Navigating senior years.

customboss · May 29, 2025

On 5/28/2025 at 6:04 AM, Donstar said:

I am on waitlists for shoulder and knee replacements and was told yesterday my wait will be longer than anticipated. "Soon" was the closest estimate I could get. Over the almost year of waiting, I am used to living with these failing joints and am no longer eager for surgery. However, I am assured by friends who have had joint replacements that they are well worth the wait and recovery. I have one friend who has had both knees replaced and recently had her second hip done. She is a wealth of information, good and bad, but insists the results are well worth any inconvenience. Waitlists validate the popularity of such procedures and I know I'm fortunate to have most of the wait behind me! I also appreciate how lucky I am and I'm not complaining. Maybe you have a joint replacement comment or tale to share.

My caretaker ( partner) has had both knees replaced over the past year or so. She loves the relief in pain. Shoulders are very painful with the focus of nerves there but having had severe shoulder damage since 1980 I would do it if the VA recommended it. We are both in forms of socialized medicine I assume, I have better care at VA if I advocate for myself than my friends on medicare.

I vote do it if you are onboard and the medical expertise is there. Was your female friend using Canadian healthcare for the surgeries??

customboss · May 29, 2025

On 5/28/2025 at 6:04 AM, Donstar said:

I am on waitlists for shoulder and knee replacements and was told yesterday my wait will be longer than anticipated. "Soon" was the closest estimate I could get. Over the almost year of waiting, I am used to living with these failing joints and am no longer eager for surgery. However, I am assured by friends who have had joint replacements that they are well worth the wait and recovery. I have one friend who has had both knees replaced and recently had her second hip done. She is a wealth of information, good and bad, but insists the results are well worth any inconvenience. Waitlists validate the popularity of such procedures and I know I'm fortunate to have most of the wait behind me! I also appreciate how lucky I am and I'm not complaining. Maybe you have a joint replacement comment or tale to share.

Replacement Doctors leaving USA for Canada might help you on wait time?

American doctors look to relocate to Canada to avoid the Trump administration : Shots - Health News

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/05/29/nx-s1-5414345/american-doctors-look-to-relocate-to-canada-to-avoid-the-trump-administration

Donstar · June 1, 2025

Waitlists for joint replacement need to be shorter but I wouldn't want to sacrifice quality of care for speed. I find some comfort in knowing the popularity of these procedure and that getting a date for surgery is a reason to celebrate!

Donstar · June 2, 2025

We asked the police to do a wellness check on an adult child with physical and (we believe) mental challenges who was ghosting us . We feared the worst but were relieved the visit sparked contact. Apparently this particular police department has a team of four professionals that do wellness checks as a combined group. They do a "thorough" assessment of the individual they are checking. Unfortunately for us the person being checked decides whether help is required. I agree with the rights of everyone but the flaw here is that this type of individual wouldn't need mental help if they were capable of recognizing they needed help! I am sickened when I see an individual curled up into a ball sleeping on a downtown sidewalk. Something was missed along the way and I'm certainly realizing how this can happen! For the third time in a year, rent money went to places other than the landlord's!

diyer2 · June 2, 2025

I get the mental issue, I never slept on a sidewalk because I went to work so I could have a bed.

KARNUT · June 2, 2025

My oldest daughter had a series of head injuries that put her in a dark place for years. She finally met a specialist that found the right medication that put her right. She finally acts like her old self. Luckily for us during that time she found her soulmate. Sometimes it takes the right drugs. I’ve been a witness to it. Amazing.

Grumpy Bear · June 2, 2025

Everyone want's to GET old.

No one want's to BE old.

KARNUT · June 2, 2025

Getting up and driving up to 100 miles and running my equipment for over 20 years was painful. Fighting the weather and traffic was painful. It didn’t matter how I felt people depended on me doing that. I had obligations. I enjoyed life in spite of that. My second half of my working years I trained people to operate the same equipment. Drove everywhere in all kinds of weather with a bad back from running the same equipment. Painful sure, no time to rest. People depending on me. Retirement, getting old is very rewarding. At least I can pace myself so it’s less painful. So far I’m ok with being old. I get to enjoy myself. I get respect. People only want advice. I can look back at a life lived well. Living being old I’ll take it. I left nothing on the table. I like what’s next.

Donstar · June 3, 2025

21 hours ago, diyer2 said:

I get the mental issue, I never slept on a sidewalk because I went to work so I could have a bed.

Ditto. I never considered work optional. If I didn't like my work, I found a new job! I believe it is an easier existence to "earn" my room and board than to exist homeless. Unfortunately, there are many who are unable or possibly unwilling to self support. We simply can't leave them to die.

diyer2 · June 3, 2025

No comment is a better choice.

KARNUT · June 3, 2025

Did the yearly blood pressure prescription renewal check up and bloodwork. The 30lb weight loss paid off. The A1C is almost normal so is the cholesterol. It was on a slow uphill tend. Three years ago was the first time I edged out of the normal range. I’m almost there. Probably would have been there but spent 4 days at the brother in law’s. I was a bad boy.

Grumpy Bear · June 3, 2025

I found my home to be Model A garage in an ally in the middle of a midwestern winter. The kind that is tipping to one side and holes in it large enough to toss a cat through. I was working. Day work out of a "Man Power" facility earning a few dollars here and there but not enough to hold on to an apartment. A week or two I saved enough for an $8 a week 8 X 10 room on a second floor flop with one communal bathroom. A bed, a small counter top fridge and a hot plate. Bologna on white and Kool-Aid without sugar was breakfast, lunch and dinner. Often skipping breakfast, sometimes the Kool-Aid. About a month I had enough to get a bus ticket and a shared room with another fella and went to work welding, something I have training in, in a sweat shop setting. 14 hours a day for a $1.50 an hour with an hour lunch and two 15 minute unpaid breaks. Lasted about 2 months. Anyway....street living is not always a matter of lazy, I'm not, unmotivated, I was. Mental, jury is out. I bootstrapped out and yes, I could have gone home....that was it's own problem...

Sometimes it just is what it is. Some of us swim out of the sewer and some drown in it. A few are held underwater.

There is no blanket statement that can be made about living on the street. Some do choose it. It can be a lifestyle, rail tramps and the like but the ones that can't swim out, can't swim out. Circumstances, health, who knows. I don't and will not condemn others living like that without KNOWING for a certainty THAT PERSONS story and circumstance.

I won't know those things because I don't spend any time there since I got above water. So just what do judges of people in forums on the sidelines know? Nothin....

Edited June 4, 2025 by Grumpy Bear

Donstar · June 4, 2025

I am still learning as I know there is plenty I don't know. I did go several months without an address when I was young and have a pretty good rag to riches story. I do appreciate there was some luck involved and the strategies I used were almost instinctive. I don't understand all of the complexities of the homeless issues and I am becoming more ignorant over time! Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious! Yesterday my wife wanted to tighten a handle on a frying pan and called out to me to bring her a screwdriver on my way out of the garage. Rather than question what type she wanted, I grabbed an assortment of common heads and sizes. She chose the one that worked for her. I thought it was obvious that a Philips screwdriver would be preferable to use on a Philips screw but she found a small slotted screwdriver worked best for her!

KARNUT · June 4, 2025

I worked since I was 12. Had money saved right of way. Didn’t work for many people but made myself an asset. Usually advancing to management. Had a couple of businesses before joining the family business.

diyer2 · June 4, 2025

I moved out of my parents house the summer before starting my senior year of high school. I worked full time and went to school full time from 10th grade, got my first job in 8th grade. Like many of us, nothing was given to us.

I had a car, a studio apartment and a job.

I have worked hard for many years like many of us to get where I'm at so I have no sympathy for the homeless.