Show me an 80-something whose body is as intact as it was even a decade ago, and I’ll be shocked (and jealous).  I, myself, am missing an appendix, two original knees, and both corneas. I’ve had shingles and breast cancer.  Yet I consider myself in good healt­­­­h.

Last March, however, walking any distance caused me to limp.  I was planning a trip overseas, so I asked for and got a cortisone shot for what the doctor told me was bursitis, a swelling of a bursar that would require physical therapy and could take a year to get better.

Six months later, things finally started improving.  Then, two weeks ago, the original discomfort returned. I couldn’t put any weight on that leg.  This time I saw an orthopedic surgeon who after twisting my leg into all kinds of contortions, told me that it was not a bursar problem.  Rather it is gluteal tendonitis, for which cortisone is unlikely to help. So back to physical therapy I go for a different set of exercises.

If asked, I will still say that I am in good health.  Everything is relative.