I often joke in training classes on aging that with every new candle on my birthday cake, a new medicine bottle shows up in my cabinet.
BY Mike Verano
PUBLISHED January 08, 2019
Mike Verano is a licensed professional counselor, licensed marriage and family therapist and thymic cancer survivor with over 30 years experience in the mental health field. Mike has had articles published in national and international magazines and is the author of The Zen of Cancer: A Mindful Journey From Illness to Wellness. In addition, he maintains the blog, Confessions of a Pacifist in the War on Cancer. He and his wife, Kathy, live in Lanexa, Virginia.
As a psychotherapist, cancer survivor and card-carrying member of AARP, I often find myself meeting with clients with whom I share the common concern of what happens when the aging process is complicated by a life-altering illness. While most people accept the inevitable aches and pains associated with growing older, adjusting to the impact of something like cancer can often lead to the sense that aging itself is a disease. I often joke in training classes on aging that with every new candle on my birthday cake, a new medicine bottle shows up in my cabinet.
Like many people my age, the first item packed for any extended vacation is not the swimming trunks and suntan lotion, but the items from my in-home apothecary. The myriad of lotions, tonics, remedies, capsules etc. are constant reminders of the wisdom that aging is not for the weak of heart (and if you have a weak heart there is a medication for that too).
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