Cathy Donohoue
I wear a lot of hats. I am an active photographer; I run a non profit that benefits young families in our community that are in need; I am an active Presbyterian in a small congregation that is fighting for it’s life – we feel that we are still called to do great things; I am still that wife, mother and grandmother that I refer to in my bio. I have two awesome Aussies that keep me hopping. I’m busy! I need to be able to navigate my way through the world in an upright position. I do not want to be the cliche’ of an older woman sitting in a rocking chair and taking pain pills to get through the day.
This is not a political post, so please don’t treat it as such. This is a post that is meant to detail my journey through that first Golden Year of retirement. We did everything right. We’ve saved our money. We have had a financial guy for years and he is awesome. Last year, almost a year before Tom retired, I started conversation with an insurance guy. That man has helped me choose the best plan that was possible for me to go along with Medicare (still can’t believe I’m that old). I had a bit of surgery earlier this year and everything in that insurance plan worked just the way it was meant to.
The surprise piece of the puzzle that is keeping me awake at night is the minefield of prescription drugs. The only thing that I ask for is that I continue to be able to walk upright. That is what the managed doses of my prescription drugs allow me to do. I am in better shape today than I was 10 years ago. I am not whining – just stating the truth. I have three ruptured disks that cause pain in my lower back and my leg. I have two stress fractures of my hip that are now much more of an arthritic problem than anything else. I take some big name drugs that allow me to be active and productive. They work in connection with each other. I am a very healthy 66 year old woman with a variety of, on the grand scale of things, small problems – that is, until you take away my drugs. I’m not talking about the pain meds that are ravaging our nation. I’m talking about a drug that was manufactured to relieve diabetic nerve pain. Somewhere along the road they found out that it also relieves damaged nerve pain. That’s me! Thanks to our nations laws, the maker of this drug was allowed to apply for an extension on it’s pattern so that it still can’t be made as a generic for years longer. I went to the pharmacy to fill a script and was told that it would cost over $200 for one months supply. I just can’t afford that. My doc is working on a way for me to get this drug for less – did I tell you that I love my doc? I will post updates if we can solve this problem for this one woman. With those, maybe we can solve this problem for many.
All photographs are the property of ©Cathy Donohoue Photography
When I turned 50, I realized that I needed reading glasses. I no longer can use my regular glasses for everything, like I used to. For some reason, I never thought I would be using reading glasses. It just seemed for really old people.
Getting old in a static way is not mandatory and as long as we can keep ourselves functional, active people won’t stop being active. I wish you good health ! Your dedicated work is much needed and I know that helping others is also a great source of wonderful energies.