aging sucks

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

For the last few years I've been having back problems and the annoyance has been growing steadily. As a result of the chronic pain my Doctor put me on a form of arthritic pain killer. It stops most of the pain but leaves me pretty nauseous.

Ok, a change is a good as a rest.

So, despite the consent urge to vomit, It works well enough that I went out and mowed the lawn - where I immediately slipped and tore my anterior cruciate ligament. -sigh- Then while hopping on the other leg back to the porch I slipped again and fell into the rose bush. I was wearing shorts.

So now I'm limping around on a bum knee, (all the time fighting the need to vomit) with the other leg looking like a cat toy. Can anyone say 'chick magnet?' One more injury and I'm putting on the bunny slippers and taking up drooling ("welcome to Walmart can I get you a cart?") I'm not old enough for AARP but I think I can get age waiver.

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

Sometimes one just doesn't know what to say. There are some good things about aging, but I forgot what they were except for losing some hearing. I can pretend I didn't hear someone. "When did you tell me to take out the garbage?"

Hang in there.

Tissue

[[JiF]Beej1024]

Sorry to hear that Badger, but isnt it hard to mow your lawn when it's still covered in snow?

B

[[JiF]Flying Tiger]

I've fallen and I can't get up! LOL!!!

Hmmm, So your doctor just decided to put you on medication, did he offer any alternatives?

Now I'm not tryin to tell ya your business, but maybe Spinal Decompression would be worth looking into versus taking "The American Solution for Everything" a medication that hardly seems the trouble given it's limited effectiveness and side effects?

Badger you know yourself better than any doctor, and having a degree doesn't make them right?
Try and find alternatives if you're not satisfied with these results, maybe a second opinion might be helpful, just don't take their word for it, after all your health is in your hands?

Get Better and Take Care!

FT

[[JiF]corn]

I have to agree with FT.
My wife was having back problems for years and every doctor wanted her to have surgery or prescribe meds.
We found a chiropractor at church last year.
She scheduled an appointment and after 16 visits it was fixed.
This was last September and she has had no problems since then.

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

Sorry to hear that Badger, but isnt it hard to mow your lawn when it's still covered in snow?

B

The snow melted and provided enough moister to turn my lawn from its natural brown (the colour God intended lawns to be) to some kind of green?? I tried running the snow blower over it but all it did was turn last years leaves into mulch and two days later the damn lawn is green again. That when I noticed the local sheep, and some of the lower functioning teenagers, eying my yard and licking their lips. It was most distressing.

Under the influence of my pain killers I had a "summer of love" flashback and I thought I could use the neighbors mower to cut the grass right back to the soil level, (thus restoring the soothing customary brown shade and discouraging the local wildlife). Not wishing to soil my sneakers I retrieved an old pair of shoes from the basement that have a tread pattern that resembled the texture of baloney. Great for increasing gas mileage but not so great "off road" handling.

Looking back on it I probably should have just let the teenagers eat their fill.

_______________________________________

FT. I have been to see numerous doctors, specialists, physiotherapists, massage therapists, bartenders and chiropractors over the last 12 years. They've all wanted me on pills - except for my bartender, he prefers snort-able medicine ( I settled for something in a "twist off"). I've avoided pills at every turn but my family deserves someone who isn't always grumpy. Who knows, maybe the nausea will help me loose those extra fifteen pounds I been carrying for the last ten years.

[Sir Die-a-lot]

Who knows, maybe the nausea will help me loose those extra fifteen pounds I been carrying for the last ten years.

There you go Badger ! You gut is pulling on your spine, hence your lower back pain ! Shed the weight and you'll be just like new !

As corny as it may sound, have you tried basic stretching and supleness exercices ? They worked for me, with the help of meds in dire pain periods.

Hang in there.

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

Fifteen pounds? In our current world being fifteen pounds overweight is considered anorexic! This whole problem dates back to an old car accident where I broke my back in about a half dozen places. I try to keep my weight down but I occasionally hear the call of the wild doughnut! Fortunately most of the Krispy Kreams in Ontario have gone the way of the unbiased reporter. Anyhow - a waist is a terrible thing to mind.

[[JiF]Djsmg]

While Kripsy Kreme's may have disappeared, Tim Horton's apparently is trying to put a store on every other corner.

I am sure all this rain we have been having hasn't helped your situation either, whenever the rain comes all my past injuries tend to ache and its been an achy summer so far. Hang in the Badger, I am sure the lovely brown colour will be here soon enough (along with the heat and humidity).

[[JiF]zougathefist]

everybody wants to live for a long time
but nobody wants to be old

[Sir Die-a-lot]

If aging sucks, having bad lungs sucks just as much. I am now sitting at home with a chest drain sticking out of my side, on pain meds (which don't work that well), not allowed to do anything requiring physical effort (beside breathing) because I 'deflated' again on sunday while working on the roof.

For those of you not familiar with 'spontanious pneumothorax', let's just say that my lung springs a leak and then collapses. The big problem is that's the 3rd time it happened. I've been operated last year in order to prevent this from happening again, but it looks that it didn't work as the surgeon expected. After they take out the drain next week (if the hole is plugged), I'm going to have to sit down with the surgeon and schedule another operation, this time with the full zipper instead of just 5 small holes like the last time and this time, they'll have to take out all of the pleura. Fun and pain in perspective as I withnessed all these cancer patients that had parts of lungs removed by that procedure last year and it seemed a lot more painfull than my experience !

Anyway, I looked like a tapped maple tree last year and will no doubt look like one again soon ! So if you come across me in the server, be nice and let me kill you once or twice as my reflexes are a bit low right now !

[[JiF]Djsmg]

Im sorry to hear that Sir. I can't imagine what that would of felt like not being able to breathe let alone being up on a roof and being unable to breathe, it doesn't exactly sound like the easiest position to get yourself out of.

I hope that if things proceed as you are predicting that everything works out and that you recover quickly and get back to your usual butt-kicking self.

If I run across you in the server, I am sure you are still able to dispatch me in your current condition so I will try to duck, dodge, and avoid ya as much as I am able.

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

... spontanious pneumothorax ...

My mother suffered from that. It is common side effect of sarcoidosis. In her case the granulomas attacked her lungs so she spent most of her life with less then 50% of normal lung capacity. Amazingly enough the Doctors told her it was unfortunate that she didn't smoke, apparently the disease can only take hold in non-smokers. She kept the rods they use to poke the holes needed to drain the chest cavity and re-inflate the lungs. She used them as knitting needles.

Once every year or so I would get a call asking me to drive her to the hospital to take care of a collapsed lung. It had happened so frequently she was pretty calm about the whole thing. She would even have a list of chores we could complete on route (drop off dry cleaning...etc.). They would admit her and a week later I would pick her up at the hospital, retrieve her dry cleaning and drop her home. Funny how normal that seemed at the time.

Mom and her lung disease were a normal part of our lives. Despite the constant discomfort, coughing and pain She was fun and maintained a positive attitude. Unfortunately, one of the main medications controlling her condition was Vioxx. If you recall the drug was being prescribed for conditions that it was not designed for and several people died. The company withdrew the drug and effectively abandoned the people who actually required and benefited by it. The other NSAID drugs on the market simply did not work for her, the inflammation in her lungs eventually led to a fatal pneumonia. It still upsets me that Merck & Co. would simply abandon the very people they claim they are trying to help instead of allowing the needy to still receive it.

Sir-die-a-lot, I watched my mother live with this disorder throughout her life. I never knew her without it. She had a good life, raised four sons and had a lot of fun doing it. She never let the "little lung thingy" slow her down no matter how many lobs they removed (granted the scars made wearing a bathing suit a little awkward for her but she found an outfit that would have made a fundamentalist Sunni proud).

All I can say is hang in there (and don't trust Merck).

[Sir Die-a-lot]

Thanks Badger, luckily what I have is not as bad. It is know as septal emphysema. It is not curable and what it does is create little bubbles on my alveolaes that sometimes burst with no side effects or sometimes puncture the pleura, causing the air in my lung to go through the hole and let go of the succion effect between the 2 pleural membranes, It doesn't really affect my respiratory capacity, except when I burst a flat !

The operation I had last year consisted in going in, removing a bit of the pleural membrane on the chest cavity, scarifying the said cavity and scarifying the pleural membrane on the lung so that the temporary inflammation would create permanent adherences. It seemed that the scarification was not wide enough. That operation was done by thoracoscopy with just 5 entry points. The next time, they'll have to open me up like for a lung removal, a 13 inches zipper from the mid back to just beside the nipple and remove all of the pleural membrane that's left on the chest cavity to obtain the same result as the last time. The only other option is to spread talcum between the 2 membranes to create chronic inflammation, but they're always hesitant to do it in younger patients (i blushed at the compliment) as it is a foreign matter they are putting in there and they still do not kmow how it evolves over the years. That's mainly used with cancer patients.

For those who want to know, that condition (septal emphysema accompanied by spontanious pneumothorax) is present in 60% of the male population of my built, tall and slim (I'm 6 feet tall and weight a 185 lbs). And if you smoked, you increase the chances of occurances by another 50%.

So I'm looking at a painful end of summer or fall but at least, this time it should be for good. And rest easy, I never trusted Big Medsnd Co. Tylenol and morphine are enough. and unless the pain is really preventing me from getting better, then i will take the pain killers. I'm not a hero or a tough guy, but I prefer to stand a bit (just a bit) of pain instead of pumping myself with chemivals that have tons of side effects. Even the lowly pain killers as Percodan or Empracet or Dilaudid have all kind of unwanted effects that If i can, I prefer to avoid.

So, nature will do it's course and I shall be back with full breath in about 3 weeks. 'till then, I'm home wincing evrytime I laugh and cringing every time my kids get close to me to play !

Here's the patched tire ! And my ugly mug to boot. so you'll have a face to put on the voice or the bullets next time.