Wisdom
(Or Lack Thereof)
We’re supposed to get smarter as we get older. That’s not always true, though I’m afraid we also believe that we are smarter and know more and can be somewhat stubborn about it. We look at our advanced age as the age of wisdom, and I for one, fully believed that. Well I’ve learned my lessons and I’m only not smarter, I’ve discovered that sometimes my children are smarter than I am!
I’ve recently been pretty self-concerned and all this is leading up to another “I should have known better” situation. The situation is that I didn’t decide to stop eating. I just decided that nothing tasted good, or I was too involved to stop for something as mundane as fixing a sandwich for lunch. The “not tasting good” has a real reason. We lose taste buds as we age and I believe mine have all gone down the drain along with several inedible frozen dinners. That meant that I just didn’t bother to eat dinner. About the same time some strange things started to happen to me.
I began jerking. First, the fingers on my left hand started moving rapidly as though they had a mind of their own. Then the same condition traveled up my arm with even more rapid jerks. When this alarming movement encompassed both my right hand and arm and eventually my head, all strangely moving at the same time, I logically became more alarmed. However the real scare was when the jerking attacked my legs, leaving me unable to stand or move. What in the world was happening to me?
Of course I contacted my doctor and of course we began blood tests. Perhaps it was the thyroid, either too active or not active enough. But that all changed when Debby, my wonderful daughter-in-law, arrived to spend several days with me. While she was here, she witnessed the fact that I wasn’t eating enough to feed a sparrow. That evening when she arrived home, she told my son what she had seen. “Your mother is starving herself,” she explained. “No one can survive on the amount she eats.”
The next morning my son called with his very firm son voice. “Mom,” he said, “what do you think happens when your body doesn’t get enough nourishment? Where do you think it gets it?”
“From itself?” I asked.
“You got it,” he said.
He then went on to give me absolute instructions as to how I was to eat. Three canned food-supplements a day with other food in-between each one. I was informed that I needed to keep the calorie and protein count up. And I was not to forget a drink or meal.
He was being too bossy, but I couldn’t complain. He was absolutely right and that began a new eating regimen. I felt better the very first day. I was more alert and I had more energy. By the third day the jerking stopped and I realized that what I had been suffering from was malnutrition. Would you believe it? I brought it all on myself by simply not eating. I also must confess that I did not inform my doctor or my visiting nurse that I had reduced my food intake to almost nothing.
I wonder if anyone between the ages of 40 and 70 can understand why I said nothing about having a problem? I didn’t know I had one. The part of the brain that signals hunger stopped sending the information. So, during my hunger strike, I was oblivious about what was happening. Without a hunger signal I had no appetite. In an effort to eat, I found nothing that had enough flavor to make me want to eat. In other words I didn’t think I had a reason to eat. Actually, I didn’t think at all.
Now it has changed. I still don’t get hungry or crave a certain food. What I do is eat anyway. I consume three cans of food supplements every day and a sandwich, egg, soup, or salad in-between each one. I really don’t call it eating. I see it as part of my medical routine. Not pills, but every bit as important. Besides, I still want to hang around a while and enjoy my family, friends and especially my bossy son.
I’ve recently been pretty self-concerned and all this is leading up to another “I should have known better” situation. The situation is that I didn’t decide to stop eating. I just decided that nothing tasted good, or I was too involved to stop for something as mundane as fixing a sandwich for lunch. The “not tasting good” has a real reason. We lose taste buds as we age and I believe mine have all gone down the drain along with several inedible frozen dinners. That meant that I just didn’t bother to eat dinner. About the same time some strange things started to happen to me.
I began jerking. First, the fingers on my left hand started moving rapidly as though they had a mind of their own. Then the same condition traveled up my arm with even more rapid jerks. When this alarming movement encompassed both my right hand and arm and eventually my head, all strangely moving at the same time, I logically became more alarmed. However the real scare was when the jerking attacked my legs, leaving me unable to stand or move. What in the world was happening to me?
Of course I contacted my doctor and of course we began blood tests. Perhaps it was the thyroid, either too active or not active enough. But that all changed when Debby, my wonderful daughter-in-law, arrived to spend several days with me. While she was here, she witnessed the fact that I wasn’t eating enough to feed a sparrow. That evening when she arrived home, she told my son what she had seen. “Your mother is starving herself,” she explained. “No one can survive on the amount she eats.”
The next morning my son called with his very firm son voice. “Mom,” he said, “what do you think happens when your body doesn’t get enough nourishment? Where do you think it gets it?”
“From itself?” I asked.
“You got it,” he said.
He then went on to give me absolute instructions as to how I was to eat. Three canned food-supplements a day with other food in-between each one. I was informed that I needed to keep the calorie and protein count up. And I was not to forget a drink or meal.
He was being too bossy, but I couldn’t complain. He was absolutely right and that began a new eating regimen. I felt better the very first day. I was more alert and I had more energy. By the third day the jerking stopped and I realized that what I had been suffering from was malnutrition. Would you believe it? I brought it all on myself by simply not eating. I also must confess that I did not inform my doctor or my visiting nurse that I had reduced my food intake to almost nothing.
I wonder if anyone between the ages of 40 and 70 can understand why I said nothing about having a problem? I didn’t know I had one. The part of the brain that signals hunger stopped sending the information. So, during my hunger strike, I was oblivious about what was happening. Without a hunger signal I had no appetite. In an effort to eat, I found nothing that had enough flavor to make me want to eat. In other words I didn’t think I had a reason to eat. Actually, I didn’t think at all.
Now it has changed. I still don’t get hungry or crave a certain food. What I do is eat anyway. I consume three cans of food supplements every day and a sandwich, egg, soup, or salad in-between each one. I really don’t call it eating. I see it as part of my medical routine. Not pills, but every bit as important. Besides, I still want to hang around a while and enjoy my family, friends and especially my bossy son.
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