Getting old is rough

[fasteddy]

Anything I suggested is for pain management only. Tom is 100% correct when he said if there is something physically wrong you need to have it looked at by either a doctor or a surgeon, because, as I found out, delaying will not make it get better and you may well hear that if you had gone in to have it looked at when it started the repair and recovery would have been much better.

On the other hand if you don't, you may have 40 years or so to live with the regret of not doing it in a timely fashion.........and the pain.

Steve.

 

[curtisfox]

Anything I suggested is for pain management only. Tom is 100% correct when he said if there is something physically wrong you need to have it looked at by either a doctor or a surgeon, because, as I found out, delaying will not make it get better and you may well hear that if you had gone in to have it looked at when it started the repair and recovery would have been much better.

On the other hand if you don't, you may have 40 years or so to live with the regret of not doing it in a timely fashion.........and the pain.

Steve.

So true, how well I know.......Curt

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

So true, how well I know.......Curt

I will have an appointment with my surgeon soon, this since about 2 & 1/2 months ago operation was completed. I can continue with the Physical Therapy and some times the incision area can stand long sleeve shirts which was not earlier on. Though, after while sometimes that will make it very sore.

If the visit to follow up with with the surgeon can see anything wrong with the healing, I would be interested in that.

I have a book on PT call "How of Ow". I skipped to the end of the book after reading about 20 pages. There at the end of the book were exercises for ulnar and median nerves. The beginning really talked a bit about pain that can still be sensed when healing is completed.

I guess a kind of over fight / flight response of the mind not forgetting the pain some how. I was not sure the whole book would be on that. Oh, I can understand this being true, but I was told recovery could be a few months to over a year.

I suppose a nerve conduction test would tell what is better so far. I just don't like the idea of needles, wires, and shock testing, since the incision area is not in my opinion ready for that if long sleeves are still a problem.

Vitamin supplements C and Zinc tablets I was prescribed. I am not using them now, but I really like fresh squeezed orange juice. My orange tree has lots of bloom ready to open.

I found at the bigger city market 8lb bags of oranges for 6 bucks. I got 2 bags and have orange juice with at least half the pulp added back in. One thing for sure is, for a while my mind is elevated to some place that is more than OK! I am not using all of the juice very quickly. I know how the sugar in the juice, although natural, can be too much in some way if not in moderation.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

For what it's worth, while zinc amps up the immune system it is hail on bone.
Hog farmers were using zinc in the feed as a cheap "natural" disease prevention. But then the pigs started breaking leg bones. Zinc was displacing calcium. I was taking zinc for the while until hog study.
It does make your pee a wonderous golden colour. Think spelling yor name in a snow bank.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

In the last couple of days getting gardening done, I was swinging a pick axe, and putting in tomato plant. My back and side hurt a bit, so lazed around the day resting.

Then probably should have waited till morning to finish planting. It was mosquitos not any serious back pain.

This morning back at it and finished up.

At my physical therapy I mentioned that the incision that had been feeling numb and with pain as well, has been reduced to the funny bone area in my elbow.

It is serendipity? Doing work as long as it is not too strenuous for me now is good, maybe it is the blood flowing that helped healing. Still my hand pain is the same, just less med.

At this point I am looking at going snorkeling in my drysuit. No tanks and led. Testing putting on the suit at home first, just to tell if I am ready seems right. The PT did not disagree.

Doing the valve job on the briggs engine, what 6 months ago, that is when I started the job? Things happen.

Riding the bike once back with the job done, I will have to see if I am ready.

Windsurfing sounds good, but that could be too much and also the suit for that is a wetsuit, tight fitting against the skin. This probably should be only when I get rid of all pain. I just don't want to cause the healing to stop and consider that the action could jeopardize the surgery results over time.

MT

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Not long after I wrote the last post on Monday, I felt on Tuesday morning I would BBQ. Since there were so many pine needles and cones from the tree in the picnic area (I call it that as I have a Rustic Oak Picnic Table), I decided to rake it up.

Raking and putting the piles in a wagon with a snow shovel went well. It is the best tool for the job, a snow shovel.

After taking the wagon to dump a few times, I had a mishap and got a thumb nail between a catch and latch. I was wanting to use the built in dump feature on the wagon. It worked fine. I just wanted to tilt the wagon just a little more to empty what did not fall out because of the lip on the wagon bed sides.

In effort to tilt the wagon a bit more, the wagon front wheels came off the ground and dump lock closed the gap between it and the dump bed catch.

It hurt really bad, but I used an ice pack and Ibuprofen. So, it is much better and will BBQ later.

The thumb side was not the one with the nerve pain, that could have been worse. The nail will not probably fall off as it is just a small spot with purple underneath it.

Anything left in the wagon bed is better removed by hand. I’m getting the idea a little extra time and it is worth it. Less risking a repeat like that again.

The snorkeling with wetsuit gloves or dry suit gloves would be not so good right now. I will have to wait to go snorkeling while the nail becomes less sensitive.

Garden gloves I put on though. I pulled weeds in the garden, and ready for seeing more fruit sets of oranges and ripening of blueberries.