In 2019 my wife and I were cruising along in our first year of retirement together. I had retired two years prior and now we were adjusted to each other’s schedules and plans in retirement. Things were going relatively well and we were making plans to do more activities in the community and to travel. Then things changed.
First, I got what I thought was my annual fall flu bug, but this time it wouldn’t go away. Two weeks stretched into four, and then into six, and ultimately into eight weeks with coughing, sneezing, congestion, fever, and chills. No over-the-counter remedies worked, nor did the rounds of medicines prescribed by my primary and an otolaryngologist. By the beginning of the new year, I was better and then the Covid virus made the national news. In retrospect, I might have been one of the first in the U.S. to have Covid.
For the next year-and-a-half we did what we had to do to stay healthy during the pandemic, which meant less personal contact with family, friends, and even doctors. Thankfully, neither of us got Covid, but we did lose all of that time socializing and getting out in our community.
Once the world got back to semi-normal, we began getting out more, socializing with neighbors and friends, and even scheduled a cruise. Then my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and the world stopped again.
The pandemic kept us away from people and our doctors. Those we didn’t need to see, we didn’t. And when we went back to my wife’s gynecologist, he revisited the cyst on her ovary that was discovered over a year ago. It had not grown perceptibly, but he and my wife decided to remove the ovaries, and therefore the cyst, just to be on the safe side. A biopsy followed and cancer ws discovered in one ovary.
A hysterectomy followed, and multiple rounds of chemotherapy followed. She is now cancer free but does regular, multi-year visits to her doc. She is recovering well, but there are lingering side-effects. Nothing life threatening, but our life is definitely not back to normal. And another year of doing very little but focusing on staying well.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am happy that my wife and I are both alive with no life-threatening illnesses. Our lives have certainly been disrupted but thank God for modern medicine and educated and caring doctors. We are very grateful for both, and for family and friends that check on us, pray for us, and help and support us. But remember the plans and activities we were working on? That’s right, they still haven’t happened.
Sheltering and recovering at home has been a good experience, but it wasn’t the experience that we were looking forward to. And the world around us seems to have deteriorated over the last few years. Invasion in Ukraine, another round of Covid, mass shootings in the U.S., a Congress in turmoil, the stock market on a roller-coaster ride, the housing market tightening up, the Hamas massacre and the instability in the Middle East – this is the crap I mentioned in the headline. There is no avoiding or solving these seemingly untenable situations. So, what can one person do to maintain their health and sanity? The answers are rather simplistic.
First, you have to focus on your own physical and mental health. Eat healthily, exercise, stay mentally sharp, and socialize.
Next, keep family and friends close, and encourage their physical and mental health. Socialize, communicate, play games; anything to keep up a positive flow of information and affection. Add some time volunteering in your community to add to your sense of importance and well-being.
Realize that you can only influence a small group and area around you. Your family and friends, your neighborhood, and maybe your city and surrounding area. Realize also that your influence may be very limited, so don’t expect too much from yourself. (Don’t give up trying to be a influence for good, but set that bar at a realistic height.)
Limit the influences and information that enter your world – media and social media specifically. Too much input can cause anger and frustration and negatively affect your mental and physical health.
I don’t believe that we have seen the last of the covid, cancer and crap (CCC), in our lives, but we have survived and stayed strong so far. We practice the recommendations made in this blog, believing and practicing positivity, and will continue to face the 3-C’s and whatever else this new world throws at us.
