March 29, 2024

Column: I’m only 32

I don’t think of myself as old. I shouldn’t since my 30th birthday was just a couple of years ago. I’m not sure my body has got the memo that just a decade ago I was taking my first legal drinks of alcohol or only a few years removed from daily competitive dancing.

It started before I even turned 30. I can remember the precise moment I felt the first pains of aging. My oldest was taking a bath and, unlike every piece of lifting advice I had received, I lifted her out of the tub with my back and not my legs, and I immediately felt it.

For about as long as I have known him, my husband has had back issues. It will hurt, ache and even “go out” on occasion. I never really understood what that meant until it happened to me.

Thankfully, it was brief and cured with a couple of ibuprofen and some heat — but that incident served as notice that more was to come.

Since then, I think I have been pretty lucky. A time or two I slept wrong, usually because a little girly climbed into bed with me during the middle of the night, and I started twisting and turning to get my little spot in the bed, once again putting a wrench in my back.

The latest occurrence to remind me I’m not in the 20s anymore happened last week. Of all things, I had sat down to help my oldest daughter get her shoes on to leave dance class and when I stood up something terrible happened to my left knee. Standing up did me in.

I always get a little nervous with my knees. When I was 16, I tore my ACL in the left knee while playing basketball and went on to have surgery to repair the completed torn ligament.

So when I felt a stabbing pain in my knee, I tried not to panic. It hurt to put any weight on it but I could still walk with a limp. I wasn’t going to rush to the doctor without giving it a couple of days to, hopefully, heal itself.

I think I might know why it happened. The day before was the first snow of the year that my girls could actually go out and sled a little. When I got home for the day I joined them, pushing and pulling their sleds around the hills.

During one adventurous ride down the hill, I decided it would be fun to crash, which ended up with me slamming my knees on the not-as-soft-as-I-thought snow. It hurt, but I had no lasting effects other than some aches so I thought I got by unscathed.

Fast-forward to the next day, and I can barely walk. Thankfully, the pain started to subside as each day passed and after three or so days I was good as new.

I know my body is not the same as when I was in my 20s, I mean I have had two pregnancies since then. But I think I’ll start paying a little closer attention to the aches and pains to keep it healthy for many, many years to come.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson
at jpierson@newtondailynews.com