Successful Aging

I was reading up on the concept of 'successful aging' when ironically I met a woman on the bus who seemed to be the epitome of the phrase.

Maria is a woman of European descent who is close to celebrating her 95th birthday. On the day we met, she had just been to her great granddaughter's birthday party and was on the bus heading home.

When she let slip that she was 95, I could not hide my surprise. She looked like she could have been in her mid-70s to 80s, but mid-90s? I wouldn't have guessed.

The thing that came to mind next was, what was her secret?

In life, we often imitate actions and behaviors that we believe are proven to have good outcomes. This is where our personal evolution meets our survival instincts. This also happens to be the basis of evidence based medicine.

For me, this woman was a walking testament to the fact that successful aging does in fact exist.

And so it was that a woman in her third decade of life found herself with the curiosity of a child, sitting beside a woman approaching her eleventh decade of life, wanting to learn.

Maria was not a woman without her fair share of challenges. Four years ago, she had lost her husband to metastatic cancer, and four years before that, she was struck by a thoracic aneurysm (which, ironically, the doctors advised not to operate on because she was apparently "too old").

It just goes to show, doesn't it? Doctors don't always know best, and our patients can often still surprise us by beating the odds.

In that short 45-minute bus ride, I regret to inform you that I did not end up getting Maria's secret recipe for successful aging (although given more time, I'm fairly certain she would have gladly listed them down for me).

However, I did note a couple of things:

1. Maria values her independence and does most things on her own

2. She has a good support system in terms of her friends and her family, despite all family members living in different regions, interstate and overseas

3. She keeps mobile and seems fairly active, despite the normal limitations of her physical state

Overall, Maria states that she is satisfied with her life and she has no regrets. She told me that she has no desire to live forever and would be quite content to meet her Maker, whenever that may be.

One thing she did comment on was her difficulty with her husband's passing. Although she had initially thought that time would heal all wounds and she would eventually get used to being on her own, she has found that this is not the case.

And after almost seven decades of marriage, one could certainly understand if it is something that she never gets used to.

I wish Maria the very best in life and I hope that life continues to treat her well. I am thankful to have met her and grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from her.

And, without a doubt, I hope to one day be able to help my patients age as successfully as she has.