Up to about 3 years ago, my body still thought it was just a tad over 21….. a mature aged Superman now fast approaching 80    

Then last year, a couple of stents inserted to help blood flow - that is all good but now I have a couple of heart valves only working at 90% plus but the specialist not overly concerned - yet.

Now Mr Arthritis  has decided to pay me a visit in the right hip - OK sitting down but standing & walking is getting to be a pain in the a… so next week, seeing my my Dr - he did say back in April that he thinks a replacement is on the books possibly next year but it seems like that time is approaching faster than originally thought…

So I will now the join the Club - software working OK but hardware needs updating….

… and such fine software it is too….
I'm only half your age… :shock:… :roll:…. ;-) but something odd is going on with my left leg and I too feel a visit to the "quackery" is on the cards… sigh

Hope they can deal with the pain for you…. 

Well I'm 87 and mobility is starting to be a problem, 40 years smoking although Given up 18 years ago has left an aftermath of chest congestion, and now feet are becoming a bit of a problem resulting in more of a shuffle than a walk, most of my parents generation made it well into their 80s as did 3 out of 4 grandparents, mother reached 97 and her youngest brother made 93 so I'm aiming for the ton.
As far as modelling is concerned hand/eye coordination is currently not as good as I'd like but I've got too much N gauge stock to consider changing to 0rribly 0versize.

Sorry to hear the chassis is starting to complain Sol.

You've got a few years on me but I'd gladly swap my knees - not sure if it was too many days on open tractors in all weathers or too many hours on my knees begging for favours …….. :hmm

Heart problems I think are just part of the game once you get beyond 70 but fortunately, the witch doctors seem to have potions to handle all but the worst "piston slap".

I'm told replacement hips can easily take you back to your 20s or 30s so fingers crossed you'll soon be dancing again.

In the meantime, take care and remember - listen to your body - don't try to push it too hard !!

Sorry to hear you might be in need of a bit more WD40 Sol.

As a mere youth of 64 I find that the body largely believes it is 30-something and the brain is stuck in its 20s.  But various parts fail to respond as they once did and the dreaded Gout has troubled me a couple of times most years for the past 15 or so.  Currently that is the only form of Alf Rytus I receive but the family has rheumatoid right through its history so I expect I have more to come.  

As most of us here know I am a cancer survivor already which has aged parts of me a little earlier than nature normally would. That much has been a source of frustration to us both but has so far it has shown no sign of wanting to return

I have reached the stage where the older generation of friends seem to be passing faster than I make new ones and the younger ones are out and having the kind of fun I once did.  Friday nights in front of the tv are not my idea of fun.  I am still not allowed to go out for drinks (on penalty of finding the model collection out on the street and the lock changed when I return) and Sharon - who a few here have met - is not ready to go out and socialise in the outdoor world again.  She has spent most of 15 months indoors to protect herself from the virus and in a bid to manage her anxiety about catching it.  As we are both double-jabbed we now have the best protection available and I am very keen to get back to some sort of reality.  

She won't have it.  So I have had to decline several social invitations in the past couple of weeks and sit home while everyone else seems to be out enjoying themselves.  

We live in a block with a number of students among our quite mixed community.  As close neighbours (sometimes too close for comfort when they ….. errrr ….. socialise  :oops: in the small hours) some have become good friends.  IT might seem unusual for a 60-something chap to be out drinking with 20-something girls but we are all comfortable about it.  Sharon is understandably not quite so keen and it does feel as though I'm on a leash when I have to leave early and come home when the 20-something brain thinks the 30-something body should still be out until very late and partying until dawn.  

Such is the ageing process.  "Do not go gently into that good night - rage, rage against the dying of the light"  

Sorry to hear about woes. I am sure modern medical technology and some good pharmaceuticals will see you operating for some time.

Cheers
Evan

[user=1753]Gwiwer[/user] wrote:

IT might seem unusual for a 60-something chap to be out drinking with 20-something girls"

Such is the ageing process.  "Do not go gentlye into that good night - rage, rage against the dying of the light" 

Hi Rick, Interesting almost literal interpretation of the poem which you've adopted here

It has been fascinating here with relatively limited restrictions (plus odd interruptions due to minor escapes from quarantine) that we've caught up several times now with many friends and contacts all 70+ some over 80, even when they've not been vaccinated at all or just first jab.

These folk are mostly couples and in all stages of physical aging, thankfully most are fully mentally alert.  On each occasion it has been striking how attitudes to and management of events in the last year falls into two distinct camps.

 First those whose comfortable set of routines and interests were totally disrupted and derailed by events and now complain bitterly about the impositions and how bad everything is.

 The remainder have taken the situation as an opportunity for a mini "life reset" - working within the constraints to find a set of entirely new challenges and interests.  I suspect this approach is very much "raging" against the dark as Thomas intended.

PS reading poetry is one of the various reset opportunities I've grasped!

I do sympathize Ron,having major issues with sciatica,mobility is becoming a problem.66 and counting,not fair is it whatever age we are.

Hi Ron.  I have caught up with you, the arthritis especially, but worse of all the falling over and I am only approaching 74. But we must keep up our spirits. Best wishes Kevin 

[user=1753]Gwiwer[/user] wrote:

We live in a block with a number of students among our quite mixed community.  As close neighbours [….] some have become good friends.  It might seem unusual for a 60-something chap to be out drinking with 20-something girls but we are all comfortable about it.

There's the same sort of age gap in the motorcycling community, so it doesn't seem at all unusual for me to see mature riders of large machines accompanied by pillions who are 30 or 40 years younger. Weekend rallies were still a big part of the scene until the plague arrived; involving lots of alcohol, silly games and the sharing of sleeping bags. One of the clubs put on a lavish wedding bash on Valentine's Day just before lockdown - 51 and 23.

You also said:

"Sharon is understandably not quite so  keen and it does feel as though I'm on a leash when I have to leave  early and come home when the 20-something brain thinks the 30-something  body should still be out until very late and partying until dawn."

That often appears to be where most of mainstream society's negative outlook on such relationships eminates from. I'm firmly in the 'just a number' camp and have spent most of lockdown in regular correspondence with a lady 32 years younger. The condition of an aging body being directed by a brain for which time has stood still does seem to be remarkably common and, actually, life-enhancing.

6243 wrote:

Gwiwer wrote:

We live in a block with a number of students among our quite mixed community.  As close neighbours [….] some have become good friends.  It might seem unusual for a 60-something chap to be out drinking with 20-something girls but we are all comfortable about it.

There's the same sort of age gap in the motorcycling community, so it doesn't seem at all unusual for me to see mature riders of large machines accompanied by pillions who are 30 or 40 years younger. Weekend rallies were still a big part of the scene until the plague arrived; involving lots of alcohol, silly games and the sharing of sleeping bags. One of the clubs put on a lavish wedding bash on Valentine's Day just before lockdown - 51 and 23.

You also said:

"Sharon is understandably not quite so  keen and it does feel as though I'm on a leash when I have to leave  early and come home when the 20-something brain thinks the 30-something  body should still be out until very late and partying until dawn."

That often appears to be where most of mainstream society's negative outlook on such relationships eminates from. I'm firmly in the 'just a number' camp and have spent most of lockdown in regular correspondence with a lady 32 years younger. The condition of an aging body being directed by a brain for which time has stood still does seem to be remarkably common and, actually, life-enhancing.

Thank you for those positive and reassuring comments.
I don't think I would ever have a pillion riding with me for one reason; I have always said I would never be seen dead on a 'bike never mind alive.  But to each their own.  I have good friends who ride and one who lives on the IoM TT course.  

Night clubs are off-limits for the time being of course.  Were I to seek entry, alone or with the younger friends (who did frequent them when they were open) I would surely be refused.  What ever the grounds the "Management Reserves the Right to Refuse Admission" is enough.  Clearly being outside their normal customer demographic is one thing.  The duty of care to their customers, odd though it might seem, would extend to not allowing someone of far more senior years in to a venue where young people of both sexes are often minimally dressed and sometimes up to a little more than might be in their best interests.  I get that.  

I am lucky to have made good friends of former neighbours for whom the age gap doesn't really matter as a number.  It makes a difference when out and about as per the previous paragraph.  It makes a difference in the mind of the woman I have been married to for 26 years who chooses to see things as an unhealthy step in a wrong direction and worries that I may stray too far.  There is no chance of that happening.  Both the young ladies concerned are in relationships of their own and the Big C has made it very unlikely that I could do anything beyond a friendly hug.  

The 20-something brain does fire up though and would dearly love to be still in tune with the language and "vibe" of today's twenty-somethings.  The 30-something body is visibly not in its thirties though I am frequently thought of as much younger than I am.  Most of my work colleagues were disbelieving when I made it known that it was my 64th birthday recently.  They had me down for early-mid 50s.  Which is nice, I guess.  

The Leader of the Opposition has made a couple of steps this weekend.  Firstly she hugged her dear (and dying) friend farewell yesterday having said she would not do so and we visited a supermarket this morning for the first time in fifteen months.  

Worse things happen at sea.  I know.  I have lost friends to the angry tides.  

Rick,

I too have lost friends over the years. Some were, as you imply, due to hugging trees in quite the wrong fashion but one good friend who rode even more frequently than I did in manic London traffic was killed whilst walking home…. on a zebra crossing…. by a drunk. I take care and don't risk my life recklessly, but I'm not about to stop living for fear of dying. I'm sure you've heard Rick Wakeman's quote: "I'm not giving up having fun with my friends for an extra ten years of senility in a Bognor rest home."

As things return to normal, I'm sure that I'll begin physical socialising again. Science at the Observatory, model club, preserved railways, classic cars, motorcycles…. and the Manchester nightclub where a very good friend is head of security. :mrgreen:

I'm glad to hear that Sharon has taken those steps, small though they are, which perhaps herald the end of the tunnel (to keep us vaguely on a railway theme). Maybe, if we get into July or August without further curfews, a six-some with your young friends, their menfolk and you as a couple may begin to reassure her?

Stay young in spirit,
David.

Just to set the record straight, the far better known quote was Rumpole's from "Rumpole and the Old Old Story".

"There's no pleasure on earth that's worth sacrificing for the sake of an extra five years in the geriatric ward of the Sunset Old People's Home, Weston-Super-Mare"
Somehow those words have a much better ring to them, to my ears anyway. Still it is a motto which SWMBO seems to have accepted and adopted under COVID rules (minor win there).

While detouring into the marvelous world of Horace Rumpole in this little OT zone, we came across this lovely snippet recently

Nick: He collapsed while jogging.
Rumpole: Jogging, eh?  Well, I've always said that exercise is a short cut to the cemetery.

From "Rumpole and the age for retirement"

As Rumpole helps us with many light moments through a drab winter and mini-shutdown I can only echo Clive James' comment:

'I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole'

Following on the theme of aging, when my wife and I are out enjoying ourselves and frivolously spending some of our modest income she comes out with the classic " Who cares, we could be dead tomorrow ".

My favourite phrase used by many an older person  - "Oh yes, that'll see us out!"  

Dreadfully morbid !!

Barry

Hi Barry.  I hope that you youngsters are doing well with your move. Morbid and definitely true, especially when I found out, recently, that there is an instruction on my medical record’s “ do not resuscitate “ DNR for short.Best wishes Kevin

Well, with some apprehension, I had a cortisone injection yesterday into the hip - piece of cake, had to wait longer in the surgery then the actual medical work. Just felt the slight needle prick.

Today. I feel like a quite a few years younger, hardly any pain now in the hip & groin - hope it lasts for a few weeks or months.

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

Well, with some apprehension, I had a cortisone injection yesterday into the hip - piece of cake, had to wait longer in the surgery then the actual medical work. Just felt the slight needle prick.

 Today. I feel like a quite a few years younger, hardly any pain now in the hip & groin - hope it lasts for a few weeks or months.

When Cortisone drugs were first discovered they were considered to be the ultimate "miracle" cure for inflammatory diseases. They still are when used sparingly and localised but not something you ever want to depend on too much!





 

Hi Ron.  Speaking about hips, a story that I may have related on YMRC, was the time when I found myself on the floor, after managing to get up and make a cuppa, I phoned my GP, of course that was in pre Covid-19 times. To cut a long story short, it transpired that I fractured my hip, of course there is nothing they could do about it.  Best wishes Kevin

Brilliant to hear your cortisone jab has given you so much instant relief Sol - sometimes these things just "work" !!

I had an attack of PMR a couple of years ago which virtually crippled me.  Went to the rheumatologist who put me on a course of steroids and, like you, within 24 hours, I was like a spring lamb.  I just couldn't believe the change.

Hopefully, progress will continue - are you due another shot in a month or so ?