Someone told Audrey Carvalho recently that she was not going to get the senior discount she was due because, well, she just had too much energy to be an actual senior.
“Too much energy” is somewhat of an understatement. Not only does this long-time Wellness Center member attend three different types of fitness classes during the week, she also finds time for a weekly two- to five-mile hike with her hiking group, attending two different book clubs, organizing monthly lunches with her Wellness Center water aerobics pals, and helping plan the summer Lyceum programs at the Unitarian Church in Peterborough.
At 75, she’s diagnosed with arthritis, osteoporosis and diabetes, and she claims that she has broken just about every bone in her body. But, with medication and exercise, her bone density is back up just about to where it should be. Not long ago, a knee x-ray showed she had bone rubbing against bone, but the muscle strength in her legs, built up with 10-plus years of water aerobics, has kept her from feeling a lot of pain because of it. “My muscles are just holding me up,” she explains.
She’s a regular at the Monday-Wednesday-Friday water aerobics classes with Patty Potter, and says what she really likes about that class is the music. “I love anything with a beat and if she’s not playing the right music, I let her know!”
The right music, she says, includes Elton John and The Bee Gees, for example. Audrey says it’s the music that draws her to the new Saturday morning class as well, Move and Groove, led by Anna Rogers.
Before coming to the Wellness Center, Audrey says, “I had such huge problems. I had a brace on my knee, I could hardly walk. I had necrosis of the bone and it was painful for me to just stand up. I was a mess.”
She’s always been active, but when her knee first started giving her problems, she enrolled in a water aerobics class at Crotched Mountain. Now, with almost 20 years of water fitness classes behind her, she really knows it’s made a difference in her life.
“All of my aunts and my mother were bent over because they had osteoporosis,” Audrey says, demonstrating how they walked. “I started to get concerned about my posture, too, and three or four years ago I enrolled in the Osteoporosis Pilates class.”
Audrey knows her stuff. “I read everything and I listen to NPR, and I was aware that osteoperosis could be a problem for me,” she said. “I just talked to my doctor and the pilates class seemed right.”
She’s had Type 1 diabetes for 45 years and calls herself lucky. “I have feeling in my toes and feet and I have no eye problems,” she said. “I’ve always made sure I eat right and exercise.”
Last week her hiking group—all women because that’s the way they like it—climbed Pack Monadnock in Peterborough, and she says they’ve gone all over the Monadnock region. “It’s more than the hike,” she says. “We support each other, exchange recipes, help each other out when we need it,” she says. “And four of us in the group are breast cancer survivors.”
With her “lousy bones” and the bad knee, Audrey says she’s likely to need surgery on the knee one day, but she expects she’ll recover quickly because of her muscles. “If you’ve got the muscles, you can weather the storms, and storms you’ll get the older you get,” she says. “You just have to appreciate the good things like finding mushrooms on the path or the beautiful sunshine out there.”
Audrey’s breast cancer was discovered about 10 years ago, very early, and she only needed radiation afterwards.
She expects she’ll keep her membership up at the Wellness Center until forced to move somewhere else. She’s got her name in at RiverMead.
“Being here, I’ve expanded my geographic circle of friends,” she says. “It spans all ages because of my connections here. I have a much wider group of friends than those who just sit at home,” she said. “I can come here, find out who has had a baby, or whatever.”
“I’m not a sit around and do nothing kind of person.”
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