I Am Thankful for Good Health

This past month has been a trying one with the entire family being sick.  But, at last!  I think we are on the mend.  I’m almost back to 100% and for that I am thankful.  My husband is still a little puny, but he seems to be well on the mend.  Let’s just hope this season of sickness is a one off.

I guess I am most thankful for good health because it is something we all too often take for granted.  As I approach my 63rd birthday I have to think back over my years and years of good health — and hopefully many more to come.  I have been blessed with good health.  Honestly, although I am in a family of doctors I seldom go to the doctor and my husband who has been a quadriplegic since 1967 sees his doctor about once a year and that is only to get his prescription renewed.  My mother-in-law who just turned 90 takes no regular medication.  That is something to be thankful for.

I bring this up, not because we avoid doctors as much as possible, but because even with a few physical adversities we consider ourselves healthy.  I guess we start from where we are and look for the good from there.  For years when I was younger — in my 30′s — I suffered from migraine headaches on an almost daily basis.  They became increasingly worse.  I visited doctor after doctor but none seemed to really diagnose my problem.  Of course, I was prescribed every pain medication in the world to ease the pain and to be honest I seldom took the meds unless I was so sick that I could not get out of bed or stand to hear the sound of breathing.

Actually, it was by accident that the root cause of the headaches was discovered.  I had been to neurologists who offered nerve damage from an auto accident as the source.  An orthopedic doc suggested it was from broken bones related to the same accident.  A rheumatologist suggested arthritis or bursitis, again as a result of an auto accident.  In other words, I ran the table with specialists and none solved the headache problem.

Then, one day, when I was scheduled for a general exam I had such a horrible headache that I totally forgot about the appointment.  The office called to see why I was late or not there.  I explained that I was too sick to go to the office.  Most doctors do not understand being too sick to see a doctor.  Anyway, I had someone drive me to the office — and I protested all the way.  By the time I got to the office I was begging for a dark room.  Long story short, the doc came in and gave me a shot to relieve the headache pain.  I was driven home and went straight to bed.  When I awoke a few hours later I was still in pain, having trouble swallowing and covered in what looked like huge splotches of chicken pox or measles.  The doctor was called and we met at the hospital emergency room.

With the immediate problem taken care of, the doctor suggested that I could be allergic to food.  Right!  Food!  He was Italian and as a child living in Italy he had headaches much like mine.  It was discovered that he was allergic to olive oil.  Imagine that!  An Italian who is allergic to olive oil.  That is where the cure started for me.  He did a blood test, sent it off to a university lab and two weeks later I had a list of foods that I should not eat.

Without going into the details of the diet I went onto a rotation diet that included duck eggs in lieu of chicken eggs, rice milk instead of cow milk, turkey instead of chicken, and so on.  Let me just say that I lived two years without black pepper, broccoli, chicken, corn and yeast products.  I lived for 15 years without any kind of peanut product, milk, ice cream or cheese.  And, I never had another headache.  As hard as it was to stick to the diet — almost no way to eat in a restaurant — I survived and thrived.

Now, some people may consider this less than optimal health.  But, I look at it a little differently.  The catalysts (foods) created an illness of sorts, but without the specific foods in my diet I was as healthy as anyone in the world.  I guess that is why they are called allergies.  Avoid the catalyst and everything goes well.

After I made the dietary changes my life has been great.  Maybe that is why I am so cautious about eating home grown foods, mostly organic, and seldom eating any processed foods.  You would be surprised how much corn is in just about every processed food.  With that in mind I learned to be a good cook!  Yeah!  I am a good cook.  And, I learned to eat healthy.  Not only did I elminate the headaches from my life I also created a healthy lifestyle, including good food — made from scratch, as we say in the south — and exercise.

Well, as I approach 63 my doctor tells me that except for this virus that tried to kick my butt I am remarkably healthy.  All my “counts” are exactly where they are supposed to be or better.  What is even better news is that my husband is is excellent health.  Quads expect kidney problems and possibly kidney failure.  But, his latest reports show that after 45 years as a quadriplegic his kidneys are working fine.  So fine, in fact, that the doctor ran the test a second time to make sure there was no error.

Okay!  I have rambled on about health.  But, here is my point.  Health is something we take for granted until it is gone.  Eating good foods, exercising adequately, and learning to laugh out loud each day will create good health for a long life.  So, as I really begin to feel better I am thankful for all the good health my family and I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy.