Me and 40 - We Just Don't Get Along!

I turned the BIG 4-0 in May 2012 and my attitude at the time was that I was perfectly happy turning that corner. That I was in the best shape of my adult life, that I was a fine wine that was getting better with age, and that age was simply a number that didn't dictate who I was.

Well, let's just say that apparently my body had a different idea of what it means to be forty!!!

Exhibit #1
I swear that as soon as I turned the calendar on May 26 that my eyelashes decided to never cooperate again. Some curl a ridiculous amount all on their own, while there are at least one or two that will not curl even with the help of an eyelash curler...they just stick straight out - or worse - sideways.

Exhibit #2
I have learned to deal with the gray hairs. Well, perhaps I should say that my tweezers have learned how to deal with them and it's usually by just ripping that little baby out. Yeah, yeah, yeah - I've heard the old wives tales about not pulling your grays because two will sprout in its place, but just like most of those old wives tales I don't believe it. However, this isn't about the gray hair because, well, I have L'oreal to help me with that! This is about the rest of my crazy hair. I swear I turned 40 and it decided to have a life of its own...and it decided that life was going to be KAH-RAZY because now it is living la vida loca with my eyelashes. Going in all kinds of strange directions, some curling, some straight. There is no rhyme or reason and it definitely does not like to listen to the straightening iron, the blow dryer, or all the hair products that promise less frizz and a sleek, shiny 'do.

Exhibit #3
My first visit to the Pancake Factory (AKA Mammograms for life). UGH. Enough said.

Exhibit #4
I took some labs the other day and where I've ALWAYS gotten the lovely call back that says everything looks great; You're as healthy as a horse! This time I get: Your vitamin D level (I LIVE IN SUNNY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!) is low so start taking a daily multivitamin. Are you experiencing any symptoms of a UTI (I don't think so...but what do I know - I've never had one before!)? A hormone that tells the health of your heart is elevated so we're sending you to a Cardiologist (HEART PROBLEMS TOO!?!?) and you have tendinits in your knee to go with that lovely bone spur so you might need additional injections or referral to ortho (more on that in a moment). Like wow...just wow.

Exhibit #5
My body is fallin' apart! I went from being able to do anything I wanted just a couple short months ago, to now limping everywhere I go. I can barely go up and down the stairs without crying and looking like a crab attempting to scramble up a steep rock. All I can say is thank God for banisters! It's not even about not being able to run anymore...I just want to be able to walk without pain at this point! I want to be able to dance, ride a bike, hike - well, I want to be able to do whatever I want like I could a short couple months ago. It's crazy to think that I was training for a half marathon and now I'm afraid to even walk across campus because I know it's going to be a long, slow journey. To say it is frustrating is quite simply a massive understatement. Words cannot even begin to describe this.

So even though me and Forty started off on pretty good terms, for some reason he (I'm calling my Forty a boy just because, there's no real rhyme or reason - so don't get offended hahaha) decided that we just weren't going to get along. I'm hoping that in the very near future I can convince him otherwise. Perhaps I'll win him over with my overwhelming positive vibes and fortuitousness! I'll certainly keep trying...but at the very least, I'm planning on beating him into submission if he doesn't cooperate on his own. ;-)

Okay, so on the knee front - as I mentioned in Exhibit #4 the x-rays I took on January 4 came back as tendinitis and a bone spur on my knee. My primary care doc prescribed rest, ice and elevation but since I've basically been doing that since Christmas Eve and it's only gotten worse, I wasn't content to just leave it at that and insisted on an MRI to rule out any other issues since x-rays only tell part of the story. So I received the referral and will be seeing the ortho doc (well, the PA anyways) on January 30. I'm trying to keep my expectations in check for that appointment as there are certain things that I'm fully expecting from that appointment and if I don't get them I'll probably have a meltdown because I don't have much faith in the ortho folks that are part of my medical group. It's too much to go into at the moment, but just know that I already have fought them tooth and nail previously and thankfully I won that round when they referred me to a specialist that fixed me right up. So in the meantime I'm dealing with constant swelling, pain and discomfort - my knee looks like a melon ready to burst and I'm thinking that's a pretty good sign that even if all of this IS because of a bone spur and/or tendinitis - it's a pretty darn bad case of it and one that needs to be resolved.  I'm definitely not content to just take this as the status quo for being forty.

On a completely different note: today is the first day of the semester at the college where I work and as much as I don't want to share the campus with pesky students (hahaha - kidding of course!) the energy and enthusiasm they bring to learning is always exciting and energizing!