Middle Age

BY J.B. COLLUM

“Embrace your limitations,” “limitations are only in your mind,” “accept your limitations,” “push your limits.” These quotes may seem to be contradictory, but I don’t think they have to be. It depends on the context, on the specifics of the limitations we are considering at the moment, in the situation in question, and on the facts of the present condition. We can still strive for our goals, but we shouldn’t push ourselves to achieve expectations so unrealistic that they lead to disappointment and frustration.

I have written in this column before about how I have come to accept my limitations, but I want to clarify what I meant and how that has helped me. When it comes to certain physical tasks, I have come to accept that one of my grown children or even my more-spry-than-me wife would be a better choice. I’ll illustrate with a recent real-life example.

The other day we came across a great deal on a used hot tub. Besides an electrical issue that the owner had attempted and failed to fix by installing a new pump motor, it was in very good shape. It had other minor issues that we felt comfortable fixing, and since electronics is a hobby of mine, I anticipated no problems repairing the pump. It is a large hot tub, capable of seating seven people, as long as said seven people are very comfortable with each other. Otherwise, four folks can relax in it in spacious luxury, or you could probably fit about 25 clowns into it.

We were able to afford this hot tub because the owner of the hot tub had reduced his already reduced price (he had started at $2500 then went to $800) to a paltry $300. At that price, we couldn’t say no. We were also able to afford it because of the volunteer help of so many friends. My brother brought his flatbed truck over to pick it up and about six other friends showed up to help, including three nephews, a new neighbor and new friend of mine.

Once we got it in place on our deck in the very spot that we had always planned to have a hot tub, we got to work on getting it ship-shape (if a ship held water rather than floated on it). My new neighbor and friend, Nathan, gave us some marine epoxy we could use to fix the small cracks in the tub, and it even matched the color. My wife got in there and patched it up while I got down to troubleshooting the pump issue. I found a blown fuse and hoped that was it but couldn’t test further until we filled it with water, and that had to wait until the next day after the patches fully cured.

The next day we filled it with water, and I found the issue. The new motor had four wires going to it. It is a two-speed 240-volt pump, so it has a neutral, a ground, and two hot wires. The high speed hot and the neu- tral were swapped, so I fixed that, replaced the fuse, and voila, it worked! I was ecstatic until I noticed that the heater wasn’t heating. I discovered after more troubleshooting that the low power circulation pump was frozen up, but the heating coil seemed to be fine based on some preliminary testing. So I ordered a new circulation pump for $220. It is still a great deal considering that a new tub like this would be well north of $10,000. Even if I end up spending a good bit more on it, I will be quite satisfied with the purchase, and more importantly, this is making my wife very happy. So now the pump is here, and I plan on installing it today and hope that is the last thing we need to do to make it fully operational.

Why did I tell you all that? To talk about my limitations, and because I like to overshare. I enjoy telling stories and didn’t want to leave you hanging like the new Spiderman movie did with its “to be continued ending.” Don’t you just hate that? Anyway, back to my limitations. Many times, during the tub moving process I had my wife, my daughter, my nephews, my brother, and others who are younger and healthier, gently push me aside or jump in to aid me when it came to lifting, sliding or in any other way trying to lift or move the massive hot tub that weighs nearly half a ton even with no water in it. The eager and proud young buck that still lives inside me somewhere was a little offended and wanted to protest this treatment, but the lazy middle-aged guy also inside me was telling the young buck to shut up and accept the help, so I did. The old guy wins this argument more and more with every passing day.

Once the tub was in place and the helpers had all left, I realized that I would need to crawl under the upper deck to reach under and attach the drain hose to the outlet and then close the outlet so that we could fill it. I really didn’t want to do it but felt obligated. That is when my lovely wife jumped in and said she could do it. With her flexibility and smaller size, she can go most of the way under there bent over, and literally wouldn’t break a sweat doing it. Whereas it would make for an incredibly funny video if I did it. Just imagine a middle-aged, overweight, inflexible guy squirming under a deck, getting filthy, maybe even getting stuck and sweating like a rat in a prison full of mafiosos he had turned state’s evidence on. That would be me. Then again, I might get rich if it went viral, but it probably wouldn’t be worth the indignity. This situation repeated itself once the new pump arrived as someone needed to go under there to open the valve to drain it so I could make the repair. My daughter, Kate, stepped up to the plate for that.

So, in summary, I think this is a good

WHAT IS A D.O?

If your primary care provider happens to be in a group practice, you may have noticed several DOs among the MDs. Then again, you may not have noticed. In many important ways, an MD and a DO are equivalent.

Who are these doctors? DO stands for Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, and although DOs and MDs may approach medicine from different perspectives, they are both recognized as fullfledged practitioners of medicine. DOs are as likely to have full medical and surgical practices as MDs in all 50 states.

Osteopathic medicine dates back about 150 years, and as its name suggests (osteo- from Greek, “relating to bones”), it stems from the belief that bones hold the key clues to understanding the cause of any pathological condition.

Back in the day, an osteopath was often solely a practitioner of manual medicine or therapy, much like chiropractors and physical therapists offer care today. That branch of the field still exists, as non-physician osteopaths continue to treat patients using osteopathic manipulative medicine. Over time, osteopathic physicians have accrued all the training and expertise to be surgeons, pediatricians, oncologists, dermatologists, anesthesiologists, and virtually every other medical specialty. It would not be accurate to say that one — MD or DO — is “better” than the other. In terms of medical knowledge, training and education, licensing and further educational requirements, they are virtually the same.

What about the statement above, that DOs and MDs approach medicine from different angles?

The course of training that results in an MD degree is called allopathic medicine, which the World Health Organization defines as “the broad category of medical practice that is sometimes called Western [...] or modern medicine.”

While doctors of osteopathic medicine view their training as just as modern, the osteopathic perspective focuses more on treating the whole person. Rather that focusing strictly on a disease and alleviating its symptoms, a card-carrying DO will also address lifestyle factors that may contribute to the situation. Theirs is viewed as more of a whole-body approach.

The best doctor for you, MD or DO, is the one you trust, with whom you can communicate freely, and who listens to you.