retirement

[rxkeith]

one month into retirement, and i haven't missed working for a second.
i have seen a few people while out and about who have said, day off today?
i replied yup, and all the next days too. they have been very happy for me.
its the people that i miss. i have known some of them for 20 years or more.
the time has gone by fairly quickly. we had our son home from college during
Christmas break for almost 4 weeks, so were able to do a lot of purging of things
to the restore, st vinnies, goodwill, free store, or garbage. we have made a dent.
still a lot to do still, but progress is progress.
since retiring, i have learned that i don't need as many clothes. i don't have to shave
as often. i need to do better planning on what needs to get done, and start setting
some time frames on when they need to be done otherwise i can put things off because
hey, i'm retired. i can do it tomorrow. over all, so far, so good.


keith

[JRinPA]

welcome back to the world, keith.

[TX-TomatoBug]

Congrats!! Staying healthy is definitely key. My husband retired 7 years ago, I retired just over 2 years ago. We are loving this season in life.

[rxkeith]

the joy of retirement life hit a little speed bump.
after being out of the medical care system as a recipient for 18 years
i have been sucked back in with a vengeance. i had to have a lipoma
(fatty tumor) removed from my lower right shoulder. that was done
yesterday. blood pressure was still too high after two months of mostly
vegan diet. it was trending down, but not low enough consistently. the
doc said what do you want to take? you can do whatever you want to do after surgery
but blood pressure has to be good for surgery. so now i am on a low dose med
and that has been enough to bring it down to acceptable range.
surgery went well. i got lucky with having a surgeon who knew her business, and
was local. i didn't have to leave the area like many do to get advanced medical treatment.
the tumor is most likely benign. very little pain or discomfort. have not needed to take any
pain meds so far. i am on restricted duty for the time being. no lifting, pushing, or pushing
with the arm until cleared to do so. one armed snow shoveling doesn't work too well. tried it.
initially, the dr said it could be a six to eight week recovery, but there was no muscle damage
done. part of the tumor was wrapped around the rotator cuff, but came off with no damage to
the cuff.
how did the tumor get there? i don't really know. the dr said trauma to the area can cause them to form.
as we go through life, we all experience some knocks and bumps. nothing really stands out to me.
for now, it is rest and recuperate. do the after care stuff, and dont do anything stupid. shouldn't be too hard, eh.


keith

[bower]

Glad to hear the good news about your surgery, Keith. Recovery time, it is what it is. You'll be fine by spring, and snow, it has a tendency to melt, eventually. Hope you don't get too much more before spring.
WRT blood pressure meds, I think they are well worth it if you need them. Speaking from my mom's experience, and you may well know as a pharmacist, there are many options, so if any one of them gives you side effects, you should try a different one. Mom had a blockage and had a stent put in when she was around 60 years old. She is now 90 and going strong. But she's very sensitive to drugs and had a lot of trouble with the medications they gave her. She says it affected her cognitive function, some worse than others. She was on beta blockers for a year after her surgery until finally she refused and got them to change it. Likewise she took statins for well over a decade but eventually she said no more. Again she felt that her mental ability was compromised, and TBH her behavior had become a bit erratic, which improved dramatically when she stopped the drug. We went through a very stressful time when she quit her bp meds entirely for six months due to being fed up with side effects. That was dangerous for her, no doubt about it. Eventually she talked it through with a cardiologist who made it very clear, if it doesn't work there are alternatives, and we'll try some different combinations until we find something you can tolerate. That was fine for a couple of years afterwards, until she started to have severe swelling of the legs. It was caused by one of the medications, and went away immediately it was stopped. So now it's a combo of diuretic and one other called Candasartan at the lowest dose.
I guess you know better than anyone that drugs have dangerous side effects.
But the thing to do, it seems, is to stick to low doses, and don't just tolerate bad effects. There are enough different meds for this that you can switch. And watch out for low bp events that seem to get worse over time.
The cardiologist who persuaded my mom to go back on some kind of meds, she put it to her about the risk of stroke, and how horrible it would be to live with that kind of impairment. (Mom's bp is what they call labile, and spikes over 200).

[MissS]

I'm glad to hear that your surgery went well and that you are on the road to recovery. If you're like me, staying still is not any easy task. I tend to push things to the limit and have gotten in trouble for doing it. Still here I am in spite of my ways. I will still say though, it's still winter so sit back and rest. The snow will melt and spring will come and you will be ready to go.

[GoDawgs]

At least your speed bump is out of the way! That's strange about it wrapping around the rotator cuff. Glad there's no damage there and you should be good to go when planting season arrives. Any PT prescribed? I made sure to have my knee replacements in the off season. One was mid summer and the other was right after Christmas one year. Yep, off season for both fall and spring gardening!

[Yak54]

6-8 weeks will fly by and give you lots of time to plan your 2025 garden. Take it easy though. Check back in with us to let us know how you are doing. Easy Does It.

[rxkeith]

had a nurse appointment today.
got the 12 inch abdominal dressing removed. inner dressing underneath that one
the nurse had to reef on to get off. that was fun. a smaller dressing is on now, so
i have more range of movement, still no pulling, pushing or lifting much of anything.
the tumor is about 5 to 5 1/2 inches in length and heart shaped. it looks like a small
chicken breast flattened out. biopsy results might take awhile. stitches will come out
two weeks after surgery. no talk of physical therapy yet. i don't think i will need much
if any. muscles are all intact. i just have to let the healing take it course.
i have been figuring out work arounds to get things done without using my right arm.
its a process. everything takes longer, but thats ok.

we have been blessed with awesome neighbors.
bruce came by to take care of the critters.
neighbor dana, saved our butts. he blew our driveway out twice on wednesday during the
big blow. he came by again thursday, and blew us out again. he saw my wife out trying to
shovel snow off the deck, so he grabbed a shovel, and started chopping the snow, and moving
it with the scoop, cleared around the cars, and tractor, and told my wife, you need anything else
you call me. dana is 77 years old. he has had a broken neck, and back. he has been treated for FIVE
different types of cancer, and has had two heart attacks. the guy just keeps on going. he doesn't
have any quit in him. he likes blowing snow. you can't pay him.


keith

[Yak54]

God Bless Dana !

[rxkeith]

yup, God bless dana.
i think he already has. about eight years ago, dana was diagnosed with liver cancer.
stage 4. the first two drs he went to at mayo clinic told him there was nothing they
could do. the cancer was too far advanced. he went to a third dr. that one told him
he thought he could kill it, but he would have to almost kill him to do it. that was
almost eight years ago.

good news from the clinic. pathology results came back on the tumor. it is just a lipoma.
no further treatment necessary. once its out, it out. only way it would come back is if you
don't get all of it the surgeon said.


keith

[bower]

God love the community spirit, and more power to your dear Dana. Dana strong and well!!

[MissS]

Great prognosis for both you and Dana! Can't ask for anything better than that.

[GoDawgs]

Great report! Dana is one of those angels that are right there when you need them!

[Sue_CT]

Neighbors have been angels for me as well. Grateful for a wonderful community. So glad to hear the benign news. Hope you are back to your normal self soon.