Brian Ballard knows his property has more sidewalks to trim and edge than most, but he doesn’t mind. The yard work gets him off the couch and outside.
The 74-year-old retired power generation executive, who lives in Henderson, Texas with his wife Margaret, was always careful to wear safety glasses while working in the yard, except once.
Like nearly half of all people over the age of 50, Bonnie Geddie, 67, has diverticulosis, a condition in which small pockets form in the normally smooth inner wall of the intestines. Most people don’t develop symptoms or complications from this condition, but some get diverticulitis – an inflammation of the small pockets that form when food particles become lodged in the stomach lining.
Geddie has treated her diverticulitis with anti-inflammatory medications and antibiotics. However, consistently taking medications is key to managing this condition.
A new vaccine that fights three strains of influenza is now available from health care providers across the U.S.
The most effective way to fight the flu is to get vaccinated, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the virus can spread among the population during the entire year, the flu season is generally in the fall and winter. The peak months for the flu are December through February.
While the CDC recommends you get an annual flu vaccine by the end of October, any time you get it before the peak months will help.
For Mark Burns, 70, a retired carpenter who lives with his wife Cathy in Carthage, Texas, much of his exercise during the last two decades occurred on the golf course.
“As I approached retirement age, I stayed active and continued to play lots of golf,” said Burns. “Sometimes I played 50 rounds a year. I was a decent player and had a nine handicap. I really enjoyed it.”
Do you know the warning signs for a stroke? Would you recognize them in someone else? What about yourself? We often think if something like a stroke has occurred, we would realize it immediately, right? As it turns out, nearly 70 percent of people who have suffered a minor stroke don’t recognize the symptoms at all. Seeking medical treatment within the first three hours is critical to successful treatment. However, according to a study published in the journal Stroke, 30 percent of stroke patients wait more than 24 hours to contact their doctor or head to the emergency room.
Rob Taylor was doing almost everything right.
For 15 years, the 59-year-old Bullard resident worked out in the gym at least three times a week with his personal trainer. He didn’t smoke and recently added playing in a senior softball league to his list of activities. Though he weighed around 250 pounds, Taylor carried it well on his six-foot frame.
Together with his wife and three children, the family kept up an active lifestyle and ate a “well-rounded, healthy diet” most of the time.
Despite the obstacles she has faced throughout her life, Joanna Blundell is only looking forward.
“I don’t have time to look backward,” said Blundell, a 57-year-old resident of Ore City. “I always try to be positive and move forward.”
Diagnosed at age two with cerebral palsy, a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture, Blundell speaks highly of the doctors who have cared for her. “I have been blessed to receive care from some of the best doctors,” she said.
Preventable, early deaths have happened too many times in Louis Ashley’s family.
“I’ve lost three of my four brothers,” said Ashley, a 51-year-old fluids engineer with a Texas oil company. “One drank himself to death, another died by suicide and one died in a car wreck. I suppose I’m the one who can change his lifestyle before it’s too late.”
Though he and his love Juliet live in Louisiana, Ashley has worked in Texas for 15 years on a 14 days on, 14 days off schedule. He designs the hydraulics and fluid systems that the company uses to pull oil out of the ground.
For Sam Steele, 72, a retired Presbyterian minister living in Hallsville, his heart health has been a constant concern for him and his family.