A reader whose doctor is trying to wean him off coffee, asks Matt whether he, at the age of 76, believes coffee is beneficial or detrimental to health.

Matt responds:

If I had a doctor who told me to give up coffee, I would tell him the best way for him to have his own coffee:  through an enema bag.  Then he wouldn’t have to worry about how it tastes.

At our age, who gives a shit whether we drink coffee or not?  I’d ask my doctor why he’s worried about my drinking coffee, and not about why I can’t walk as well anymore, and why my teeth are falling out.  To take our coffee away from us—that’s our mother’s milk!  Should we drink tea?  That’s what I do in Ireland...

Just keep moving, is my thought.  I pray every day that I can get up and keep going.  It used to be that my brain would tell my body what to do; now my body tells my brain what it’s going to do.  I have come to periodically carry a cane; I keep telling myself it’s to ward off lions and tigers and bears—oh my!

One of my doctors in Ireland said, “Well, Lamb, the reason your arthritis is bothering you, is that you think you can run around in your late 70s the same as you did at 18.  If you’ll learn to act your age, you won’t have as many aches and pains!” I’m trying to heed his advice:  succeeding at some times, failing at others.  But that’s life, and I love every minute of it, even when I’m leaning on my cane. 

Matt