He was 81 years old. Until the moment he felt ill, my dad had never had a serious health incident. His blood pressure and cholesterol were normal, he exercised regularly, and I never saw him eat a second helping at dinner.  As his condition improved and he was able to talk with his doctor, he asked him what he thought caused his heart to fail. The doctor looked at him with a soft smile and said, “Adrian, when you get to be 81, “Stuff happens!” (You know what he really said, but I need to keep this post clean!)

Well, last month at age 51, I had total hip replacement surgery. Like my dad, I have always led a healthy lifestyle. I do this because science tells me that it helps prevent disease, and experience tells me that I feel better when I take care of myself.  However, life tells us all that you can do the right things, and there is still a possibility that “stuff” will happen anyway. Hearts fail, joints deteriorate and people get sick in spite of their best intentions. What I have learned from this experience though, is that the healthy habits I have used for prevention, are the same tools I am now using for “emergency management.”  Tapping into these habits has minimized my discomfort and made me feel more in control of my outcome.  Here are my top observations from my recent health adventure:

•   Regular exercise makes you strong. In many cases (not all), your health care team does not want you resting in bed until you get better. Getting function and mobility back means that they get you moving ASAP.  For me, that was legs over the side of the bed Day 1, walking down the hall on my bionic leg Day 2. The fitter you are when you go into a procedure, the faster you will be able to play an active role in your recovery.

•   You have the tools to take back control. When something unexpected happens with your health, it is easy to feel helpless and out of control This can lead to anxiety and depression which is never good for the healing process. While I had little control over the procedure, I found it empowering to control the things I could. I ate well and got lots of rest to boost my immune system. I loaded my ipod with soothing music to ease my anxiety.  I took comfort in watching my breath move in and out as the hands on the clock ticked away slowly in the middle of the night. (And, of course, the pain medicine came in handy when all the new agey stuff wasn’t enough.)

•   “Patient know thyself.” People who pay attention to their health, know how to listen to their bodies. Being able to understand what my body was saying, enabled me to  communicate with my health care team about pain management and how my hip felt during the healing process. During rehab I also knew when to work through the pain for the benefit of recovery, and when to pull back and allow my body to heal through rest.

There are two happy endings to this story. I am off my crutches right on schedule, but still practicing patience in the process of getting back to the things I love to do.  Even better, my father, who is now 84, is fully recovered and playing tennis with his buddies again. The key to positive outcomes like these however, is having the tools already in the toolbox when you need them.  Don’t wait for the unexpected to happen, get moving now and you can rest easy that you will have what you need if, or when “stuff happens!”

Meg Root