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How you all holding up?

Started by Drew62, March 12, 2019, 12:21:04 PM

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Drew62

Just wondering what price you've paid over the years for your chosen profession/love!Starting at the bottom bits,I've torn the ligaments on both ankles-twice on the right side,so I live in boots now-they seem to go with no warning once you've torn em.Knees hold up but ache and are stiff sometimes-kneeling on damp grass over the years.Had a new hip 2 years ago at 54-consultant suggested I wouldnt be able to do my job anymore,thankfully still doing everything I've always done.Popped a disc about 12 odd years ago,have to watch that now and be careful.Had tennis elbow in both of them,takes ages to go away and they are never the same I suspect-that was disc-cutting patio slabs.Necks a bit creaky but thats just ageing I fear.Apart from all that-I'm as fit as a butchers dog  ;D
A slave to the machines.

Drew62

Whoops!forgot a few small but important bits.Flattened fingernails and icy cold fingertips in winter-dropping /catching them under patio slabs,buzzy hands in the eve-vibration.Uncuttable toenails (cant get behind them anymore)-35 years of steel then alloy now plastic toecaps :(
A slave to the machines.

lxskllr

Blew out my back ~25 years ago bullpinning stakes into compacted road base. Never been to a doctor, but I suspect one or more blown disks. A bit longer ago than that, I got flown to shock trauma after a cable dropped on my head. I was fine, but got the Xrays and stuff, and the Xray tech told me I had degenerated disks in my neck. Pretty young for that, and it doesn't give much problem yet, but it's probably something to look forward to.


My knees are getting a little squirrely. Every so often they'll start aching, especially after a long day of walking on uneven terrain. They've just about given out a couple times, but that hasn't happened in awhile. I thought I really damaged myself after my virgin spur climbing adventure last fall. My right hip socket was sore for more than a week, but it got better. I was favoring it too much in the tree, and I'm getting old  :^D  I was worried though. I don't know what a bad hip needing replacement feels like, and I don't have the time/money for that nonsense now. Wrists/elbows/shoulders sometimes hurt, but nothing that can't be dealt with. That's probably from swinging a hammer.


I think that's about it. I'm in better shape than I should be, and I've had several close calls with death/serious injury I just walked away from. Oh, and as of last weighing, I'm about 30# overweight. five of those pounds will be gone by the next weighing, but that other 25 has been very persistent. I'd like to be an even 200#. I like round numbers  :^D

sawguy21

Not worth a darn, thank you very much. ;D Between old age and abuse when I was young and bulletproof my lower back is giving out. Hearing is deteriorating, audiollogist tells me the range I have lost is due to prolonged exposure to loud noises (read chain saws and helicopters). Old age ain't for sissies.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Fishnuts2

I've got bad knees at 65, but other than hearing loss and hair loss, I can still do a lot of former things. 
I have found however, that a new saw to try out deadens most pain for at least 4-5 hours!  The next day is a different story! :D

Magicman

My constant nagging problem had nothing to do with my telephone career nor my "retirement" sawmilling.  Blame it on recreation.  Yup, a dirt motorcycle crash in 1974 when I was 31 years old and "bulletproof".  My left knee was not designed to turn the direction that mine went so there was stuff stretched that ain't supposed to be stretched.  I had arthroscopic knee surgery in 1994 to remove cartilage fragments that had it locked up but other than that I just keep on limping keeping on.

My hips are starting to give me some pain, so I might have to learn how to "hip hop".  :-\
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

TACOMATODD

My Crohns diagnosed about 01, my MS about 04, my Trigeminal Neuralgia about 15, hearing and hair loss. And I am only 47! At least I am not fertilizer yet. Lots of DVT's and almost died last year and 3 pints of whole blood while in the hospital last year during my birthday. The Dr's maybe have the blood thinners correct now. What a way!
Trying harder everyday

ehp

I have had a lot of operations , my sheets looks more like a novel than someone still kicking . I have been asked to go on full pension 3 times but tell them Im not dead yet so no . Got just over 100 pieces of steel total in the body , told at age 46 I would not see my 50th birthday by 2 docs but Im still going and turned 56 . Im not as fast as I was say 10 years ago but I still feel I do pretty good and I like what I do . Im slow in the morning for the first tree or 2 then Im off to the races . Im hoping to last to 70 if I can get that far , then my boys will be old enough for me to see what they end up doing

mredden

64 year old lawyer. Profession has nothing to do with it

I don't jump to the ground from my truck bed anymore because of the knee damaged when a limb of a tree stand broke.

Hands hurt from dozens of scars and filing chains. Back hurts - just because. Feet too.

Heck, I'm old. :'( It all hurts til Saturday morning when I have a full day of sawing scheduled! Then, I am reborn for 8 to 10 hours.

HolmenTree

At 61 knock on wood I have no aches and pains.
But worried about my lungs from all the leaded gas fumes I breathed in since a young kid running old gas tractors on the field and powersaws in the bush . Also smoked for about 15 years when younger.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Al_Smith

Shoulders aren't so good ,life of working with my arms over my head .Torn bicep one arm ,torn rotator  cuff on the other . Right knee isn't as good as it should be,"cutting out " on a 40 foot class 2 or 3 pole 40 years ago  . About everything else is good ,that that isn't they make pills for --at 71 I might be old but I'm not dead  ;)

Drew62

*DanG,most of you are doing better than me! Good on you all.Its funny thinking back and looking at how attitudes change over time.I grew up from a farming background,and as kids we were taught that hard work was a virtue,and me and my siblings/cousins competed like hell to see who was the hardest workers.Over my working life I've had a few apprentices/trainees to train-some were good,most have been frankly appalling-the attitude been 'hell,I turn up for 40 hours+you expect me to WORK as well',depressing really.I could/should employ a youngster now,but really given the extra expense/red tape and the undoubted going back snagging their poor work-I just dont have the time/patience for it,and thats tragic really.A lifetime of hands on experience is a huge value for someone young-and Id love to do that....
A slave to the machines.

firefighter ontheside

I'm doing pretty well, considering my profession.  I broke my leg very badly while skiing in Colorado.  Split my tibia down the middle like a piece of firewood.  Luckily I had a surgeon that worked on John Elway several times.  He put some huge screws in me to put my bone back together and sewed my meniscus cartilage back together after he fished the piece from way down in my leg.  That was 20 years ago and doesn't cause much trouble yet.  I had the screws taken out after a year.
It was the job that caused my tennis elbow.  That was fixed with some more surgery.
I often have a sore back, which I attribute to carrying large patients down stairs, up stairs, up hills, down hills and everywhere else they put themselves.


I'm doing pretty good mentally even considering some of the stuff I've seen.  I think it's my woodworking and sawmill that helps with that.  Hoping to retire in 10 years or less and just do my side business for my only business.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

MichaelS70

Hats off to you Gentlemen lots of injuries endured.I'm 48 with a couple bad knees from football back in the day.Born with bad hearing,it was hereditary and has got worse over the years.Shoulder problem from weight lifting which I havent done in a long time.All in all not to bad off so far .

DaveP

Feel great.  Got two new knees and two new hips in the last 8 years.  Probably don't go as fast as I once did but still get it done.  With all the new parts I can still climb if my wife isn't around but I don't do much of it.  You have to stay active.  Like the old saying goes, "If you don't use it you loose it".

firefighter ontheside

Quote from: MichaelS70 on March 13, 2019, 10:19:14 PM
Hats off to you Gentlemen lots of injuries endured.I'm 48 with a couple bad knees from football back in the day.Born with bad hearing,it was hereditary and has got worse over the years.Shoulder problem from weight lifting which I havent done in a long time.All in all not to bad off so far .
My wife is a doctor of audiology, so she keeps pretty good tabs on my hearing.  Her study/thesis for her masters degree was on noise exposure in the fire service.  At home she makes sure I have good hearing protection.  Muffs in the shop.  Muffs at the mill.  Custom ear plugs for everything else.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Al_Smith

I would well imagine if most of us at a younger age were more aware of the long term affects of improper work habits we might be in better shape than we are . We danced to the  music now we get to pay the piper . 

pineywoods

Dad always said "If you give up and sit in a rocker on the porch, the grim reaper will slip behind you and getcha." I took him at his word. I run the lt40 most days and I'm the local fixit guy for anything that's broke. Got 4 saw jobs waiting in the yard and 5 fixit projects waiting. So far no serious problems, just getting slower. Too many projects and not enough time. Be 83 next month. Never give up.. ::)
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

mredden

Quote from: DaveP on March 14, 2019, 07:56:43 AM
Feel great.  Got two new knees and two new hips in the last 8 years.  Probably don't go as fast as I once did but still get it done.  With all the new parts I can still climb if my wife isn't around but I don't do much of it.  You have to stay active.  Like the old saying goes, "If you don't use it you loose it".
OEM or after market??

MichaelS70

I heard a few people say over the years "hard won't kill you " I agree it won't but it sure does peck away at you over the years lol

Tom King

Coming up on 69, and still working full time.  No hair, and kinda bad feet, but everything in between still working pretty good-don't even need glasses yet.

tree-farmer

Aging and wear and tear that comes with are akin to being nibbled to death by ducks, large angry ducks. No individal peck is fatal but the cumulative effect is the same.... hurt_smiley hurt_smiley
Old doesn't bother me, its the ugly that's a real bummer.

Pine Ridge

I am 50 years old , pretty much been blessed with good health. Messed up my right knee playing basketball 22 years ago, drs said it was just a sprain at the time, doesn't bother me all the time but still sin' quite right. Had gout for about the last 10 years or so, tart cherry capsule every morning keeps it in check. Read it somewhere a guy said if he had known he was gonna live this long he would have taken better care of himself !
Husqvarna 550xp , 2- 372xp and a 288xp, Chevy 4x4 winch truck

Air Lad

Acl recon
Knees /elbows/bulged disc's
Wouldn't dare complain when there are 70 something year old guys posting here with issues with their 70cc chainsaw not running just right
Cheers
smiley_clapping
 

lxskllr

Quote from: Air Lad on March 16, 2019, 05:56:54 AM
Acl recon
Knees /elbows/bulged disc's
Wouldn't dare complain when there are 70 something year old guys posting here with issues with their 70cc chainsaw not running just right
Cheers
smiley_clapping

I'm always reluctant to say it's cold out around here. The resident Canucks'll say "Isn't that cute, he thinks that's cold"  :^D
It's all relative. Nothing to do but keep going til you stop  :^)

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