More Signs of Ageing
The latest on ageing from Phil Van Huffel. He’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment!
Shrinking
I hardly noticed. Since I traveled almost every week, I seldom had trouble hoisting my carry-on luggage into the overhead bin on airplanes. In 2019 I finally retired and quit traveling by air. Therefore, I drove my car to exotic places like Florida. At some prodding from my younger cousins, I began to write a book about the Van Huffel Family history, which was finished and published in 2021.
Surprise! When I went for my physical in 2020, my height had changed from 5’ 11-1/2” to 5’ 9”. I had shrunk by 2-1/2”. I could still reach the top shelf in my kitchen cabinets but not all the way to the back. My spine had compressed that much. Sitting in a car and at computer most of the time, not walking, not stretching, not exercising would be a root cause (so to speak). With all the falls this past year, I have lost another inch in height. I am now 5’ 8” tall. I can no longer reach the top shelf in the kitchen cabinets. My spine is bent out of shape. If I put a pillow over one shoulder I could be Quasimodo. My ship is listing to Port. My trousers now bag over my shoes. I’m not going to have them shortened.
But I can still reach the light switch.
Dexterity
I was a good typist. I took typing in Highschool. I used a portable typewriter all through college. When electric typewriters became affordable I bought one which I still have. I have several font balls for it. I could type 60 words a minute.
When computer keyboards became available, I could type even faster. Now my fingers have slowed down to such an extent that I type between 5 to 10 words a minute. The fingers don’t find the right keys that my brain is directing them to. It’s as if they were a young child defying a parental directive on purpose.
Because of my lack of depth perception I can no longer thread a needle. I use a jeweler’s eyepiece, and it still takes me several minutes to succeed. This manifests itself when I am eating. My hand-eye coordination is vanishing. If I eat soup the spoon and my mouth don’t always meet exactly, or the soup spoon tips to one side or the other spilling some of the contents.
The strength in my hands has ebbed. The tide has gone out. Things like opening a jar which I could do with relative ease have become a chore requiring inventive devices to replace my younger hands.
Buttoning a shirt now takes minutes because I no longer feel the opening in the buttonhole with the button in my other hand. The fabric under the button somehow gets in the way.
Shuffling cards is another changing activity. I used to be able to intersperse cards on a one-to-one ratio. I play Bridge twice per week. When my partner is dealing the next hand, I am supposed to be mixing up the cards from the previous hand. Often times I miss completely because of my lack of depth perception, and my fingers don’t have the strength to bend the cards so I can get a one-to-one interspersion like I use to. The cards now don’t get mixed as well.
On the other hand, the reduced dexterity gets me out of many tasks that others might have asked me to do.
Cognition
Concentration. I used to be able to spell any and all words without looking at a reference book. Spell check has now become my constant companion.
Sometimes my train of thought runs off the tracks. I am thinking through a problem and suddenly it’s gone. Or someone pulled the switch, and I am now pondering a completely different idea. Scenarios change like in a movie. I now have to retrace my steps to get to the spot where everything changed and move on with my thoughts with the original problem. Sometimes it may be hours later.
The same thing happens when I set out to perform a task. I start but interrupt with a different action. Then I recall what I started to do and seek to finish it no matter what I am doing at that time.
If I set out to perform an action, I now must consider every move in sequence. There is nothing automatic anymore. For instance, if I am climbing or descending stairs I have to decide which foot to use, the right for descending and the left for ascending, one step at a time.
I used to multitask. Now I monotask. Sometimes it’s semi-tasking.
Verbal
I am having a conversation with someone and the words come out wrong. My brain gets ahead of my ability to speak what I am thinking. Sometimes it’s a slurred word or the word that has skipped two spaces like a Monopoly game where I have landed on CHANCE.
Or a name I know but can’t find in my random-access memory until two hours later when it pops into my head while I am thinking or talking about something entirely unrelated.
Or someone asks a question, and three different answers appear to me out of nowhere. I have to consider which answer to give. If that person is expecting a quick response I may say something that is not accurate or to the point. It can be frustrating.
Nonetheless, I am curious to see what develops next. Maybe my upcoming birthday at 92 will be better.
