Getting old is not for sissies

[Longjohn]

Update on my wife and I.  We had an appointment with her new medical oncologist yesterday. He’s going to start her on chemotherapy right away and order lots of bone, and body scans as soon as they can be set up. My surgery for my hernia is coming up in the middle of this and I won’t be allowed to drive for about five days. A week later I’m having a squamous cell carcinoma cut out of my face. My wife is doing much better. She is eating good now. She comes up with strange things she wants (she had a grilled Keilbasa sandwich for breakfast today). I’ll be glad when I can get back to cycling and kayaking. For the present time I’m needed at home so that’s where I am.

[Ralphie]

11 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Update on my wife and I.  We had an appointment with her new medical oncologist yesterday. He’s going to start her on chemotherapy right away and order lots of bone, and body scans as soon as they can be set up. My surgery for my hernia is coming up in the middle of this and I won’t be allowed to drive for about five days. A week later I’m having a squamous cell carcinoma cut out of my face. My wife is doing much better. She is eating good now. She comes up with strange things she wants (she had a grilled Keilbasa sandwich for breakfast today). I’ll be glad when I can get back to cycling and kayaking. For the present time I’m needed at home so that’s where I am.

Yup - you need your exercise!  So does your wife!

[donkpow]

I am happy to hear your wife is feeling better.

[Kzoo]

@Longjohn There are services to assist you.

Call them...

133 North Pitt Street
Mercer, PA  16137

Phone:   724-662-6222
Fax:        724-662-0611

e-mail: admin@mercercountyaging.org

[jsharr]

You had me at grilled kielbasa!  You are a good man LJ!  Stay strong, brother.

 

[Airehead]

Love to both of you. Who is going to get you to your surgery?

[Longjohn]

27 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Love to both of you. Who is going to get you to your surgery?

I think my son’s father in law can do it. I hate to tie up his day but the old people shuttle has real limited hours of operation. The hospital can’t tell me the time of the surgery until the business day before the surgery. Even if it occurred during the hours of shuttle operation they require more notification than that at the shuttle service.

[Road Runner]

Much luck to you both, LJ.  As far as I can tell, neither of you is a sissie!  

[Longjohn]

1 hour ago, Kzoo said:

@Longjohn There are services to assist you.

Call them...

133 North Pitt Street
Mercer, PA  16137

Phone:   724-662-6222
Fax:        724-662-0611

e-mail: admin@mercercountyaging.org

They are off today. I’ll give them a call Monday and see what they can do.

[AirwickWithCheese]

I will come live with you and be a chauffeur 3 times a week. However, my lunchtime hour is during Days of Our Lives and I am not to be interrupted. 

[Longjohn]

They just called and scheduled a full day of testing, CT scans, bone scans, MRIs down in Wexford the day after my squamous cell surgery so things should work out ok. My other ones on my face were plastic surgery, I guess I’m old enough now scars don’t matter so they are doing it themselves.

[2Far]

2 hours ago, jsharr said:

You had me at grilled kielbasa!  You are a good man LJ!  Stay strong, brother.

 

Yummm!

[Road Runner]

12 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I guess I’m old enough now scars don’t matter

Me too.  My dentist asked me whether I wanted a porcelain or metal crown.  She said the metal one is better, but where it is located, people might see it when I laugh.  I said, "At my age, I want what works best.  Screw how it looks."   

[Longjohn]

3 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

Me too.  My dentist asked me whether I wanted a porcelain or metal crown.  She said the metal one is better, but where it is located, people might see it when I laugh.  I said, "At my age, I want what works best.  Screw how it looks."   

Get gold like Dr. Teeth on the muppets. That is a fashion statement.

[Airehead]

Does Uber health operate in your area?  

 

[Kzoo]

57 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

She said the metal one is better, but where it is located, people might see it when I laugh. 

And here I thought you were going to say, "I don't laugh anymore."

 

[Road Runner]

7 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

And here I thought you were going to say, "I don't laugh anymore."

Honestly, I thought about adding something in about not laughing, but I decided to stick to what was actually said.  

[Longjohn]

59 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Does Uber health operate in your area?  

 

We don’t have Uber or taxi service out here. I think someone did start a taxi service in the valley. I think I have it covered.

[Kzoo]

Seriously, most counties have a wide range of services available for seniors.  My parents got help from Meals on Wheels, Dr appointment transportation, help with house care, in home nursing.....  They had a county social worker that visited them regularly to a see that they were taken care of and help where possible.

When I needed to find assisted living for my dad they steered me to resources that could work with his needs.  They also helped line up additional veterans benefits that was a God send.

Medicare is a federal program that is administered by the states.  The states funnel those responsibilities down to the counties as much as possible.  We can argue about the inefficiency of government but one of the things they have figured out for seniors is that the more services they can provide on the front side, the less the cost on the backside - read nursing home care, which Medicare pays dearly for.  They know that the local level can do the best job of making that happen.  The counties will do WHATEVER they can to work to keep you in your home.  That means keeping you as healthy as possible in your home.

It is to your advantage @Longjohn to take advantage of everything that they offer that you need.

 

[Longjohn]

I’ll try them on Monday. They were not answering their phones today. When I checked into the county short busses that take people to doctor appointments they only operate from 9 to 3 and you have to request a ride before 3pm on the business day before you need the ride. They probably won’t tell me the time of my surgery before then and no guarantees I will be released before three. I’ll talk to them on Monday. I guess I could just ride my bike to the hospital?

[Kzoo]

Just now, Longjohn said:

I’ll try them on Monday. They were not answering their phones today. When I checked into the county short busses that take people to doctor appointments they only operate from 9 to 3 and you have to request a ride before 3pm on the business day before you need the ride. They probably won’t tell me the time of my surgery before then and no guarantees I will be released before three. I’ll talk to them on Monday. I guess I could just ride my bike to the hospital?

Our county has a organized troop of volunteers that will take you in their own vehicles.  They have someone to pick you up for your appointment and wait to bring you back.  

[donkpow]

20 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Seriously, most counties have a wide range of services available for seniors.

Here is the federal program for that. Some areas have buses, some taxis, etc.

https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/Rural-Public-Transportation-Systems

[Randomguy]

4 hours ago, AirwickWithCheese said:

I will come live with you and be a chauffeur 3 times a week. However, my lunchtime hour is during Days of Our Lives and I am not to be interrupted. 

I actually could do this for those days, and I’d be happy to, unless I get a job or somesuch. 

[MickinMD]

My 80 year-old cousin Sally, in Bristol, PA, called me yesterday and said the same thing - when you're getting old it seems there's always some health issue that pops up.

I wish the best for you and your wife

Sally had been prescribed the antibiotic "Levofloxacin" and has had knee tendon problems ever since - a known issue with that drug.

Two others I know have also had joint problems after taking it, but Sally got to the point where she couldn't walk, was in pain, and was taken to the hospital.

They couldn't find anything with X-rays.  She's now staying at her daughter's and awaiting an MRI appointment.

Her pain is on the inside of the knee, just below the knee.  That's where a lot of athletes get Medial Collateral Ligament injuries, so I told her to complain that she might have an MCL tear until they properly do an MRI.

[donkpow]

The antibiotics from my hospital stay/surgery fucked me up.

[Square Wheels]

It's not for young people either.

[Longjohn]

On 4/19/2019 at 6:39 PM, donkpow said:

The antibiotics from my hospital stay/surgery fucked me up.

When I had pneumonia last summer I made an appointment with my PCP. She was out of town and they put me with another doctor from the practice. He wrote me a prescription for a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. I told him I wouldn’t take that because of the side effects and he wrote me a prescription for something else. 

[Randomguy]

On 4/19/2019 at 6:39 PM, donkpow said:

The antibiotics from my hospital stay/surgery fucked me up.

Don’t blame antibiotics for your right-wing liberal fascist commie political views. 

[Randomguy]

4 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

When I had pneumonia last summer I made an appointment with my PCP. She was out of town and they put me with another doctor from the practice. He wrote me a prescription for a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. I told him I wouldn’t take that because of the side effects and he wrote me a prescription for something else. 

What side effects?

[Further]

This will keep you alive, but you will wish you were dead.

Take 2 every 6 hours.

Pay the girl at the desk.

[Further]

John, I hope you and your wife both go into long remissions, to live the lives you deserve, and continue to spread the goodness that is in you both

[Longjohn]

1 hour ago, Randomguy said:

What side effects?

This is from the FDA

I’m not going to list them all. The main one I was worried about is it is proven to cause brain damage in EVERYONE that takes it in it’s irreversible.

[Ralphie]

Well shit!  That stuff has been used for 30 years. 

[Dottleshead]

On 4/19/2019 at 3:39 PM, donkpow said:

The antibiotics from my hospital stay/surgery fucked me up.

I will have to remember this line.

[Randomguy]

18 hours ago, Longjohn said:

This is from the FDA

I’m not going to list them all. The main one I was worried about is it is proven to cause brain damage in EVERYONE that takes it in it’s irreversible.

That sounds like a load. 

[Longjohn]

7 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Well shit!  That stuff has been used for 30 years. 

That’s why there are so many messed up people in the country.

[Airehead]

I have a serious transportation idea. Call the Amish taxi. They know the roads around you and the driver are nice. Go over to your neighbors on Tuesday, Easter Monday is a holiday for them, and ask them who their favorite driver is.   You should take a pie or some spicy peaches as a gift when you go. 

[Longjohn]

3 minutes ago, Airehead said:

I have a serious transportation idea. Call the Amish taxi. They know the roads around you and the driver are nice. Go over to your neighbors on Tuesday, Easter Monday is a holiday for them, and ask them who their favorite driver is.   You should take a pie or some spicy peaches as a gift when you go. 

I think Eli is a good driver but I don’t know how long it would take to get to Sharon Regional Hospital by buggy.

[Airehead]

57 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I think Eli is a good driver but I don’t know how long it would take to get to Sharon Regional Hospital by buggy.

I said serious. ?. Actually I always figured you could be an Amish taxi as you are nice and polite and trusty. You would need to wear pants. 

[onbike1939]

So sorry to hear of your health problems and I agree that getting older is a right bugger. It's all the worse if all of your life you have been an active person and it comes as a shock when being active is no longer possible. Given the number and complexity of your complaints, it may be wise for the authorities to let you remain where you are and build a hospital complex around you....just saying.