My dad died three years ago today and this anniversary has me re-thinking a lot about what he might have wanted me to embrace. His love of learning? His "never give up" attitude? His endless spirit for life?
Doctors are trained to help people extend life as long as possible, but the question some people are now raising is, “What kind of life are they prolonging?” More questions need to be asked about whether this is really what all people want. And we need a greater emphasis on palliative care to mitigate pain and other symptoms.
We’ve never been great about cleaning out the garage, but we were tackling it early last month when my wife, exasperated again, asked what I wanted to do with the scrappy black garbage bag filled with “my accident stuff.”
Giving thanks at Thanksgiving is a respected and time-honored tradition, but at LeanOnWe, we not only talk about thanks, we try to show our thanks year 'round with support, volunteering, and philanthropy.
Bone and joint health doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Musculoskeletal diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis affect nearly three out of four Americans over age 65. They’re the most common cause of long-term pain and physical disability worldwide, yet they receive fewer research dollars than many other health conditions, including some that are more easily treated.
September is Healthy Aging® Month, which means it’s time to focus on the positive aspects of growing older. Carolyn Worthington, editor-in-chief of Healthy Aging magazine, created Healthy Aging Month to inspire adults to improve their physical, mental, social, and financial well-being—ideally by trying something new. And Worthington says everyone 45-plus needs to start thinking this way.
I’ve always loved water sports -- swimming, kayaking, water skiing, scuba diving -- but the only water I’m sporting in these days is the shower.
Since a bicycling accident that left me a paraplegic almost five years ago, I’ve been under doctor’s orders to stay away from the pool, the ocean, and the lake. A sleepy driver slammed into me head on, and the force of the impact thrust me off my bicycle and thrust my femur through my thigh. Today, I still have an open thigh wound, so no water for me.
Imagine wrapping up a busy day at work, getting the kids from school, heading straight to your parent’s house to make dinner – and then going home to face homework, your own chores, and the same routine again tomorrow.
It has been more than 3 years since I’ve seen the trauma surgeon who saved my life -- not once, but twice. In the first few months following the bicycling accident that left me a paraplegic, she was the thread that held it all together. Not only did I rely on her, but I easily connected with her and held onto her every word during my 51 days in the Intensive Care Unit at Hackensack University Medical Center. She has that kind of hold on people.
From the moment I arrived at the rehab hospital to learn how to live with paralysis, people were asking me what sort of adaptive sport I’d get involved in. Though it seemed like a given to everyone else, for me it was anything but. I was in no frame of mind to think about shooting hoops or racing in a wheelchair while sprawled out on a hospital bed, a dazed and scrawny paraplegic who couldn’t sit up without help.
This Thanksgiving weekend marked the 4th anniversary of my near-death accident when an out-of-control SUV with a sleeping driver barreled into my bicycle.