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Lunacy WTF Retirement?

I also take something for gastritis.. or GERD or acid relfux.. god they have a lot of names for shit these days. BUT.... I also know that at the age of 70 my days are numbered and if I haven't already fucked myself over with the substances I've taken in the past.... a little THC aint going to be my ticket out. Add to that my intake has actually lessened with age. I'm not so worried about how much cannabis I ingest. But that's me and you do you is my motto.
haha...not sure how well we are communicating here. Basic point is there are indications that THC inhibits bone growth. My bone growth is already inhibited to some extent by the proton pump inhibitor (Nexium). At this point, it strikes me as massively prudent and wise to do anything I can go foster these vertebrae to grow together. That is the strength of the fusion. If they don't, then I may be well and truly fucked so that's the basis of my thinking on this.

This isn't about checking out...or ticket out...or whatever you meant. Its prob 3-4 months which is not the end of life.

Anyway, beddy by time now. Catch you all again when I'm more coherent.
 
Speaking of gardening... I don't know how into growing your own you are. But @Squiby has an amazing set up on her property.....with raised beds . She has grown some amazing crops in those beds. If you decide to stay put for a bit.. and are inclined to garden..

Here are my raised beds this morning. It's hard to believe they produce any food at all, looking at them right now...

20230302_083453.jpg


The beds are 3 feet high, counter height, so no bending or digging is required. The soil stays loose. I top them up with and inch or two of compost every spring before I plant and they are watered with drip irrigation. My main involvement is planting and harvesting, the growing happens almost without any attention from me. These beds produce enough food for me during our short Canadian season for a year's worth of eating for me with enough to share with a couple neighbours.

20200714_134004.jpg
 
@Baron23 Good luck with your surgery. It sounds similar to what I just had done. I had a two level fusion and a laminectomy. I had a bone graft as well, from my own body. It was my L3,L4 and L5. Makes sure you have some help . I was in the hospital not quite a week. You will be happy you did it afterwards. I feel so much better.

@Squiby Those raised beds look beautiful in the summer. The raised beds are the way to go. When I had a vegetable garden I always had those little white worms in my radishes and potatoes. I wasn’t very good at it, but the beds might work better for me.
 
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@Baron23 Good luck with your surgery. It sounds similar to what I just had done. I had a two level fusion and a laminectomy. I had a bone graft as well, from my own body. It was my L3,L4 and L5. Makes sure you have some help . I was in the hospital not quite a week. You will be happy you did it afterwards. I feel so much better.

@Squiby Those raised beds look beautiful in the summer. The raised beds are the way to go. When I had a vegetable garden I always had those little white worms in my radishes and potatoes. I wasn’t very good at it, but the beds might work better for me.
Dang Carol...a week? I'm also having L3-5 fused, no bone grafts....they use a spacer (with some metal holding it all together until it heals) and some stuff to encourage your vertebrae to grow together providing the actual fusion and strength.

My surgeon said one night...maybe two depending on how I do. I do know everybody's injury is just a bit different and that the procedures have changed and advanced a great deal over the years. That and they want to get you out asap as a hospital is a great place to get seriously ill.

May I ask how long ago you had it done?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Cheers
 
@Baron23 I think the reason I stayed longer is my blood pressure went down. It will probably be three or four days. You might be home in two, everybody’s different. I had a laminectomy too.

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If you didn’t live so far away we could bring meals ha ha. Make sure you have one of those grabber things. I used walking poles and still do, just while going for walks.
 
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I finally got my medical insurance taken care of. In WA state we go to the Healthcare Authority of WA located in a big beautiful building with a huge lobby with high ceilings. . There were 3 waiting.. I waited for 40 minutes, there was a couple ahead of me. I had all my info filled out and all my paperwork. Once it was my turn it just took me ten minutes and I was finished. I went in to the office because I didn’t want to wait on the mail.

The end of the month my insurance would run out. It was stressful waiting for the Medicare part A and B card to be sent from the government. I couldn’t get my Medicare medical gap insurance taken care of until I received it. It took around 6 wks after I filled out the form to arrive in my mailbox. I cut it too close. Now I can relax. So much time on the phone getting advice to guide me through the retirement process.

Since I had spine surgery I can do so much more. Looking forward to everything a head. Don’t know what it is? Thank goodness it’s spring. Such a wet winter.
 
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Ms. Carol,
Congratulations. Lots of hurdles to clear and you did it! That is so awesome ..I turn 65 in July....your energy and determination has lit my fire to get this done. It seems you were blessed AND through you I (and probably several others) was also blessed. That is cool. That's lovin' on floks!

vfm
 
Not wanting to start an argument. Some food for thought. A portion of the article. I hope posting this is alright.:whoa::twocents:

It is always frustrating when politicians want to adjust the retirement age, programs like Medicare and Social Security and pensions. The world has known since the 1940s, when the baby boom began, that these folks would be old someday. What we did not anticipate was that today’s older adults would have already weathered several stock market challenges to any retirement savings that they had accrued.


“Few anticipated that corporations and manufacturing would default on their pension obligations and we are all aware of the costs of medical care. What is and is not covered by safety net programs puts many older adults at risk. This is especially true in Appalachia. Raising the retirement age or age of eligibility for benefits harms people of all ages. Younger workers can expect to work more years with fewer resources in their own pockets. Middle-aged adults may not have time and resources to save for retirement, support aging parents and help younger offspring. Older adults will not receive the benefits that they had planned for, leaving the most vulnerable especially at risk.

“We know that older adults at or below 150% of the poverty line use Social Security for the majority of their retirement, not because they were lazy or wasteful, but because they never earned enough to be able to save even a little.” — Julie Hicks Patrick, professor of lifespan development psychology, Department of Psychology, WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

“Raising the retirement age in the U.S. is not about the quality of life for older adults, and certainly not for those that have spent their life in the service industry or labor-intensive industries. When Social Security was enacted in 1965, life expectancy was only 62, and now life expectancy is about 77 years of age. Social Security was not meant to sustain us for a decade or more.
 
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My retirement was great until COVID close up cardiac rehab (three mornings a week at 7:30 am), shut down my hospice visitation volunteer job, and managed to help break my GF and I up. All Al that plus a day or two of target shooting and I was happy and busy.

Now I’m 6 wks onto a 4 month recovery from spinal fusion and like us all I’m older…those three years really seemed to make a difference.

Before surgery I was back in the gym a couple of days a week, out shooting, and I’d found a food pantry that needed volunteers but didn’t want to do that w surgery looming.

I was trying to put together some structure again.

When surgical recovery is over it’s essential that I do find some regular activity. It can’t be helped at this point in time given I can’t do a frakin thing, but I’m getting this sinking sensation and fear if I don’t get busy again then I will go downhill.

To me, this was the big issue w retirement.
 
Our emotional needs are as important as our physical problems. We need to take care of both. The pandemic was a test for our country. It didn’t work very well shutting everything down. People didn’t know what to do. I was afraid and others as well. I hope we never have to go through something like that again. It’s had lasting effects for our society. Bad or good we move on.

I’m walking 5 days a week. My surgery for fusion and laminectomy, it was in September. I’m not going to be able to lift heavy things but I didn’t do that anyways. Building up your muscles and ligaments, the bones will continue to get stronger. The best thing I ever did along with 2 knees a few years back. Surgery isn’t fun but sometimes it’s the only way to get back to a full life.

At first I used a walker and I would walk around my house. Then I was able to go outside and walk around my yard. I still use walking poles when I go for my regular walks, they are hiking poles. It helps to keep me steady if there’s a dip in the road. I still have a little pain but it’s getting less. Dr thought that’s where he took the bone graft. Good luck @Baron23 you’ll get there.

im going to help out on a 5th grade field trip to the state capitol. That should be interesting. Helping out a teacher friend.
 
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Our emotional needs are as important as our physical problems. We need to take care of both. The pandemic was a test for our country. It didn’t work very well shutting everything down. People didn’t know what to do. I was afraid and others as well. I hope we never have to go through something like that again. It’s had lasting effects for our society. Bad or good we move on.

I’m walking 5 days a week. My surgery for fusion and laminectomy, it was in September. I’m not going to be able to lift heavy things but I didn’t do that anyways. Building up your muscles and ligaments, the bones will continue to get stronger. The best thing I ever did along with 2 knees a few years back. Surgery isn’t fun but sometimes it’s the only way to get back to a full life.

At first I used a walker and I would walk around my house. Then I was able to go outside and walk around my yard. I still use walking poles when I go for my regular walks, they are hiking poles. It helps to keep me steady if there’s a dip in the road. I still have a little pain but it’s getting less. Dr thought that’s where he took the bone graft. Good luck @Baron23 you’ll get there.

im going to help out on a 5th grade field trip to the state capitol. That should be interesting. Helping out a teacher friend.
Hi Carol - wow, I either didn’t know you had fusion or forgot…the later being more probable.

Lumbar fusion? How many vertebrae?

And bone graft? They took bone from your hip, ground it, and used it to promote the bone growth…maybe?

I did not have a graft. I have spacers (3 vertebrae) and metal, and every day I need to wear a bone growth stimulator (painless…don’t feel a thing) to get them to fuse.

And you can’t lift heavy weight? What weight would that be? I don’t believe I’ve been told that my lifting will be anymore restricted than previously but I quit lifting heavy in the gym a handful of years ago.

I’m up to 1.5 mikes walking…just very recently. I was using the cane for confidence but I’ve put it down as maintaining balance is good for all those muscles invoked in it.

Wow, I asked a lot of personal questions. If you would be more comfortable replying via PM then that’s cool w me. But if you are willing, I am interested in your replies.

Cheers
 
@Baron23 I’m not going to be able to lift things more than 40 pounds which I don’t do anyways. I do use a wheel barrow with yard work it seems heavy not sure what it weights. With my fusion they fused my L3, 4 and 5 vertebrae . They only do 2 fusions in one area. The bone graft is taken from the hip and is ground up and packed between the vertebrae. I have screws and rods as well. I had a stenosis so a portion of the lamina was left open. Scar tissue will form. A fusion and laminectomy is what I got. I’m doing things I haven’t been able to do in years.

So glad they have this type of surgery for people. 20 years ago a person would be in a body cast. I have no problem talking about it. It might help someone else. Every day you will feel a little bit better.
 
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@CarolKing - perhaps folks won't mind us hijacking this thread just a bit longer if you are willing to engage further.

40 lbs....your surgeon said that was your max weight limit?

I'm L3-5 also. L3/4 was a disk herniation into the foraminal tunnel sort of crushing that nerve root. This was 15 years ago and I too had a laminectomy to remove the disk chunk. At the time, the neuro surgeon said that the rest of the disk was firm and healthy so they left it at that.

In the interim, that L3/4 disk completely collapsed and I was bone on bone. And...apparently I was growing a bone spur from the site of the laminectomy right into the same nerve root I hammered 15 years ago....sigh.

And, recent MRI's showed L4/5 disk collapsed on one side and going quick so this had to be done.

Now, because I had a laminectomy previously, I was no eligible for artificial disks which are apparently a thing now. But, also apparently...if they drilled out part of your lamina previously that precludes the artificial disk and fusion is called for.

May I ask how long ago you had your surgery?

We seem to agree that the state of the art of this type of spinal surgery has advanced very quickly in recent times and is far different that just a handful of years ago.

In my case, no bone graft. The surgeon said that they put some sort of calcium type material in there that fosters the bones to grow into the honey comb spacer they put in and fuse the vertebrae together. Just a diff approach and I'm sure that they had good reason.

Thanks Carol and I'm so glad you have regained so much function. Outstanding.

Cheers
 
This past September 2022 @baron is when I had my fusion/laminectomy. My discs had herniated. Sometimes they will use a bone graft from a donor. I had a friend that had something similar at the University of WA and they used a donor bone for the graft. I’m sure different doctors will do things differently. They take the bone from the Iliac Crest. Some Dr do the surgery front vs the back side. Mine was the back side. I have a 7 inch scar.
 
Ms. Carol, you are a trooper. I had both knees replaced in 2021 and after reading about all the “fun” you have been thru/going thru….I think my knees were a lot easier

Retirement is much better for me since 2021…at least now I do not start looking for a chair as soon as I either stand up or enter another room….bone-on-bone can make life less than it should be…made me kinda grumpy too

To tell you the truth, I am most impressed by the way you carry on. The way you love on folks as you manage through your day. Good on you Ms. Carol. Lovin’ on folks is what it’s all about.

vfm
 

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