My husband thinks I am too old for this

Nothing here is medical advice, and at my stage the interactions with everything else genuinely need somebody qualified looking at the whole list.

What helped most was a physiotherapist who gave me a specific programme rather than a general encouragement to be active.

Coming back at two years to say it has been uneventful, that my mobility is better than it was, and that I am glad I asked rather than assuming I was too old.

Strength work has mattered more to me at this stage than anything else, and everybody I have spoken to has said the same.

Thank you. Genuinely.

My medication list is long and getting a proper review of all of it together was the most useful appointment of the last three years.

Lucas, thank you for that. It gives me somewhere to start from.

The bloods I asked for turned up a deficiency that had probably been there for years, and correcting it changed how I felt more than anything.

What I got right was bringing my daughter to the first appointment, because two sets of ears is worth a great deal in nine minutes.

Something practical: I take a written list of everything I take to every appointment, because nobody's system has it right.

What I found is that the guidance assumes a body with more margin, and going slowly was not caution, it was the sensible plan.

What I would flag is that muscle matters more now than it did at forty, and protecting it is worth more attention than anything else.