachuting instead.
Readers, stay healthy and interested in our world. It will need everybody’s concern as we come out of the pandemic and rebuild our world.
High school students and elders at St Luke's assisted living home learn from each other as they spend time together
