I never anticipated my waistline would disappear, I'd have less than perfect thighs, or my derriere would suddenly develop folds. But they have. However, one thing which has happened through the journey of my aging is that I've learned to look more benignly at those flaws and with more acceptance than in previous years, especially as when I was a child. I've learned, life is a journey and I need to enjoy the process.

My mother and grandmother are always important to me. And, a favorite pastime of ours was watching TV. I recall watching commercials for Geritol (an iron and B vitamin tonic primarily marketed into the 1970s), which used to totally psych me out! I vowed never to get old.

I was 40 years of age when I had to have a hysterectomy with removal of my ovaries (oophorectomy). The reason for my surgery was to stop abnormal and heavy bleeding and pain which was occurring during my menstrual cycles. When I first was told I needed surgery, I sought out various medical opinions and all the doctors agreed that I needed to have this surgical procedure. I had a great doctor and I was getting care at a world-renowned medical center in Connecticut.

According to the latest studies, it may be time to clean out your medicine cabinet and toss out those calcium pills. Calcium supplements aren’t as beneficial as we once thought they were and may actually now be more harmful. Older people consuming more than 500 mg/day of calcium through a supplement are 30% more likely to have a heart attack than those who don’t take calcium at all. For the millions of people taking them daily, this news may come as quite a surprise.

According to a recent study released in the British Journal of Medicine, calcium supplements have a limited effect on bone strength and contribute to a small increase in the risk for heart attacks in adults. The study included 11 randomized controlled trials of calcium supplements involving over 12,000 people with an average age of 40 or over. Limited benefit was found for all who took part in the study and the risk of heart attack was seen regardless of gender and independent of age and the type of supplement given.