medicine

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I Plan to Live to be 105 . . . . and Maybe Longer!


As I approach my 74th birthday, March 12, I remember back about 23 years ago when I told someone that I plan to live to be 100. I said that as a sort of self-encouragement because prior to that day, I was all gloom and doom. I had had my first heart attack two years prior, and it seemed that I was going down the same path as my father who died at the age of 57 after his 3rd heart attack. But what I had failed to realize was that modern medicine had changed to such a degree that I actually had no heart damage because a stent had been placed in the occluded artery and fully opened it up.

Shortly after declaring that I was going to live to be 100, I changed my mind and set that to 101. I stuck with that amount of time for many years. It is, for any American male, a lofty desire but one which I believed to be fully possible. More recently, I changed my longevity to 105, at least! Is this wishful thinking or a possible reality?

In 2021 I had my second heart surgery during which two more stents were placed and then in 2022 another stent was placed. During all that my heart muscle remains uninjured, and this is entirely due to early detection and modern medicine. It is my belief that medicine is progressing quickly enough that it will continue to progress in a manner that it will affect my life as well and help keep me healthy.

I enjoy being active. I still mow my lawn, have a good-sized garden, and am forever looking for ways to make my yard better. Part of this year’s work has been constructing yet another above ground flower bed. And there are a few other projects which must be undertaken. This will keep me active around my house. Additionally, I love bicycle riding and two days ago I went on a 20-mile ride. Here in North Carolina that is no small feat in a state that seems to have disdain for road shoulders. Still, I am fairly innocuous to any dangers surrounding me by being aware of my surroundings. And that is in spite of almost being run over by a woman who decided she should cut me off so she could turn right into a parking lot. Thank God I have good reflexes. While this situation might dissuade others from this form of exercise, I have long viewed it as part of what happens on the roads and have accepted it, though I am still disgusted by some peoples’ disregard for the safety of the bicyclist. Remember, we lose every time when up against any motor vehicle. I will continue to bicycle as long as my body allows which could easily take me into my 90s.

I do have one exception to the above. Should I contract dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, all bets are off. Even so, as long as I have my wits about me, I will continue to soldier on hoping that medicine will assist in my situation before being forced to give in to what becomes the inevitable.

As a sort of an aside, but also a hope to all Americans, regardless of age, there are four things which I consider absolutely necessary on longevity. The first is a positive outlook on life. Next, you must not only go to your primary care doctor annually but listen to your doctor’s recommendations and act upon them in a timely fashion plus do not withhold anything and lie to your doctor. Third, stay active! Figure out what you can do to keep your body moving and do it regularly. And finally, keep your mind active, via reading for example, and do not allow negative feelings to take over your thought process. I read constantly, although that has taken a back seat to my taking a course in “Intensive Italian,” two semesters of the language compressed into one, through Harvard’s School of Continuing Education. This course taxes my mind greatly but it is certainly akin to running a marathon. You probably will not win the marathon but finishing needs to always be the ultimate goal.

Do these things and maybe you too will live to be 105, or longer!

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Unforeseen Positive Effects of COVID-19


COVID-19 has interrupted our normal activities in ways no one could have seen. One of our most sacred institutions, church/temple/mosque, have closed leaving us to finding a service on-line or just relying upon our experience with our particular faith. Many people have been told to not leave their homes, which, except for bad snowstorms and hurricanes, you never see.

Americans are indeed freaked out about COVID-19. They have raided food stores the likes of which has never been seen in the U.S. And some of their favorite haunts have either been closed by order of the city or because the business’s owner simply cannot afford to support a small number of people using his services.

My wife, who works as the bursar for one of Boston’s major educational institutions, has been working from home for over a week now. And this work from home has reached into many businesses, who formally did not use telecommuting or used it sparingly, to have most of their workforce telecommute.

I have been working in public education for over 10 years now in the k-12 public schools. These schools have slowly been computerizing and now most, at least in my area, use something called “Google Classroom” regularly for their students. Teachers can transmit assignments and have them turned in via this method. But it has also shown the shortcoming in this type of education. Students can ask questions via email but this method can be very slow. What needs to happen, and maybe some school districts are figuring out, is how to have students join in on a teleconference. I have no doubt this will be accomplish, necessity always precedes invention.

Nationally, we are seeing how a disease that was literally on the opposite side of the globe can quickly find its way to our shores and spread at an unnerving speed. The shortcoming of our health system have become painfully obvious. Most, if not all, hospitals are simply not prepared for a pandemic. But they are learning what they need to do. Worse, our country fell flat on its face in having enough test kits and test facilities for those who are possibly or probably infected. That too is changing and is likely to remain changed.

But in that realm of public health there is one aspect for which we do not, yet, have a response. When the health providers themselves become sick and shortages of personnel arises, what then? There simply are not enough trained technicians to handle a large influx of people requiring respirators and someone to monitor them. I suspect this shortfall will be covered by cross educating other technicians in this field.

The most important thing COVID-19 has done for us is to make visible all our shortcomings and is forcing us to address them. This virus will pass into history eventually, they always do, but when this particular one does we will have a host of new data that should forever improve our health system, our food distribution systems, our working situations, and many other areas. And that is always a good thing.