By Muyiwa Adetiba
NOTE: YOU MAY NOT HAVE THE NEED TO READ THIS ARTICLE IF YOU ARE UNDER 60 WITH NO FEAR OF BECOMING OLD.
Experts taught us many self-preservation technics during Covid19. Many probably saved lives. Many though, were just commonsense. While many, with the benefit of hindsight now, were surplus to life-saving requirements. One of the prevention methods against being infested was to avoid touching surfaces. Another was to avoid close proximity to others in crowded areas. It was in the light of the admonitions that I learnt to walk the stairs without touching hand railings around this time.
This would greatly strain the body if you had to climb seven, eight flight of stairs to your residence since the elevator was not supposed to be an option during those fearful early months when it seemed the virus was literally in the next breath. These enforced exertions were tough on the knees, tough on the heart, and as a result, tough on the mind. They were also fraught with dangers of a different kind; the fear of missteps and losing balance. I was bothered about this fear of losing balance until an elderly friend told me it was better to hold the railings firmly and wash your hand later than to risk a misstep and a fall.
A friend had such a misstep during the Covid-19 period. He had his mask on as he walked down the stairs. Unfortunately, his glasses probably got misted as a result of heavy breathing during the exertions of walking the stairs and he mistimed a step close to the landing. He fell. It wasn’t a heavy fall and no untoward consequence was feared. But the pains came later. A gradual immobilization which defied medical intervention came later.
Today, his life has been completely changed and not in the way he would have envisaged five years earlier. But he is alive and with a positive attitude towards life and that makes a difference. I know at least two people who never recovered from their fall on the stairs. I also know an elderly man in his late 80s who would hold the railings firmly as if his life depended on it – it probably did -, if he had to walk the stairs, and would never talk to anybody until he got to a landing. But it is not only on the stairs that a misstep can happen. A close friend taking his morning walk came across a small puddle which was caused by an overnight rain.
He thought nothing of it and decided to jump over it without breaking his stride. He mistimed slightly – another common feature of aging – and didn’t completely clear the puddle. His heel landed on the wet mud at the edge of the puddle. He slipped and fell. He ended up in a hospital. Although he is now up and about, he still feels pains occasionally. He is lucky. Some, like an aunt who slipped while walking to church, and an elderly friend who fell while trying to remove his trousers, never really recovered. While all falls are to be avoided by people who are 65 and above, those on hard surfaces are particularly devastating.
Yet, many in that age bracket are susceptible to it. Especially those that happen in baths and on slippery tiles. I can’t count the number of aging people who have lost their freedoms and eventually their lives, as a result of bathroom incidents – a friend’s wife had to be flown abroad for surgery and was on crutches for months thereafter. The deterioration of the body – and mind – as a result of falls, is often slow but debilitating and it almost always ends up in death within a few years. One or two were sprightly until they fell. One or two were actually planning on celebrating landmark birthdays until the fall.
I saw a friend a couple of weeks ago at the entrance of Ikoyi Club. He was a few years my senior in school. I almost did a double take at what I saw. He was looking fragile and frazzled, far from how he looked the last time I saw him. He was also leaning heavily on a walking stick as he waited for his car. I had to ask him if he had a knee problem. He told me, with a wry smile on his face, that the walking stick was for balance. I didn’t know if that explanation was easier for me to take – I probably would have preferred an inflamed knee as a reason.
Here was a man who was so athletic in school that he ended up representing our school and Lagos State. Here was a man I played active squash with well into middle age. It was the same man who now needs a walking stick for balance. Yet, if he gave in to pride or appearances and left home without his stick, a resultant fall could completely affect his mobility for the rest of his life. The cycle of life – from a toddler learning balance to the aged struggling for the same balance – as inevitable as it is, can be very vicious.
There are many reasons however, to be grateful about aging as we step into another festive season. One, we have already seen many Christmases, and the opportunity of another Christmas is always a bonus. White hair, as they say, is a privilege denied many. Old age is in itself, a season of peace for those who have learnt the secret of contentment and lowered expectations. The major drawback is the gradual failure of organs. It is the slow but steady deterioration of muscles and bones. It is the loss of memory and the fear of dementia. We should do all we can to slow down this aging process by keeping the brain and the body active even as the eyes go dim, the limbs go weak and the veins become thickened. We should certainly not accelerate the process by an inadvertent misstep and fall from which we may never recover.
Here is wishing my friend and big brother to whom this article is dedicated, and who with his wife, will be celebrating their birthdays a week to each other during the festive season, joyous celebrations. An active and fiercely independent man, he recently suffered a misstep and a fall which has altered the course of his life almost irrevocably. But there is nothing God cannot do and I am pleased that his mind is still as strong as it ever was. We shall, by God’s grace, celebrate his fast approaching 80th birthday with thanksgiving. He is always on my mind.
Here is also wishing the best of the season to all my faithful readers.
