Aging gracefully behind the paddle, your thoughts?

Hydrocodone makes me fear constipation!! It happens!

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All of the opiates do that, but when you need em you need em.

Iā€™ve replaced mine with Tylenol because I canā€™t take Nsaids. Advil, for me, was as good as Tramadol.

I have only one canoe left and it is for sale, an OT Candienne in kevlar. Now I run rivers in a drift boat. At 73 my balance is not as good. I like to bring more comforts.

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I didn,t start paddling until i was 41 when i went to Canada and found walking in Southern Ontario restricted to a few trails, after the UK Lake and Peak districts it was not good, so i bought a Klepper from the dealer in New York, i was never able to go there but it must have been a shrine to Klepper. Done lots of paddling in Ontario, now it 86 and a hundred steps from the Atlantic it,s much harder to be motivated and putting it off until to-morrow is easy and to-morrow never comes unless you make it stop which i try to do and go out on the salty water. All my kayaks now have sails and out riggers so i sail and paddle I live on a tiny island in the Scillies with no plain water. We also have only nine miles of paved road.

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Bill, my neighbor and fellow ā€œPungo Brotherā€, Bill, at 85 yrs. of age still paddling the local ponds and lakes of NH; he has a lunch and I bring a camera.


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I have no plans on aging gracefully! Iā€™m 75 now, Iā€™mgonna be totally worn out when I go!
My Lady Friend in our almost matching Neckys. (My Loooksha 17 and her Eliza)
Lisa & I

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Bill may not think so but we know he would be more comfortable in a PFD other than the horse collar.

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64 and a bit male. I was getting a bit leery about paddling my sea kayak because of shoulder soreness using European Paddles. I have switched to a Greenland Paddle and by concentrating on correct technique have discovered a new pain free to paddle and fall in love with paddling all over again!

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I have to ask what ā€œa BIT maleā€ means? Or is that a typo for BIG male?

Ha too funny :D, ā€œbitā€ as in a few months past my 64th birthday. Guess I could also be described as big amongst my peers, 185cm, 90kg.

Thinking about changing my nom de p.
Com to string2.
Laying in a hospital bed bored ,with a new aortic valve. All indicators are positive and the doc says Iā€™ll have more energy.
Sort of a new lease on life.

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Hope recovery goes smoothly and youā€™re back on the water before you know it.

I do everything gracefully, . . . except that time I slipped on the tongue of my trailer (4ā€™ above ground) and landed /flopped on the concrete slab that I was parked over . . . that was not graceful.

Wow! Sending good vibes for a swift recovery. Be well, String!

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string, I hope you are soon on the road to total recovery, sorry to hear about your setback.
Bill has not held his paddle with the blades upside down in a while, that was the only thing I suggested he change. He likes his horse collar, says it keeps his neck warm in the fall.

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Best wishes to you in your recovery. I (like others here, Iā€™d bet) know folks for whom it was a total game changer. If one has to be laid up for a bit, better if its not in the middle of paddling season.
Get well soon,

Thank you all! Gone are the days when I can stay awake all night. I was in the ICU of St. Francis Hospital known as one of the best for heart surgery in the Southeast. The surgery was Tuesday morning and when they wheeled me out of the OR I felt great. The ward had no rooms, just beds separated by particians. There was a large desk with several attractive young women hanging around it. They all were supervised by a senior nurse who adopted me.
All of them kept tellingly me to be careful but I felt good.
The place is also known for saving seniors. That night there were 2 large old men who were in extremis. There was no sleeping last night.
The coup de gras was while I was waiting for my wife to take me home I needed to find a bathroom so started looking. A girl showed up and aggressively started demanding to know what I was doing. I told her I needed the john. She was pissed and said " wet pants are better than a fall and you arenā€™t going to fall"!
I was also getting agitated but I did get to the toilet.
Mama nurse heard about this and 3 of the girls escorted me to the car. I had a goal and she had a more urgent one. We calmed down and I thanked her for caring. We hugged and went on our way.
It occurred to me that while I was high on anesthetic she was trying to keep me from further damage.
Thank goodness for caring nurses. It was a surreal experience. Iā€™ve been directed to park it for a week and now have 3 new drugs.

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I suppose Iā€™m lucky. Eighty-two and my primary care doc declared that I was in better shape than a lot of his patients less than half my age. So I then asked him why I so often felt so lousy. He said that it might just be because Iā€™m 82. My doc has an odd sense of humor.

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Glad to hear youā€™re doing well. I may very well be there having the same thing done quite soon. Rest, heal, then get out on the water again.