How Old Do You Feel by Dr Berry

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis

All About Aging, by Dr. Maxwell G Berry, MD., to my knowledge, was never published as a book, but the cover page said it was first given as a formal lecture.  It was copyrighted in 1994.  Dr. Berry practiced medicine in Kansas City for forty years.  It is chock-full of wisdom along with a wonderfully humorous take on life.  The first half of the epistle was written in his mid-sixties as an essay on how aging affected his older patients.  Two decades later, at 85, he says, “I was shanghaied into writing a progress report concerning the most common problems and pleasures encountered on the way to becoming a super senior citizen.”  On this later progress report, he added, “This could be the first of a series of such reports at twenty-year intervals!” Now that’s an optimistic outlook!

He reported that at 85, his life was quite tolerable, and although his activities were somewhat limited, partly due to age but mostly due to unemployment.  At 81, he had cataracts removed and enjoyed 20/20 vision.  He took two medications daily: a baby aspirin in the morning and two ounces of liquor before dinner.  I knew I liked this guy immediately!  His health prescription was the 1-2-3 plan; one aspirin, two eggs, and three ounces of liquor a day. He did say he cut back on the alcohol as he got older. He quotes a friend who, on this 70^th birthday, was asked how it felt to be an old man.  He replied, “I don’t feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man with something the matter with me.”  At 85, Maxwell says he felt like a middle-aged man with several things the matter with him!  The most important thing I learned from Dr. Berry was to keep a sense of humor and don’t take all of this too seriously! Thanks, Dr. Berry.