60+ year old thread.

Since I turned 63 falls have cost me 5 cracked ribs and my right rotator cuff and now my left, surgery is on the 28th. I'm falling apart.

 

Morning.

Second experiment for the dryer filter.

Meter 10’ away.


Humidity………Time……………….Temp

24%…………………….………………..65°

44%……………..15min…..………..67°

42%………………30min……………..68°

36%………………45min………………69°

31%………………60min………………69°
……………………..Off………………………..

29%……………+15min……………..67°

27%…………..+30min………..……67°


So this confirms what I felt..
As long as the wife doesn’t think we are being poisoned…. We’re good.. lol

 

Don’t fall ??? …..

Shit like this sucks…
Sorry.
One step at a time…

 

LOL, since 63 one broken leg, one shredded meniscus (and the surgery to remove it), COVID 3 times, mauled by a 150 pond dog (woke up in the hospital 30 hours later) resulting in severe concussion, and surgery to sew me back together, and now neuropathy in upper extremities (not sure whether this is the dog attack or the multiple rounds of COVID, or both). Getting old does tend to suck a bit as we don't heal as fast as we did when we were kids.

I'm still on crutches (until next Tuesday) from the knee surgery, my surgeon tells me I'll never run again because of the missing meniscus, yeah, about that; I've found clinics which specialize in full knee replacements for "Ultra-Marathoners", I figure if some idiot can go out and run a 50+ mile race on a replacement knee, I can certainly run a half-marathon. I'm thinking to opt for the knee replacement sometime later this year.

 

sixtys/wannabes/walking wouded. Maybe I should add icicles to the list? That cold air mass made it here today. I laid in a nice supply of firewood so I can just sit by the woodstove all day. I'm supposed to take easy after the Mohs surgery. No problemo.

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Sue! Advice to keep from falling> don't run, don't walk - shuffle! It's for old folks!

A 40+* start with sunshine finally. Can get out and do some stuff. Fix some landscape lights, pool cleaner, split some wood
Every solar light I have was finally gone by last night - giving up one by one as there has been NO sunshine at all this week.
What the week temps looked like outside this week;



versus IN the greenhouse?



Yay! I know we don't get as cold as many of y'all, but remember, Tough old Texas isn't built for it! When it gets in the 20's* and below for long periods, stufff starts exploding!! You folks gettting our used storm be careful!

 

Curious about the dog attack...

My wife has had both knees done and wished she'd done them sooner. Miraculous change in quality of life. Just do your PT. We did hers at home and had just as good results as those that went to professionals... but she DID the PT.

 

Made it to my Neurologist appt this morning. My shortcut follows a tree-lined road along our local creek. Thankfully road was cleared (lots of downed trees/limbs), but there is a funky detour.
You make a hard left, over a bridge, a sharp U-turn, then back over the new elevated bridge.

The two bridges were both still covered with 3/4" sheet ice. No traction. I came to a full stop, slowly staring off but with enough traction. Oh wait, I flipped it to 4x4, and no problem. I flipped it off for a U-turn, back on to get over the elevated bridge, then back off. I always tell friends you don't need 4x4 in Texas, but in rare cases like this, it helped out. Old days I used to

Now for the cleanup. Still cold and overcast was hoping for the sun to come out. Goal is to cut branches to manage size so I can pull them out of the pool. Thankfully house and shed roofs are OK.

 

Ouch.

I know friends who are still running marathons after knee replacements.

The skinny guys (180 pounds or less) do fine. I'm heavy at 6'3" and 240 pounds, so it will pound the Teflon spacer down, needing a replacement.

I have a Stryker "Marathon," so I told my doc, great, I can keep running. Not so fast. Do let me know what type of implant and details. I'll stick with cycling, swimming, and rowing and leave running to the skinny guys. Both knees were bone on bone. I had left in August, but docs couldn't do an epidural on me due to spinal stenosis (not enough room to get a needle inserted) so I had to do general anesthesia. I still want to get the right done, but the left is so much better can use it to help brace my body when standing or doing squats so the right doesn't feel as bad.

Do a search for robotic knee replacement (surgeon guides the robot). I was 100% weight baring that day, but once the painkiller wears off you are convinced otherwise. PT sucks for the first two weeks, but you can do a full 0 to 140, but the body tells you otherwise. Two months out, I was at 2 to 120, and three months 0 to 140 (big thighs, cyclist, that matched my other side). Do the PT!
Ask your doctor to take photos showing 0 and max bend immediately post-op. Helps reset your mind "I can do this without damaging or ripping anything out".

I can not tolerate aspirin (history of ulcers) or opioids (history of severe constipation). My doctor asked what I do for pain relief, pace the halls!

 

Oddly enough, I haven't been given any PT to do. The only things my sturgeon [sic] has said to me was A) no more running, and B) I'm free to get on my rowing machine for as long per day as I can manage with no pain in the knee.

Regarding the dog attack, I was just finishing up an 8-mile run when a Bernese Mountain Dog, normally constrained to its front yard by an invisible fence (the house was having a pool put in and the construction crew ripped out the wiring for the fence), ran out into the street (end of a cul-de-sac leading to a trail up to where I was living at the time); I remember it biting the back of my right knee off, and then the next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital the next day, blind (because of how much fentanyl they'd given me), not able to speak from being intubated, and being physically bound to the bed. It turns out the dog had pancaked me to the pavement so hard the thud my head made when it bounced off the pavement made the witness (the dog's owner) sick to her stomach; she was sure I was dead. As the story goes, she was able to get me up out of the street after about 20 minutes and then asked me if I wanted her to call an ambulance. Yeah, never ask a guy if he needs an ambulance, even if he has no idea who or where he is. Apparently I asked her to drive me home (a quarter mile via the trail but about three miles on the road), and when I got there the blood trail indicates I went up stairs, got my clothes off, and got in the shower where I remained until my wife got home some time later. Her shock at the blood and my state of mind probably doesn't need much explanation, she asked me what had happened and all I could say was, "dog bite" over and over and over.

She called our neighbor (a medical professional) and they got me dressed and on the sofa while the neighbor told her husband to call for an ambulance; it ended up taking five burley firemen to get me into the ambulance because I was being defensively violent. While on the way to the hospital my condition deteriorated to the point where they called the hospital and downgraded my condition to critical. The hand off to the hospital didn't go any better than it did trying to get me into the ambulance, and that's when the staff hit me with something which was supposed to knock me out; didn't work, time for the fentanyl.

Per the 119 page medical report, the concussion was a Grade 3-b, no broken skull, however, I was experiencing multiple organ failures and my wife was apprised the odds of my survival were heading in the wrong direction. After all of the various images were taken and the surgery performed to stop all of the bleeding, they managed to stabilize me and by the next day I was out of danger. Honestly, when I came back around and came to my senses, all I could think about was getting the hell out of the hospital and back to work; I checked myself out after less than 48 hours, and the next morning, a monster splitting headache in full force, I screwed a smile on my face and gave a presentation to a new client via video conference.

 

When I'm in top form I'm about 200 pounds, which sounds heavy for my 5'8" frame, but that's where I seem to do my best; when I was 59 I logged a 1:38 half marathon at that weight and was running upwards of 300 miles per month. Since last June when my meniscus gave up the ghost, I've since gained and easy 40 pounds; not optimal.

 

Not to put too fine a point on it... but F**K that. There IS such a thing as being too stubborn. I hope you're okay and that the dog didn't get rabies from you, but that's just crazy. I guess you weren't in your right mind due to the head trauma when fighting the help, but for cripe sakes there are better things than ignoring your own body when it's injured.

 

LOL, yeah, growing up with an abusive alcoholic WWII veteran has left me with some interesting trigger points; no question many of my decisions were not in my own best interest. One tries one's best; some times that isn't good enough.

 

Don't put off that second knee replacement, do it while you still have your overall general health. My wife has had both shoulders, both hips, and one knee replaced, her remaining knee now worse than any of the other joints had been, but surgeons refuse her now at her age and condition for that knee. It is now the major reason she is wheelchair bound.
About aspirin and opioids, acetaminophin (Tylenol) works, and always take a stool softener along with every dose of opioids. Percoset and Norco both have acetaminophin included. Take them with at least 4 oz of water to activate them, and don't drive. Downside is fuzzy head and drowsy, but sometimes worthwhile to deal with the pain.

 

64 OLD COLD AND HARD TO START

 

Welcome to the porch Charlie @leftright .
Join in with the rest of us over 60ishers..
Folks will be along and any subject except politics, racism, homophobia and anything else in the TW COC that is bannable. Kind of hard to say enjoy after that but good group here and a lot of topics to join in on. Enjoy.

 

Wow

 

A coyote bit my dog Tater I cured a few coyotes from biting Tater could not give positive ID so we have work to do

 

Evening all:

Holy crap Dale, that's a crazy story, glad you made it through that. I know a guy who has a Burnese mountain dog, seems like a big, gentle, beautiful dog, looks like they can turn vicious just like any other dog.

Welcome Charlie, and don't forget to fill the cooler before you pull up your chair on the porch, as mentioned, good group here.
Sorry to see that your dog Tater was injured by a coyote, good shot and keep up the good work on getting rid of them.
Here's one I got in the yard after it had killed a fawn in the neighbor's yard, I also think it killed my outside cat. I was seeing coyotes in the yard quite a bit, got everything I needed to shoot them 24/7, and since then I don't see any, which is ok with me.

 

How old is to old ? anyone for an 80+ thread? Well thats enough. Its cold and my bones ache and I need another nap before bed time.