Gambling

[Bigwolf]

Gambling

We do it every day and usually several times during the day.  We play the odds!  Every time we step outside our homes, we are betting that we will get back home in as good a shape as when we left.  There is no guarantee that we won’t catch a piece of lead from a neighbors domestic disturbance or maybe even get in the path of a lightning strike.  I know, the probabilities of such things are rare, the odds are in our favor,…. So much so that we rarely even consider them a risk.

Some things carry a much greater and ever growing risk and I still just have not bothered to even think about them.  If such thoughts did happen to enter my mind, I just threw them back out.  Now, it seems, life has ripped the blinders from my eyes and seared my vision with the reality of aging bodies and seriously limiting health issues!

Yes, Yes, my oldest (85) sibling was officially diagnosed with alzheimer's and dementia 3 years ago.  My brother (81) recently started on his 5th pacemaker (a feat that, I am told is unheard of).  He recently fell and broke a hip and fractured his shoulder.  Does not know why he fell.  For 6 years he has struggled with the lack of strength and stamina in his legs.  There have been several other falls with unknown reasons in the last few years.  He is not liking the major changes in his life!

I have now reached that tender young age of 78 and have picked up a few scars and health issues of my own.  I liken my healthcare to crawling through a minefield.  It is definitely a gamble.  The penalties can be, and often are, severe.  Several medications that help my heart cause other problems, seizures, stomach/bowel upset, joint pain, and joint degeneration, to name just a few.  Stomach medications they had me taking increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.  I am currently taking an antibiotic for an infection, but this medication is causing arrhythmia in my heart.  Did I mention that the liver is also an issue with some medications?  I dunno!  It seems foolish to spend a lot of money switching the messenger of death from one organ/health problem to another.  But still, I roll the dice and gamble on!

Watching friends and acquaintances die and my siblings with their health issues and ensuing lifestyle downgrades has brought an important issue to the front of my mind though.  I have now filled out an advance directive for my healthcare should I become unable to make those decisions myself.  I had it notarized today.  Next up is to make out a will.  Honestly, these things should have been done long ago and kept updated over time since we never know when that dark curtain will close.  However, I think that I have always believed that death was decades away from me.  Foolish huh!

I have not rode the Valkyrie in …. Way Too Long!!! 

I have an issue with my right knee and ankle.  They now have osteoarthritis (compliments of injuries and medications).  Just recently discovered (thanks to finding another doctor that looked beyond the arthritis) the 2 tendons that pull the foot to the outside are completely severed in my right ankle.  Surgery is not a good option since those were torn a long time ago.  This is just the first time anybody thought about doing an MRI to check them.  It was much easier to tell me that I just had a bad sprain.  Most doctors mean well and I would not want their job, but I have had a lot of poor, maybe even bad, experiences with doctors. 

I have been able to get around some without a cane by using a self made Appalachian Redneck Engineered boot brace.  It is a bit crude, but my orthopedic surgeon and the professional limb and brace tech gave me several compliments on it.  I get to pick up the pro made carbon fiber brace next Friday.  I hope that it fits in my cycle boots!  If not, I have already begun construction of a Appalachian Redneck Engineering designed brace integral with a different pair of my motorcycle boots.

So, I am making a lot of changes to my trusty Valkyrie.  She’s not been started in a year.  The battery is shot and I have not bothered to jump it to start.  Will probably have to clean the carbs again when I do try to start it.  I am going to remove the trunk and remove a lot of “in case stuff” from the saddle bags.  The rear seat will be coming off as well.  I am reducing the weight to make it easier for this old and worn bag of bones to manage that bike.

You might have thought by this long post that I was giving up, but you would be very wrong!  I remain totally unwilling to go gently into that dark night!  So, come spring, or maybe before, I hope to roll the dice again, take the gamble and wrap my legs around that trusty steed for a nice long and much longed for excursion to...well, where isn’t so important anyway. 

Keep the rubber side down and remember: a rough day in the saddle is better than the best day in the recliner.

Bigwolf

[Challenger]

Pondering one's future becomes more and more on a man's mind as we age. I'm pushing that 3/4 mark myself and after a 42 day hospital stay with Covid, I'm left with pulmonary Phibrosis. I'm stuck in low gear as far as physical activity is concerned,  I just go slow and steady and rest a lot. Luckily, I have no problem breathing while riding. It's the maintenance part that wears me out. Just getting down and back up changing oil or swapping brake pads is a real pain now. My wife is on her second three lead pace maker defibrillator and soon to be third. We trudge on glad to be alive. Riding is still one of my greatest pleasures.  Hope for the best for you and your siblings.

[DDT (12)]

Jerry,

All of us Valkaholics completely understand! Those of us who are also veterans of many, many birthday parties also relate to the ageing issues of which you speak. Yours, of course, are unique to you, but no one gets through the 'Golden Years' unscathed. FWIW, you have always struck me as one who refuses to give up and fade away. I salute you for your grit and tenacity!

I'm very much looking forward to reading about, perhaps even sharing some of your future exploits as you continue to fight the good fight. Your courage and willingness to carry-on is inspirational to the rest of us, so thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts with us and for showing the rest of us 'the way forward'!!!

DDT (12)

[scooperhsd]

Yep - I think the common saying around here is "Getting old is not for wimps". Although I'm a relatively young 65, I'm already having some of my own issues - degenerative arthritis in left hand (and probably the right),  osteoarthritis in left shoulder (first twinges in the right), herniated disc at L5, that makes my back muscles at L1, L2,and L3 super tight, and also limits how much weight I can do. I pay alot more attention to lifting with my legs and not my back . I can still lift my Valk back up after it has fallen over (surprised myself last summer doing this), and having to take care of my wife (needs mobility scooter for long (over 75 - 100 feet) distance - the scooter made such a positive difference in her life. Tylenol is my friend (3000 - 4000 mg per day). Heart is still going strong, and I have never ever smoked (not even at a  military formal dinner).

[Oss]

Bigwolf you have a real good attitude to get the most out of life

Look forward to seeing you at Inzane along with the rest of us aging Valkaholics

Adapt and overcome (and carry a battery charger, tire inflator & plug kit)

 

[da prez]

  Jerry , I am happy you are fighting the issues. I have the number 79 looming.
  Years ago I decided that doctors are not always correct. I did my own search and discover.
  VA provides most of my care , but at the same time I ask questions.
  I avoid processed foods , excess salt and sugar.  Consider a dietician . I would wake up and my hands would not work.  I put cinnamon in the morning coffee grounds. Pain gone , I am functional when I wake up.  CAUTION ,excess cinnamon is a blood thinner.  I use turmeric ,ginger , black pepper fresh ground and raw honey. I take a little getting used to , BUT my meds are being reduced. (yes) my Drs. know.
  I have had many surgeries after I got hurt in 09. Drs. are amazed at my comeback. I tell them it is because I want to get better , I refuse to give up. 
  YOU TO ARE A FIGHTER , NOW CONTROL THE FIGHT!

                                                                           da prez

[0leman]

I hear your problems.  I too have had a bad year as far as health.  Had a full knee replacement last March.  Did the rehab and got full use of left leg.  Then in August at my 6 month checkup got the Doc worried when just sitting there my pulse was 150 and blood pressure was really high, didn't fee a thing.  After a night in the hospital, it was determined that I have A-Fib due to a irregular heartbeat.  So, now on really fun blood thinners and other drugs. Thinking a watchman may be in my future.

I do have a left shoulder that is needing attention and my right knee starting to act like my left knee did.  So, have more cutting coming up. 

Thankfully that has not stopped me from riding.  But tried last summer to sell my Valk, but due to my location no one wanted her, maybe 140k on the clock worried them.

I do want to keep riding but need a bit lighter bike. 

[Bigwolf]

Challenger,
Covid 19 was/is a heavy downer!  I was doing exceptionally well until covid snagged me in April of 2021.  Since then my heart complications have been an ongoing battle.  A-fib, 3 ablations, a watchman, a couple more stents, and a TAVR later, and I believe that we finally have it mostly under control.  I am not complaining.  Life is what it is.  We do the best we can with the cards we are dealt.  Would it not be boring if we did not have challenges to overcome?

Bigwolf

[Bigwolf]

Bruce,
Thank you for the compliments.
I have had some really good success with my own design/built ankle brace and am looking forward to the custom fit professionally made brace that I will get next week.  Right now I am unable to pick the bike up if it gets down, but I hope that this new brace and some exercise will overcome that.  I would love to share some more coddiwomple time with you!

Bigwolf

[Bigwolf]

Yep - I think the common saying around here is "Getting old is not for wimps".

That is so true.  I would love to see the look on the face of some of today's young folk when they are hit with "old age stuff" and realize that there are no "safe places" to go to avoid or get any relief from it.  All of us, if we live long enough, have to face this stuff head on and deal with it.  There really is no other choice.

Bigwolf

[Bigwolf]

Bigwolf you have a real good attitude to get the most out of life

Look forward to seeing you at Inzane along with the rest of us aging Valkaholics

Adapt and overcome (and carry a battery charger, tire inflator & plug kit)

 

Oss,
Thank you for the compliment.
I doubt that I will be at Inzane this year.  Tons of stuff going on in my life these days!

PSA
A word of caution on the "(and carry a battery charger, tire inflator & plug kit)".
I used to carry a Rugged Geek battery/jumper pack with tire inflator.  I also do carry a plug kit.  About a year ago, I pulled the Geek out of my saddlebag to make sure that it was at full charge.  To my surprise, it seemed to have gotten pregnant!  The case had split open and the guts were swollen beyond the possibility of compressing it back to it's original state.  I might have been just one hot day away from having my bike turned into a crispy critter!  That Geek no longer resides in the saddlebag.

That Rugged Geek still works, it is just unsafe to carry it in a vehicle.  Or have it anywhere that might set things on fire!  It was an older model of Rugged Geek.  The newer Geeks of the same capacity are larger size wise and have slightly different controls.  They may be less likely to want to detonate.  Please be aware and cautious.

Bigwolf

[Bigwolf]

  Jerry , I am happy you are fighting the issues. I have the number 79 looming.
  Years ago I decided that doctors are not always correct. I did my own search and discover.
  VA provides most of my care , but at the same time I ask questions.
  I avoid processed foods , excess salt and sugar.  Consider a dietician . I would wake up and my hands would not work.  I put cinnamon in the morning coffee grounds. Pain gone , I am functional when I wake up.  CAUTION ,excess cinnamon is a blood thinner.  I use turmeric ,ginger , black pepper fresh ground and raw honey. I take a little getting used to , BUT my meds are being reduced. (yes) my Drs. know.
  I have had many surgeries after I got hurt in 09. Drs. are amazed at my comeback. I tell them it is because I want to get better , I refuse to give up. 
  YOU TO ARE A FIGHTER , NOW CONTROL THE FIGHT!

                                                                           da prez

Da prez,

I am in complete agreement with you on food and drink intake!  In the last 2 years, I have been striving to eliminate commercially processed foods from my diet.  Having a wife has made that somewhat complicated, but I am making progress in that direction and it is making a difference.  My experience with doctors has been great in the operating room and horrible in the pharmacy!  Thirty-four years ago I was following my doctor's directions in direct opposition to my own experience and reasoning.  I thought that they must be right because that is what they train for and I am not a doctor.  The result of that was 2 miserable years of being so crippled that I was off work on disability for 15 months.  Only when I stopped the meds, I began to heal.  So then, in self-defense, I began to spend most of my free time in the library at the med school.  Not long after, I began asking questions that my doctors could not answer.  They still cannot answer them today!  Their reaction is often unsettling when I am telling them of recently published medical studies in their specialty field of which they are totally unaware.  They do not like a supposedly uneducated person educating them in their own business!

Thanks much for you reply!

Bigwolf

[Jess from VA]

Jerry (and you other guys), I'm sorry for your troubles.

In a word, getting old blows.  The slow creep of various disability, disease and injury, and the doctors and treatments and dope they prescribe (often with nasty side effects).  

I was always blessed with natural good heath during my youth, except for a few stupid injuries.  After 40 years of school and work, I retired and sat on my ass and did and ate what I wanted.  But then a routine physical/labs resulted in doctors suspecting I had both prostate (killed my dad) and lung cancer, and they put me though hell and scared the he!! out of me with referrals to specialists and MRIs and CT scans (with everyone getting paid handsomely) and I didn't have any of that!!

I don't much like doctors or drugs (though I suppose they can save your life), but this health scare was my wake up call and I changed my diet (healthy but not radical) and began to walk every single day.  Weight loss was not a goal, but over the next two years I slowly lost 35lbs (5'9") and got back to a 32" waist (like high school; and had to buy new pants).

The other thing that works for me is discipline and routine.  I stick pretty closely to a daily routine that includes good diet and exercise, morning bowel movements, maintenance of home and vehicles and scape and a good night's sleep (which I have to really work at).  I also visit on this fine forum about daily and discuss things with you fine fellows.

The only drug I take is a half tab of Trazodone which is not a sleeping pill or narcotic, has no buzz, and is not habit forming.  It is a mild anti depressant (I'm not depressed either) that just happens to relax the mind and assist you in getting 6-7 hours of sleep (except for the 3-5 trips to pee a couple ounces, with the old man prostate fun).

Trying not to brag here, but I'm in better shape at 72 than I was in my 50s.  I'm not trying to live forever, but I desperately don't want to fall apart and end up stuck in a chair (or a home).  No one depends on me (though I do everything I can to help my 96yo mom and 40yo niece, and now even my estranged wife (60), who has no one in this world except a couple family members in Turkey who don't care about her at all).

I got my old mother walking daily, and it has done her a word of good.  She goes 3/4 mile every day the weather permits (on an upright walker) and when she can't get outside, on a pedal machine.  She teaches me almost everything I need to know about getting old with a great sense of humor and all her marbles and smarts.  

My advice to all is to get out and walk an hour daily if you can.  With the prostate trouble, I moved to a treadmill so I didn't have to pee in the neighbor's bushes.  



 

[Bigwolf]

0leman,
I understand the thoughts about a lighter bike.  I too have had those thoughts.  Although, I have loved this Valkyrie more than any other vehicle that I have ever owned.  I can't imagine that I would be happy with any other bike.

About the blood meds, I get syncope when taking Eliquis.  Be careful and stay alert.  Side effects often show up after 2 or 3 weeks of starting the medication.

Bigwolf

[Bigwolf]

Jess,

Thank you for the reply.
When I think of the things I have been through in life, I feel very lucky to be in as great health as I am.  As a teenager working in service stations, blowing that dust off the brakes with an air hose and breathing that annoying cloud that Is now considered a serious health hazard.  Years of working in poorly ventilated machine shops full of vaporized coolant full of bacteria.  Yes, we found out, courtesy of Ford Motor Company, that coolant was a serious health threat.  And there was quite often a lot of noise that we got used to.  Well, that was before we started using ear protection.  Then there were the sprint cars running on alcohol to be started and tuned, often inside buildings where the formaldehyde in the exhaust would burn your eyes and choke your breath.  Healthy living?  I think that I have already survived a lot of unhealthy living!  Not saying that my body survived unscathed! 

Anyway, your point of being a good steward of your body is well taken.  I have begun to make more healthy things habit in my life.  It won't undo the the damage that has been done.

Bigwolf

[Jess from VA]

Jerry, my first job (W4 withholding) was in a Mobil gas station.  From 15 to 17, part time during school, full time in summer.  There was an unfortunate incident where I blew the driveshaft off the station truck and trashed the exhaust (dropping the clutch doing burnouts) that resulted in my termination.  The only time I was ever fired from any job.  

Then I spent 9 summers sandblasting and painting steel mills in the Detroit area.  Hard, filthy and dangerous work climbing steel, running big loud Gardner Denver compressors and loading big sand pots all day long.  Wearing earplugs to protect your hearing, and to keep the crud/dirt/paint out of your ears.  We wore the same used gas station clothes all week, then threw them out (not ruining washers and dryers).  The smell in our little locker room was toxic.  Which paid for all my college schooling.

With constant, never-ending tinnitus, I wear ear plugs for noisy work of any kind and for riding motorcycles (not the exhaust, the wind roar).  I have only a little bit of hearing loss (thank goodness), but I live in fear of the tinnitus getting permanently louder.  Constant tinnitus in a quiet bedroom is death, and is why I got the Trazodone (and noise machine) so I can (hopefully) sleep. In between bathroom visits.   

[old2soon]

     Part well Most of the reason I'm on a trike now. Left hip while NOT totaled duz not appreviate holdin up an 800 lb+ M/C anymore. Far too many miles double clutchin a big truck-18 wheeler-all over AMERICA and Canada. 81 fast approaching in feb 2026 and I Still LOVE to ride when I can! Did NOT lay down the smokes soon enough and now payin the price. Comin home from my Brothers place this past Thursday-1 8 26- found out my night vision sux!  I mean sux bad nuff best I can figure NO/NADA/NONE night drivin or ridin anymore as I dang near ran off the road maybe 15 16 miles from my casa. A 4 wheeler comin at me with those newer brighter headlights washed out my vision momentarilly. Scary that BUT I no wreck!  Had an aortic aneurysm taken care of cuz an unchecked one took out our yougest sister!  TRUST ME I aint cryin just Happy to Still be here!  Sides we here all KNOW the alteernative REALLY SUX!  RIDE SAFE.

[Bigwolf]

Jess,

I hear ya!  I am very sure that we are not alone in the hazardous and health threatening work habits of long ago.

Old2soon,

I hear ya man!  These high powered lights are bothering me big time!  Ain't double clutchin fun!  I never ran a big truck like that, but my brother had a 1950 international pickup with non syncro 4 speed.  We towed the sprint to the track with that.  It didn't seem like a big deal once I got accustomed to it.

[scooperhsd]

I get you on the "avoid night driving unless necessary" bit. It's not that I can't see at night - it's more like my night vision is almost too good - once my glasses are on (almost always prescription sunglasses during the day, clear lenses at night) , Corey Hart's "I were my sunglasses at night" almost applies to me.

[JimmyG]

I must not be doing this,  "getting old",  thing correctly