Abstract
As a clinical researcher whose area of expertise is Geriatric Pelvic Medicine, the physical changes that go along with increasing age is incredibly interesting to me. However, from a more practical perspective, the biology of aging, although fascinating, is not something that I would be pushed to address in a routine clinical or administrative situation. All that notwithstanding, questions, presumptions, and theories surrounding the definition of aging are inescapable. In fact, more often than I like to admit, I will find myself getting side tracked and drifting off into deep thought about what “aging really means,” or what patients do I consider “old”? Are they really “old”? Which ones might I consider “young” and compare my assessments to their actual chronological age in years? Perhaps, the most frustrating piece of all, is that, almost invariably, after I come out of my intensely contemplative trance on” “aging,” that I end up with more questions than answers.