OT Life changing medical events

After rereading some of my post and replies (several times) I see my spelling and choice of words are not the best. You have to understand that in 2002 I had a 4 1/2 brain tumor removed and now have a plastic plate in my head. Over time I started to notice things were different, Colors don't look the same words don't look right and things sound different. It seams some things are better and some worse, So I muddle on with life and enjoy every day of it. I have found I cant take the heat of the sun or the cold of the winter on my head (plastic plate) like before so I adapted to it. I stay away from high electric fields and high voltage wires as I can feel them now, Makes the head buzz. There is nothing worse than bumping your head and hitting one of the 16 screws holding the plate in place, This will put me on my knees right now and tears to the eyes right now. This is just one of several medical issues I have. So now I am more aware of ware I am and what I am doing. I just take it day by day and try to do my best in everything I do and enjoy everyday because I am still alive and kickin. So I have to ask how many of you guy out there have had a life changing medical event that changed you and the way you do things. And how it changed the way you look at things and look at life? Me I am just happy to still be here. Bandit

recently saw a post of where a yter had been saving up projects to do after he retired and now that its time to retire he physically wont be able to do them . That was an eye opener for me. At 56 years old I am still a ways off from retiring and little things are starting to fail. Hope I can make it long enough to enjoy a retirement. Bill

I got married 26 years ago.. hair loss, wrinkles, graying.. etc..etc..

10 years ago I was told I was type 2 diabetic.. That kinda stinks..needles, pills, Funny thing is as young and as fit as I was they said I had to have had it in the family somewhere.. Only one was my grandfather..he got it when he was older though.. Im 49..gotit when I was 39.. oh well..Good luck to you and your health..

Probably not as old as you are but after reading the obits everyday , I am glad to be alive and not have any medical issues. See a lot of people my age and younger gone way to soon.

I am only a little behind you and know what you mean. I cut back on the farming and a few less irons in the fire and tend to enjoy things more now and do more helping friends and neighbors out. Bandit

After seeing your age ,I guess I am really lucky as I'm ahead of you a few years. 60 years old and nothing serious wrong.Need to start on the projects though.

Thats a tough deal to cope with. My neighbor one house down across the lane, had or has a very similar thing, I believe they removed the tumor, he had to take it easy for awhile which is hard to do for someone who stays busy or maintains a routine. He's mid 70's, retired from his long time power equipment business, mostly chainsaws, trimmers and similar, he sold the business to his partner, but still works 2 days a week, he's a great grandad too, they have lived the "model" life, as I call it. When they built their home, he also built a nice shop building, and I've seen some beautiful classic cars come out of their, and some modern ones too. They, he and his wife, are he nicest, most polite and the best neighbors a person could have.

I think what stands out is that when we were talking about this situation, he's aware of the condition he lives with, but is resolved on one, thing, he says he just won't let it bother him, I'm just going to live and go about my business.

There are a scant few people I admire in this life, he's one of them. He's got a nice place, impeccably well kept, all his doing, he enjoys doing it. As a matter of a fact, when he cuts and trims the grass, + all the other things they do to make it look nice, if myself and the neighbor don't keep up, it stands out like being late for church, LOL !!! He sets the standard as I call it and we joke about it, nothing fancy, just has his signature all over it, so we do our best to do the same and the lane always looks great when you drive up it when said and done. He's always had nice vehicles, an RV for quite some time and lots of things similar, but never lived beyond their means, indulged in extravagance. He's got to be right up there with the best grandads ever, the kids always come to stay, he even lets one steer the vehicle as he drives up the lane. Its amazing to be a great grandad, he's blessed, I remember when he was just a grandad, he bought one of those side by sides, and his grandkids wanted to go watch the ducks and geese on our land, take a ride in that atv side by side thing, very politely he asks permission, he is welcome anytime for any reason, don't need to ask but will do every time, he even trimmed the branches on the trail. One thing is for sure, he never let this condition get him down and I am sure its a lot more serious than he states. Not sure if any of this of any help, but a good example of how another is coping under similar circumstances, its scary to think about our current age and immortality, so I think its better to live and cross the bridges when you get to them.

Haven"t had any major medical issues, thank you Jesus, but I"ve noticed it gets harder to do the stuff I used to do without even thinking about it.

Body complains more, aches and pains take longer to go away. Its just a fact of life and I"ll take life and deal with the issues as they come.

Twelve years ago my life-changing medical event was the removal of a cancerous prostate. Now, at 73, I'm pretty darn healthy, despite being overweight and mildly diabetic, with achy joints.

But one important part of my life disappeared forever. As the saying goes, "You don't miss the water 'til the well runs dry." The divorce was finalized last month, by the way.

There are other wells out there.

Two years ago, I had quadruple by pass surgery. Before I worked all the time on the ranch. Did all of my needed work on the tractors and equipment. Did all of the handling of the cattle. My wife made the statement that I needed to slow down, but I had too much to do. So at age 72, it got me. After my surgery, can't do much of anything. I do get to mow the yard and I do get to mend the fences, but all of the other, hired hand and my son took that over. The surgery did change my life. I just did not want to slow down that much.

Good Luck

I can relate. My appendix burst in 97. The fever,drugs,weight I gained during the long recovery,it aged me at least 10 years. My memory is nothing like it was before. I had no desire to milk cows anymore when it was all over with. I quit in leadership of the milk co-op and started making plans to quit milking. We even made several trips to the Ozarks looking at ranches. I was willing to move down there if I had to so I could quit milking.
It was a dozen years before I could even remember enough to get back on stage as the story teller in local shows.
It's tough and can happen a lot faster than you think.

Yeah, but somebody else will have to drill 'em.

I'm on my second heart attack and this one although not as bad left me in worse shape because it added to the last ones problems.
I had a difibluator put in a couple months ago and it really restricts what I do. I can't run my big Case LA because of the big magito right out there in the open air. Also I can't run and thing like chainsaws weed eaters of other things that are open ignition. And absolutly no welding now that's a real bummer. I bought my welder back in 1962/3 and have used it a lot especially since buying my small farm. Seems that everyone learns you have a welder and they all have a bunch of small projects for me. I never charge for these because I think friends are more important than money.
Walt

Bill mart, you could be me as far as the Diabetic thing goes. Only advice I can give is to do the things you want to do; I have many things to do but I always thought I would have time to do them. Now that both parents on both sides are gone, I find it hard to even want to try. If this is 'depression', then I have it. May God bless you sir, and all your family.

Three years ago was in a truck accident that has left me with permanent disabilities, one to left shoulder which restricts movement and amount of weight I can lift (am left handed also), and to my right lower arm! Was 60 at the time of the accident but due to the restrictions was forced to retire and am on SS disability!! I enjoyed restoring tractors before the accident and still do it tho at a much slower pace and had to acquire much more patience when working on them! Have discovered that there are alternative ways of doing things, may take little longer but there are usually ways of getting the job done!! Of course have more time now to do it even tho it takes longer BUT am thankful that can still do it!!!!

Bandit, I know exactly what you mean and the adjustments you are going through.
I recently had gallbladder surgery. They removed the gallbladder and a stone the size of a golf ball. Have always been very active and the healing process and differences in what tastes good have changed greatly. I used to drink a lot before the operation and now barely have a taste for it. Also have found that foods that were very tasty prior to now give me an upset stomach or worse.
By the way, I'm only 49 and retired from the USAF Feb 13 and now work as a local truck driver. I have been out on short term disability since 31 Mar 14.

Leonard

Bandit,
I am glad to read your positive outlook on life even after your accident. I always enjoy your postings very much. I just thought I would share the last 2 years of my life with you too. 2 years ago I had both of my hips re-surfaced. I had arthritis so bad I had a hard time walking after 12 hours on concrete everyday at my job, plus part time cattle farming. Both my hips were just wore out of round in the hip sockets. Luckily I didn't have to have the full new hip socket replacements. The re-surfacing was putting a new "cap" on top of my femur bone and another "cap" that acts like a new round socket up inside my hip bone. Together they make a new nicely round joint for me. I had both hips done in a 6 week time frame to minimize time off work. I was 43 years old at that time. I had the severe arthritis pain for 6 years prior to that. That pain was just unbearable on a daily basis. So now just less than 2 years later, I am off work again with right shoulder surgery done just 2 weeks ago today to repair 2 severely torn tendons. This was even more painful than my hip issues. I have a long road of slow recovery ahead of me. Doc says I pretty much beat the sh!* out of my body all these years from working so hard. But that's what was literally beat into my head by my old man was to work, work, and work some more. So here I am coming up on 46 years of age with learning how to do daily work tasks by working smarter not harder. That in itself is a challenge. LOL So I say best of luck to you. I truly wish you the best of luck. Keep posting, I enjoy your writings. Take care and God bless.
Kow Farmer kurt

I was diagnosed with RA (rheumatiod) in '85 at 50. Have had both knees and right hip replaced. Diabetis 10 years ago, pills only so far. Two years ago naropthy in my upper legs, slowly getting harder to walk even with a cane. Sitting doesn't bother me and I think of things (projects) I want to do until I get up and start to move.

Biggest life changing medical event in my life was when my 3 year old son was diagnosed with epilepsy but we were told it wouldn't be that big of deal.

2 years, thousands of seizures and 11 medications later the same doctor told us that the long term prognosis for our son was that he would eventually fade into a constant vegetative state, be fed by feeding tubes and possibly out live my wife and I.

Our solution - switch doctors, then switch again, then switch again. 10 years later our 14 year old son is off most of his medications and runs cross country at school. Had we stayed with out old doctor his prognosis probably would hav come true.

Some people complain about high medical treatment is, I wonder how it can be so cheap sometimes.

One of my closet friends just passed away a week ago from a brain tumor a week short of his 64th birthday. He made about a year after surgery. Being forunate enough to survive something like that sure does change your outlook on life, doesn't it? Good luck and I hope you can keep going for many more years.

Really makes you sit up and take notice, doesn't it?

I hear ya.

I'm 79 and my high school class has lost 31 of 74, that we know of. There had been a half dozen or so that we've never heard from since we graduated.

While a lot of the rest of the class are having serious health issues, come January 1, I'm embarking on a whole new career as a County Commissioner. (I'm on the ballot unopposed).

Believe me, not a day goes by that I don't thank the Lord Almighty for the enduring health and cognitive abilities He's blessed me with.

But, my father farmed the same farm and worked the same workload until he was 85, and my mother lived by herself until she passed away at 94. So I guess I come from a good gene pool. Even though I'm 6 years older than my wife, she swears I'll outlive her, just from looking at ancestry. Guess we'll see.

hemorrhage stroke on the brain stem in 2011 at age 64, just retired a year earlier. should either be dead or a vegetable. never gave up, about 70% of what i once was but i am up walking around and not wearing a diaper(ha). built a new house last year on our acreage and even with loss of some use on left side, numbness and not much tolerance for cold or heat i still mow grass, tend to hay fields and raising a large garden. just takes longer to do it. now as for tractors, i sold the old ones, purchased a new kubota, hst, 4 wheel drive with a fel which enables me to accomplish those things. good luck to you, never give up.

Two years ago, I came down with pneumonia; I was almost recovered when I got the word that my kidneys had failed and I would have to start dialysis that very day. Two days later I coded due to some type of bleeder in my colon. After they dot that sealed off, I came back but am still on dialysis three days a week. I thank God every night for the care I am getting. I no longer have the stamina to do eve4n a half days work on tractors but I keep plugging.

well i see im in good company, i started coughing up blood last September, so i go to the dr and he ex-rays me and tells me i have cancer. wow !!! talk about a live changing experience. so a couple days later he has me come in and admits me for surgery the next day. they tell me they don't have any positive results but won't know for 10 days or so. so i come home and im soul searching and analyzing my life and facing reality. im walking around and telling everything goodby and thinking bucket list, wow, 53 yrs old and i have to come up with an instant bucket list, ok, well, I've been skydiving, climbed the rocky mountains, i have no desire to go 2.7 seconds on a bull named blue man chew. i bought a 40 acre ranch a few years ago and ever since day one i wanted/needed a tractor, the ranch got foreclosed on in the depression but i got to know one of my neighbors better and moved in with him, we have 113 acres, 8 we can grow on. so i figured ok, im gonna get me a couple old tractors and play with them and fix em up and hoe some rows and grow some stuff, or die trying. well, I've had 4 more surgery's and it turns out i don't have cancer, yay!!!. it's not like they didn't try, they were convinced i had it and were gonna prove it come hell or high water. on the 4th surgery they cut my throat and went down and took limp nodes and tested them, on the 5th they punctured two holes in my side to stick cameras in my lung. i've got to go in for another surgery and the doc says he's gonna put a stint in so air can get to my lower lung and hopefully it will un-collapse. i used to be soo active, folks would always ask me were i get all of my energy, now i walk up a small incline to the tractors and i have to sit down and take a break to catch my breath. i can't breath when i lay down, i can't sleep, i get 2hrs if im lucky, 4 if im really lucky, but most of the time i get 1hr so half the time i feel like a zombie. i want my life back, im a licensed building, electrical and solar contractor and i could be out making a good living.but instead im layed up at home with my ask in a sling. but it could be worse, at least i know i have many years to play with my toys, buy more and play mrs jolly rancher. im sorry to hear there are soo many more of you folks out there with your ask in a sling.

I don't have near the problems you do and I consider myself very lucky. I too read the obits and am starting to see more and more younger people like me (63) passing away. Marilyn's dad passed away from diabetes related causes when he was in his mid-seventies, but he hung in there and didn't complain for a good ten years before he passed. The minute after he passed he looked ten years younger, the pain was gone. It got me to thinking about how much I whine and complain about little ailments when others have it so much worse but they never tell anyone about it. Jim

My brother came down with an odd one called retenites pigmentoza and went blind is his early twenties. Then about a year ago he was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer, out of the blue. They said that the double hernia that he still has, is causing problems for sure, but not some of the symptoms he was having. So, my brother went through some wicked chemo, and on my birthday this past February was said to be cancer free, which I understand means his cancer is in remission. However, this week is his 4th round of chemo since he was found to be cancer free, as preventive. Soon here, he will go through another petscan, they want two successive petscans that show no growth or spread of cancer. Then he will begin some sort of maintenance that will continue throughout the rest of his life to prevent the further spread of cancer. Now, another problem that he is having, besides his still double hernia, is the nerve damage caused by the chemo, nueropothy that doesn't seem to be correctable. He can no longer feel his feet and at least fingers.

I've been blessed. My only problem is that I have type 2 diabetes by choice. I'm over weight, and know it. I could lose 50 pounds and never deal with low level diabetes again. The warnings are there. Keep playing with fire, and just might get burned. I'm a type 2 diabetic by choice. My brother, and others like yourself did nothing to earn your fates, and I on the other hand, bought and paid for mine. Doesn't seem fair does it? I have to hope that he has plans for you, good plans, while when I get to the pearly gates, St. Peter will slam them in my face and and laugh hysterically as he hands me a note from god that says, "I.O.U with extreme prejudice". And you want to know something? I would be perfectly happy with that, so long as he lets you guys and women in.

Mark

I've had my share at different times. I've had pneumonia 4-5 times (lost count).

I went to ER with Strep Throat; had so much infection that my heart went out of rhythm while I was still in the ER. They waited 2 months and then brought me back and did a Cardio Version to get my heart back in rhythm.

Three years later I had a fall off a ladder and broke my right wrist. When my white count continued high, they ran more tests and discovered that I have CLL (Chronic Lymphocitic Leukemia). So far I've managed to keep it at Stage Zero for 4.5 years. Someday it will catch up to me, so all I can do is enjoy life as much as I can until then.

Its funny how things change when life throws you a curve ball. Had way to many 12 to 16 hour days at work then come home and farm and after 25 years of it I think I was pretty wore down and was to dumb to know it. When 2002 came around things changed. I came home from the hospital I about went nuts sitting at home watching TV cause the wife and kids wound not let do anything at all! After a week of sitting there I told my wife tomorrow I am going to the farm and you aint going to stop me and a week later I was cutting soybeans, That's when life started to get back to normal for me, As normal as it could be. Its been down hill cense. The mind is willing but the body has a mind of its own! I know that the good lord never gives you more than you can handle but there were time when I wondered, I have had several long talks with him about this and I think we have an understanding now. I take care of the little picture and I will let him take care of the big picture and learn to relax some stop and smell the roses and help others when I can. This brings to mind a song, Allways look on the bright side of life! Now if I could just remember ware I left my glasses, Hummmm. Bandit

Been lucky had minor surgery last fall and lost use of arm for a couple of months but sure been thinking about the future got power of attorney done and now maybe a new more accessable house .also cutting back on off farm work.
But thanks for giving one of those light bulb moments after all who wants to be the richest man in the graveyard?

I picked up a little bug in nam. Called Agent Orange. So my world changed 42 years ago and I didn't even know it. Joints are falling apart,vision is fading and memory is going.But I will keep pushing on until the end.

Of course the VA says I am fine.

Nancy. My brain says lets get up and get going. My body says. Hold on lets talk about it first.

JerryS......now THAT is just flat out FUNNY!!!