Personal Health: The Eyes Have It

 The recent NY Times series on the elderly falling and suffering long-term permanent damage was scary and a wake-up call to us old folk - I'm just months away from turning 70. And of course the fairly sudden illnesses and deaths of Loretta and Gene Prisco last year just 8 months apart at the age of 71 still leaves us in shock.

The Times articles raised the balance issue, which is one reason I take rigorous hot (Bikram) yoga classes, where you have to lock your knee and stand on one leg for up to a minute. (My mother's fall and broken hip put her in the hospital where she got pneumonia and never got out.) They recommend standing on one leg while brushing your teeth.

From my fairly robust dad up to the end, who died over 2 years ago at 94, I learned from his problems with teeth (he didn't take good care and all of them were pulled when he was 92) and eyes (wet macular degeneration that made him legally blind) and ears - pretty deaf - that these are 3 simple areas to take care of.

I've been doing the teeth thing pretty religiously for the past 5 years with a local dentist - who doesn't take the UFT plan but I'm putting people I trust and like over money.

This past Thursday my wife and I trekked into the city to see our current eye doctor on 61st and Park Av to get checked out. My wife found him for her double cataract operation almost 3 years ago through research on the web and recommendations and I began using him too. The verdict? All is well - no macular or glaucoma and no change in vision from last time.

What I'm wearing to the MORE meeting

Afterwards we checked out Bloomingdales where you can't buy anything for less than $300 and then to a French restaurant on 63rd and Lex for a great lunch. The weather was raw and I was real sleepy so we headed back to Rockaway without seeing our planned movie. Life is touch for us retirees.

As for ears? As I head into the monthly MORE meeting I'm thinking a bit of deafness would not be the worst thing.