Category Archives: Aging

Aging, GeekWorld, Health, Jefferson County, Mountains, Shadow Mountain, The West, Weather +Climate

Knee, Snow, Travel

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Spring                                                                                         Maiden Moon

The knee, 20 hours later. Feeling pretty good. Almost normal. A bit creaky, a little twingey, but otherwise, pretty damned good. The cortisone effect can last from weeks to months. I’m hoping months. The big issue with the knee, beyond Asia, is my regular workout. High intensity workouts, which I’ve been doing for a while, require some speedier, more stressful moments on the treadmill. The cortisone will make them easier for now. Worth it.

In other news here on Shadow Mountain we’re getting what may well may be another foot of snow. And this stuff is wet. And therefore heavy. Of course it’s Wednesday, when the trash goes out. Gonna get the yellow Cub Cadet out, but if it plugs up all the time, I’ll wait for the solar snow shovel or find somebody to plow us out.

Up here the forecast can change quickly if a system moves a bit further north or south. Last night the forecasts were for 2-7 inches. But in reality.

Today, and maybe tomorrow, is going to be largely trip related. Finish photographing our stuff. Get necessary information onto a flash drive for portability. Open a dropbox account to put my writing in the cloud. Get our emergency box of important papers put together. Sign up for international cell phone plans. Figure out how folks can contact us when necessary. Fussy stuff.

 

Aging, Commentary on Religion, Faith and Spirituality, Family, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Retirement, Third Phase

Sabbath

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Imbolc                                                                          Valentine Moon

Sunday’s occupy a different reality. Time slows down. Ambition flees. A good thing. In spite of my now long absence from the Christian faith the notion of a Sabbath, lifted from Judaism, has always appealed to me.  A seventh day when God rests. And us, too.

The notion of a divine creator soothing the chaos before speaking the world into being has faded from my belief system. The idea, however, of a time for setting aside work, domestic and otherwise for a reflective day every week still makes sense to me.

The sabbath can be seen as a form of radical hospitality for the self, a day when shaping our lives to the demands of others gives way. On a sabbath we could read, view art, listen to music, cook, play games, visit family.  The third phase of life, after we have set aside work and at home parenting, can be a sabbath phase, much like the last of the four Hindu life stages.

Something to consider.

 

 

Aging, Dogs, Health, Third Phase

Cherish the Time

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Imbolc                                                                   Valentine Moon

Vega bayingcroppedAn emotional week with Vega’s cancer diagnosis, then her radiography, ultrasound and chest x-ray yesterday. We got the best news we could have. The radiologist found no sign of metastases in her lungs or in her liver. This does not mean they’re not in her body somewhere, but it lowers the likelihood. It also means that amputation of her left front leg, where the tumor has grown near her foot, gives us a reasonable chance at a cure.

We’re still mulling our options, but we’ve scheduled the surgery for next week on Wednesday. She’s 7, so not a young dog, especially for a larger animal, but she probably has another 2-3 years, maybe more. She is, as Palmini, our vet, says, in great shape, not overweight and strong, so she should adapt just fine to three legs. Amputation sounds drastic, and it is of course, but dogs seem to get over the change quickly and get about their life.

feed me2There is a great and important lesson about human dying here. While waiting for the diagnosis and radiology results, we’ve been being with Vega as usual, perhaps a little more attentive. The lesson is this: she’s alive now. We can be with her now, love her now, cherish this time with her now. And, if you consider it, now is the only time we have to love each other. Our time ends. We know that. Just as we have confronted with Vega over the last couple of weeks. So, whomever you love, if they’re alive now, cherish the time.

Aging, Dogs, Third Phase

Vega

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Imbolc                                                                          Stock Show Moon

Vega500Vega has cancer. A rare form of osteosarcoma, bone cancer, that, thankfully, is much less aggressive than the usual forms. Still, it is cancer and more aggressive than we had hoped. She’ll have radiology work done next week to see if the cancer has metastasized to her lungs or liver. If not, we’ll amputate the leg. Vet says because she’s lean and athletic that she’ll do fine. Except for stairs. Not the best news, but not the worst either.

We do doggy hospice well, you might even say we’re experts at it, so if her situation turns out to be more dire, we’ll go that way.

On the positive side she’s eating, playful, romping outside with the other dogs.

One thing I’ve not written about is how aging has made me feel much like a fellow traveler with our aging dogs. Cancer, even.

Vega has the wisdom of doggy age. She talks now, most of the time clearly. We have our mutual language and we know what to expect of each other. She’s calm when the other dogs get rowdy. She began mellow, even when she was a puppy, and has matured into a sweet, kind, empathetic animal. A joy.

Aging, Third Phase

65-79 Happy

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Imbolc                                                                     Stock Show Moon

People aged 65 to 79 ‘happiest of all’, study suggests  BBC news

Here’s another argument for being clear about how we feel as seniors. It’s fun. Setting aside the workaday world (if you have), seeing the kids well launched or at least responsible for their own lives, aware of your Self, not yet suffering from debilitating illness (if you’re not), what’s not to enjoy?

Getting old is not a trial, it’s a release into full humanity. Think of what this says about work and even raising a family. The unhappiest group, according to the same article, are those 45-59. And, no, I don’t know what happened to the 60-64 group. Just dithering in between I suppose.

We need to get the word out that aging has substantial personal rewards. That it’s not all anguish, wrinkles and hospital corridors. Hardly. It’s a time when that person you’ve been waiting to become can finally emerge. Now, if you can pull off that chrysalis snapping change before 65, far out, as we used to say. But if not, getting that medicare card may be just the moment to do it.

Aging, Health, Politics, US History

OMG

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Yule                                                                                       Stock Show Moon

My 2015 summary from SecureHorizons, our AARP medicare advantage plan, shows all you need to know that our healthcare system is broken, badly broken. In 2015 I had prostate cancer and as a result had a surgical procedure to remove my prostate, so it was an expensive year with biopsies, diagnosis, procedure and follow-up. I also had a series of physical therapy sessions for an arthritic neck and its left shoulder, elbow and hand sequelae.

Total billed to Securehorizons for the year: $101,000.

Total paid by Securehorizons for the year:    $12,000.

Our share:                                                                   $850.

First reaction might be, really good news! Look how little you had to pay, Charlie, for such an enormous bill. Uh huh. Look more at how little Securehorizons paid for such an enormous bill, about 1/8 or 12% of the total billed. This vast-$78,000-discrepancy says nobody knows what healthcare costs. Nobody knows what’s fair.

Take my very small piece of the total healthcare expenditures in 2015 and extrapolate these ratios. Say hospitals and physicians and other therapies billed $10,000,000,000 to insurance companies. Following the ratio in my 2015 report insurance companies would pay to those vendors approximately $1,200,000,000. That would leave a discrepancy of $7,800,000,000. What happens to the supposed expenses covered by discrepancy? Do hospitals and physicians and therapists go out of business? No, they live to bill another year when the whole sorry mess repeats.

It takes no analytical subtlety to smell the rot. We need to get out from under all these private insurance companies and their administrative rules, their negotiated deals.

Kate’s hair-dresser, to illustrate another problem with this mess, went to the ER when a partially removed splinter in her hand created swelling that made it impossible for her to use her scissors. No work, no money. She had the self-employed persons typical high deductible policy. An E.R. doc removed the splinter. Bill: doc=$1,500, e.r. admittance=$1,800. She refused to pay $3,300 for a splinter removal, stayed resolute and got an 80% reduction in her bill.

Colorado will have a referendum this year to create the first single-payer health plan in the United States. I’m voting for it.

Aging, Faith and Spirituality, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase

Eudaimoniac

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Yule                                                                          Stock Show Moon

Slowly. Slowly. Latin back with regular work. Learning the west by reading articles about the occupation at Malheur and its deep background. Just started Wallace Stegner’s “Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West.” Considering a book length writing project(s). Working more on Reimagining Faith, perhaps a new novel.

The fire mitigation awaits as a rhythm changer. Kate located a custom boot fitter. It happened to be next to Wooden Spools, a quilt shop. I plan to hike much more this year and when I’ve got a good sense of my boots, I may use these folks to put some orthotics in them. The workouts, both hi-intensity aerobics and regular physical therapy exercises, happen 4-5 times a week, enough for me. Now the Tai Chi.

This sort of mix, one with self-care and personal agency, is the platform for my life. Family and friends put it into the social context. Both are critical to my eudaimonia, my flourishing. Only when I’m flourishing am I able to be my best self for others, for political work.

 

 

Aging, Family, Health, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant.

Tai Chi

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Yule                                                                             Stock Show Moon

Over to Conifer Physical Therapy this morning with Kate for an 8 week course, Tai Chi for folks with arthritis. Our mutual infirmity bringing us closer together. How special is aging? Kate did Tai Chi when she was in medical school. I learned about half of a full form maybe 3 years ago, so we’ve both got some muscle memory. It never hurts to have more than way of approaching something. My physical therapy exercises are keeping my back and my shoulder/elbow/neck calmed down. Tai Chi will reinforce that work.

 

We’ll meet some other folks, too. Should be fun.

Aging, Beyond the Boundaries, Faith and Spirituality, Quotes, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase, Travel

Live in the Whole Ocean

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Yule                                                                         New (Stock Show) Moon

 

 

“Kay Cottee AO is an Australian sailor, who was the first woman to perform a single-handed, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the world. She performed this feat in 1988 in her 37 feet yacht Blackmores First Lady, taking 189 days.”    Wikipedia

When Jessica Watson, in 2009, set sail for her southern hemisphere circumnavigation of the world, she was 16. I don’t recall how, but I found her website on which she posted as she sailed alone in her boat, True Spirit. There was something about her, something fresh and brave, youth, yes, but something more, perhaps it was true spirit.

Since then, I subscribed to her facebook page so I can keep very loose tabs on her as she grows older. Just curious about how true spirit manages adulthood. Wonderfully, as it turns out. She’s inspirational to Australian girls, an advocate for sailing and a modest celebrity down under.

She posted this quote from her idol, Kay Cottee. She means us to take it, I think, as literally intended, a comment on the nature of voyages alone. It is, however, too, a way of understanding the ancientrail we call life.

 

Aging, Health, Our Land and Home, Third Phase

Aches and Pains Week

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Mabon                                                                        Moon of the First Snow

This has been an aches and pains week. Pain, chronic pain, with which Kate is too familiar, can sap drive, make life difficult. This week we’ve both been hit by pains and accompanying disruption in our sleep. The combination of sleep deprivation and pain makes it very difficult for me to focus on anything that requires attention, thought.

Chainsaws vibrate. A lot. And, they’re noisy and dangerous. In addition the fast movement of the chain has a gyroscopic effect that makes the saw want to move in its own way, so part of using one is occasionally working against that force. Trees weigh a lot and the larger the branches, the more they weigh, too. Using the chainsaw results in heavy labor immediately afterward. All of which I like, for some reason.

There’s plenty more work ahead, moving as I will today into the southwest portion of our front woods. My goal is to get the front done and have someone come move all that slash.

Last week I punctuated my chainsaw work with a two hour up and down hike with Ruth. It was a wonderful time for the two of us, not so wonderful for my back. These are the constant third phase trade-offs. This I can do, but it will make my arm sing hot music. This I can do, but my back will claim its prize at the end. This I can do, but I’ll have to sacrifice sleep as a result.

The paradox, the contradictory part of all this is that if I don’t do something, I’ll soon be able to do nothing. So rest or desisting from exercise, manual labor is not really an option, not for long. The physical therapy aims to get me back to a spot where these trade-offs are not as acute, not as persistent and frequent. But, it too, has its price. Time.

This is not complaint, just observation. It’s all as much a part of the third phase as all-nighters were of the second, both with tests and later with babies. This reality defines a certain part of what it means to be older, at least for most of us; but, it does not define all of aging, nor does it define the most important parts.