Dare I say it! Rural people are disadvantaged. Living in a city certainly allows for greater medical options and choice. I am not old, mid-50s, relatively active, and seriously motivated to live a good, fun, and energetic life.
As a woman, I feel scared and worried about the aging process. In fact, the fifties are often referred to as the forgotten decade. But, what does a country woman do when she needs medical support or advice? She gets a referral from a GP and makes an appointment in the city.
To do this, you have to plan to travel outside of the agricultural season so that your absence isn’t too conspicuous in the running of the farm. For me, there have been some epic failures!
Epic medical failures
On two occasions, I bore the brunt of poor medical diagnoses. One of the cases could well have have been that of medical negligence because an ultrasound request for abdominal pain revealed possible pregnancy that was never followed up.
Ectopic pregnancy: The first time, I was flown to the city in a Royal Flying Doctor plane for a life-threatening emergency (an ectopic pregnancy). An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilized egg implants itself outside the uterus. As it grows, it can cause the tube to tear or burst. This results in dangerous internal bleeding. The night it happened, I thought I had died. I certainly passed out. The following morning my partner farmer drove me to the hospital from where they flew straight to Perth. Imagine, at Christmas time, middle of harvest, three small children and this happens!
Tooth abscess: The second time was a dental emergency. I went to the local dentists but there was no dentist in town. Instead, the assistant x-rayed a tooth only to find a large abscess underneath a root canal. The x-ray was emailed to the dentist in the city who identified the abscess and prescribed an antibiotic that is well known not to treat such an infection. For three days I writhed in pain as neither the antibiotic nor the painkillers worked. I found myself driving to the city early one Saturday morning (heavily medicated) to get emergency treatment.
OLDER WOMEN AND HORMONAL HEALTH
Tiredness
My brain feels really tired. Sometimes, words don’t come, or I get them mixed up. It happens when I’m trying to think quickly, feeling nervous, or in a stressful situation. Other times, the words don’t come quickly enough. I think it is because my brain has slowed similar to a computer’s processing system gradually losing memory space. Alternatively, I overworked it through all those years of voluntary study. Perhaps now I am paying the price.
Memory
Even worse, it is as though my memory is failing. After a conversation I might have had the previous day, I am noticing that I have to write everything down because I forget the content of that communication unless reminded at another time. I wonder how other women manage, how they continue to work in their 70s and 80s in professional jobs requiring extreme intellectual challenge and complex thought.
Fortunately, having spoken with several of my sisters, the memory loss and forgetfulness is part of the course. In most cases, it is reported that simple urine, blood and saliva tests can identify thyroid and/or hormonal changes that can directly impact our conscious lives post-menopause.
So … what did I do? I went to the city, and organised for all of the above tests. Stay posted 🙂