Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Though you can use experience to steer clear of most storms, once you are aboard there is nothing you can do but thank God that at least you were alive long enough to be a part of the experience.
People talk about old age all the time. It is almost as important as talking about the weather. A common question is, "How are you doing?" The questioner never expects to actually get an answer unless it is, "Oh, hanging in there."
Mammy McCullough used to say, "Oh, I am super good but I'll get better. The reaction you get to this is first of all a surprise, then laughter. It pays to think positive.
There is lots of talk about the Golden Years, which would actually be more like silver if you look at the hair.
It is strange that you don't think of being old until you see someone your own age. How can we look in the mirror every day and not see the changes taking place? Do we really see ourselves?
Old age comes at different times. When you're young, old can be any where from 40 and up, but usually around 50 and "half way there." Ironically, one’s idea of old age changes the older you get. At age 40, 50 is old, at 50 one is likely to believe 60 is old. Those 75 or 80 will refer to that "old duffer," meaning someone older than themselves.
Age brings on any variety of ailments. Probably the most talked of is arthritis, though things like cancer, heart, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and the like are far more incapacitating. What is arthritis, really? More than 100 forms of arthritis exist. It has been described as creaky, crunchy, frozen joints and a walk that shows knees that don't want to bend.
Osteoarthritis is the wear and tear type of arthritis because the cartilage within the joints breaks down. The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is still a mystery but it usually is the result of immune system attacks on normal joint tissues.
One usually hears more men complain about arthritis, but in reality it is a women’s disease with two or three times as many women affected as men.
I recently sat in the doctor’s office and a thought came to mind: How easy it is for us to dash off to the doctor for any number of things, some things serious, and some things not so serious. The personnel, the knowledge and the so-called technology that can give so much information in such a short time can make you feel better psychologically. But then I thought about all those years when all this technology wasn't available at the touch of a switch.
Who was the "doctor" who made up the prescription, took the temperature (probably by putting a hand on the forehead) and gave out the TLC that was probably more important than anything? It was likely Dr. Mom. I won't say Dad wasn't there too, holding a feverish child to comfort them while Mom had to do other things, but mostly it was Dr. Mom.
Oh, moms still do administer to small illnesses and injuries, but many of the childhood ailments of the past generation or two has meant a dash to the local urgent care center. Compare that with the country doctor who traveled to the patient many times, instead of vice versa.
Most cures from Grandma Hanson came from a bottle of peroxide, a Listerine bottle and a bit of Vicks for good measure. Treatment consisted of washing and soaking injuries — then the doctoring — and the comforting words of, "It will be O.K.," took care of most scrapes and cuts.
It was not unusual to drag out an infection or a boil with the inside skin of a chicken egg. Damp when put on, it dried and drew the skin and pulled out the infection. I can just hear the doctors’ comments, but it seemed to work. People did what they could at that time and hoped that it would take care of the problem.
Grandma’s big cure-all was reserved for more treacherous things. At one time, she had an infection I believe was called a carbuncle. Yikes.
She washed and soaked it and even went to the doctor who lanced it, but it didn't seem to respond to treatments. So she did the Grandma Hanson thing: sour cream straight from the farm and slice of home made bread. She then bound up the ankle. Laugh, but it worked.
I suppose the yeast and sour cream were the antibiotic of the ‘20s, but it pulled that infection out and there was like a core or root that came with it. A few more treatments and the leg was O.K. again. That was medicine of the day. Bread and sour cream was often the cure-all.
Grandma used her Listerine bottle to take care of everything from your head to your feet, including dandruff, teeth, mosquito bites, cuts, abrasions. You got it and it worked. I suppose it was the alcohol in it.
Winter brought its common ills that required Vicks. Dr. Demo always said, "Spread it on the barn." Vicks was a preventer or a get-well item, rubbed vigorously between the shoulder blades, the bottoms of the feet or wrapped in a rag around the neck. A gob in a pan of boiling water and a tent over the head opened up nasal passages and cleared the lungs.
Croup could be treacherous. Uncle Paul got the kerosene and sugar treatment for his and my mother the vinegar drink, or she would wear it on a thing around her neck which was accompanied by a lot of teasing, but it worked — or at least they thought it did.
I remember well the time I burned my arm very badly and Doc Olds in New Richland, wakened from a mostly sleepless night, wrapped it with some yellow salve and gauze and said, "Do not take it off." Whatever it was, it did the trick.
A small potato in the pants pocket was relief from arthritis in those days. Mashed potatoes? No. The potato would get hard as a stone.
My dad used the copper bracelet trick and the skin would get green around it. When combined with a potato in his pocket, the green went away. There were many conversations of people who cut potato slices or wrapped cabbage leaves around their knees.
Remember when doctors or dentists gave candy treats to kids for being good? Not many do that anymore.
Did these folk remedies really work? In some cases yes, but there is no denying the fact that life expectancy has increased sharply since the pre-penicillin and other wonder drug days of WW II. Maybe they worked because they had to work; there was no option. Maybe they worked because we believed in a cure.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we may as well dance!
Birthdays and anniversaries:
• Thursday, June 7th: Chris Blouin, Daniel Eliason, Jesse Langlie, Roger Sommers, Faye Thompson, Paul Stollard, Trisha (Gross) Gilbertson, Brandon Gross, Katie (Klemmensen) & Kevin Knudson, Holly (Wangsness) & Jake Dau, Richard & Karen Holmes, Irvin & Joan Diderrich, Richard & Bonnie Peterson, Jeff & Lynne Draayer, Jim & Joanne Pichner.
• Friday, June 8th: Deb Wallace, Steve Hagen, Owen Ryan Krueger, Monty Miller, Sandi Meyer, Rodney Wayne, Steve Lembke, Morgan Hutchinson, Michelle & Damon Gowlland.
• Saturday, June 9th: Torsten & Melissa Wayne, Rhonda (Lund) & Troy Thevenot, Lexi Wayne, Ahinka Jensen, Sharon Lageson, Bennett Ver Hey, Carrie Paulson, Karen Swearingen Cox, Dana Waltz, Greg Smith, Tait Ingvaldson, Kenny Toft.
• Sunday, June 10th: Arnold Lund, his 93rd; Warren Wayne, Samantha Mae Schumacher, Kathy Allard, David Ellis, Chuck Groth, Jamie Weller, Margaret Reese, Forest Peterson, Adam Wacek, London Avery, Sarah (Cornelius) & Rob Routh, Marv & Pat Schulz, Missy (Lonning) & Paul Richards.
• Monday, June 11th: Angie & Thad Aaseth, Rick & Becky Johnson, Andy Lerberg, Zoie Marie Jensen, Diana Ritz, Matthew Horan, John Xavier, Mary Simon, and Karen Carlsen.
• Tuesday, June 12th: Nancy Ver Hey, Hanna Gail Crabtree, John Wallace, Charlotte Hill, Grant Pavek, Keith & Teresa McDonald,Ryan & Amanda (Reese) Beavens and Ron & Julie Peterson.
• Wednesday, June 13th: Steve & Rhonda Christensen, Fran & Fred Kenady, Marilyn & Gary Ulland, Keith & Kristin Hamberg, Kaden Jon Homuth, Cory Donald Haberman, Brent Reese, Ray Otteson, Tira Vangen, Corey Haberman, Tristan Richards, and Gary Jepson.
Wishing you quiet moments of beauty on your special day!
