My replumbed heart was tested this morning. I was driving for the first time in a week when the car beside me sped up, whipped into my lane and slammed on the brakes. Max heartbeat in seconds.
A stress test isn’t supposed to be part of rehab.
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Technically, make it string two point oh. Speedy recovery!
Darn world just doesn’t want a man to heal in peace these days.
Get ya one of these for those road-roided-rampagers:
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I think the driver was a woman, probably a recent transplant who had just missed the turn to the post office.
Trunk monkey! Like a snake on a leash. Everything is good as long as you’re going the same way.
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If one were somewhat mindlessly driving along and crossing into another state, it would hardly be noticeable -in relation to one’s surroundings. Then -the brain clicks In, and all kinds of DATA snaps us out of our meditative state. Some of it may even upset our thinking that can effect our physical well-being. The Political environment, Status-Quo, Climate, etc., and we may become uneasy and proceed with Caution. Aging can be like that .One could consider all the Similarities as we age, with past yrs., than focus too much on the differences, or expectations., or particularly, most precautions, which can all be proven wrong. We can wear out-rust out , but to mellow out may be the better option!
We’re born, we live, we die. Enjoy yourself until you can’t
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Little Feat and paddling, Two of you favorite things.
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Have not paddled in 8 months. Have my backbone pressing on the nerve that goes to my right leg. As a result I have a severe limp, been going to a bevy of doctors trying to come up with a plan. Some doctors have long waiting periods before I can see them. Sucks getting old!
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Bummer! Have you been evaluated by a competent chiropractor? I’ve had much better outcomes over the years with spinal and sciatic problems through chiropractic, physical therapy and structured exercise interventions.
I’ll add that my mom fell down icy stairs when she was 77 and broke her leg badly. After 2 months largely immobilized (i had to move in to take care of her) in a cast from hip to ankle she got the cast off and then discovered when she got back to walking that she had severe back pain. Her doc just gave her pain pills that she hated and tried to tell her she would need disc surgery. She was so miserable that I had her visit a friend who was a chiropractor with a rehabilitation clinic with PTs and OTs on staff. Between careful manipulations and twice a week exercise sessions with the staff she lost all that pain without surgery. She kept up the flexibility and strength exercises and maintained her mobility (while living in a 4 story house with lots of stairs, frequently making long distance solo drives and even climbing a ladder to clear the tree debris off her porch roof) until her death in her 80’s.
More recently (Summer 2022) i wrenched my back lifting something heavier than I expected and had miserable spasms and severe sciatic pain for several months – also affected my piriformis nerve meaning sitting in a kayak for more than an hour was agony. Even moderate hiking, which I can usually do for 4 or 5 miles a couple of times a week, or standing in the kitchen cooking or cleaning caused lower back spasms after about 20 minutes.
Then I spotted a notice that my alma mater’s sports medicine school here in town was seeking volunteers for a study that they were doing to compare which treatment protocols for treating spine-related pain had the best short and long term outcomes. We were assigned at random to one of the 4 protocols: medication and rest OR chiropractic manipulation OR physical therapy OR a combination of chiro and PT. I was really glad I was assigned to the combination. After a thorough evaluation, for 3 months I got weekly chiropractic massage and spine adjustment, followed by an hour working with the PT on strengthening, flexibility and relaxation routines as well as body mechanics like posture and safely doing repetitive movements. Also got routines to help with paddling-specific problems.
I had to file weekly email reports on any pain issues and longer monthly assessments. They even paid me several hundred dollars for completing the study and continuing to report back on my physical issues and any returning pain for a total of a year to add to their collected data.
They have not published the results of the research yet but if the protocol I was assigned worked as well for the others as it did for me I am guessing it proved to be pretty effective overall. I’ll be 74 in a week and am very physically active (even though I have osteoporosis) but have not been bothered by any persistent pain or stiffness since going through that treatment and continuing the exercise routines.
I used to be skeptical of chiropracty, but over the years (including having suffered a number of overuse stress and accident injuries during the years I was an industrial construction worker) I learned that a good chiropractor could usually help greatly with recovery and, in a few instances, could relieve pretty bad pain completely in one session. I have a loose neck vertebra that can be slipped out of joint if I jerk my head around too fast while reaching overhead or carrying a load. The spasms that arise from that leave me unable to drive a car or raise my arms above chest level. But a simple chiro operation can pop my neck back where it’s supposed to be – instant relief. It takes a bit longer with sciatic pain, but a manipulation would always reduce that somewhat and repeat treatments would clear it up far faster than if I just limped along for weeks or months until it faded.
In fact my GP doesn’t hesitate to refer me and other patients to several chiros he respects. If you have a physician who is an OD (Doctor of Osteopathy) rather than an MD (we have many of both around here) they are usually more open to that.
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Been there. Have a right leg I can barely control but doesn’t hurt much. I have friends who help me get in and out of my kayak.
Good luck.
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I’m so sorry, Andy. Hope you get it sorted out soon and are back on the water, pain free.
Bill, my paddling partner (flight instructor, electrical engineer, writer…) passed away this year at 86 years of age. Our last time out on Robinson Pond was November 17, 2023.
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I sold my last canoe last week. No more kayaks. I just turned 74, which means 64 years of paddling. I am down to one boat, a Hyde drift boat. It makes getting up and moving around much easier. Room for dogs, coolers and furniture. I will continue to run rivers, but will use a drift boat on rivers I used to paddle.
We did a pretty difficult run last year on the Klamath River after a big snow pack accumulated. It was physically exhausting and mentally overwhelming. No more tough white water.
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Went for a short paddle in my Sawyer Summersong today. Bit of a chore getting in and out of the canoe. Also had my grandkids paddle along with me. The were in the Picollos.
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As I age, I am cognizant of the social contagions around us and think carefully about people we spend time with. More and more I notice how people’s temperaments and attitudes are contagious. I noticed when my parents retired to Florida half of the year that they became less tolerant. It was a departure from their normal
way of being.
If I notice someone is very negative, or gets tunnel vision about catastrophic medical events, I try to be mindful to balance exposure to them with positive people or I start to feel it’s contagious.
If someone asked me the most surprising thing about living in Europe for four years, one of the things would be how many very old 80,90+ are riding bicycles for transportation. It must be so good for their minds, always balancing and calculating the changing surroundings. Also, I appreciate how they use walking poles and walk on steep hills vs succumbing to scooters or using walkers.
I think the fact that the cities are so old it forces them to stay more active. I’m observing and trying to incorporate some of these things but so much is your peer group and society, even when we reject that notion.
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Getting older only accents the damage incurred from living. If I sit still, I feel pain; if I do something, I feel pain; if I exert additional energy, it doesn’t cause additional pain - the solution ti me is to do something you enjoy to take your mind off the pain. The key is to avoid doing the samr things in such a way that caused the damage in the first place. If paddling cause damage to your shoulder, figure out how to paddle without compromising that joint. Rather than try to power paddle, figure out how to paddle more efficiently. Sometimes limbering up those joints helps by improving peripheral muscles to better stabilize the joints.
If nothing else, you’ll accelerate the deterioration and reach a point where the though of going on becomes unbearable. At least you will have gotten a lot more out of life than sitting around whining. It reminds me of a saying my parents often used: stop crying, or I’ll give you something to cry about . . . "
My kids showed me a t-shirt and asked if I wanted one. I told them I haven’t gotten that far yet! Then I realized - they remembered, and I hope I can remain stronger than them!
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A friend and I paddled Monday. It was a great marsh paddle but at the end we both needed help getting out of our boats.
Sitting in one position for a couple of hours is not something our aging bodies appreciate.
Time for me to go back to a SOT. Crawling out of a cockpit puts a damper on the experience.
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When there is a will, there is a way. Ot might not be pretty, but I get out of the boat on my own power. If somebody says, hey, do you need help, I say, " I got this!"
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I love all the positive posts about staying active. But for those of you who aren’t aging well—-due to genetics, accidents, chronic illnesses, etc—-just do all that you can. Enjoy nature in the ways that you can. Don’t be hard on yourself. Find joy and peace however you can.
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