OldCADuser Loc: Irvine, CA

Yes, it sucks. I'll turn 77 this coming August, but my wife turns 78 in May so at least I'm not the oldest person living in our house

I'm lucky as I'm genetically wired for low cholesterol, running in the 120-150 range, so I don't have any blockages or issues like that. Now my wife on the other hand has very high cholesterol, in the 400-500 range, but again, it appears to be genetic as she has no problems with her heart and heart disease appears to be fairly rare in her family, with most of her ancestors living to ripe old ages, both he mother and grandmother made it into their 90's.

That being said, I did have a congenital heart problem which was not discovered until I was in my 50's. I had a leaky aortic heart valve, which while the doctors were keeping an eye on it, it wasn't really hindering me all that much and it wasn't getting any worse so I was told that I could probably live with it as millions of people do so every day. Well, all went well until about nine months after I retired, just after my 69th birthday, when the valve started to fail. Within three months, I was in the hospital getting the heart valve replaced. Everything went well except that they had to implant a pacemakers (this happens in about 25% of the cases where the aortic valve is replaced) and while the new heart valve has been working fine, the pacemaker has been a bit of a pain. I've had to have it reprogrammed twice in the last 18-months. It's been acting OK now for about six-months so hopefully they've got it fixed. They'll replace it in about three-years when the battery gets close to wearing out.

But as for the medications, yea, over the years, as they found certain issues and conditions, the number of Rx's that I'm on continues to increase to where I'm up to about eight different ones per day, while my wife is only on some very expensive cholesterol medication (despite there being no apparent damage, the doctors insist that she must get it under control but since it's not diet or life style, they have to use some powerful drugs to force it down to where it's now at, around 240).

gener202002

Wishing you the best. I am getting old too. The thing that hurts me the worst though is the knees. They aint what they used to be.

OldCADuser Loc: Irvine, CA

The knee that they removed some torn cartilage from about 10-years ago, that's the only joint that hurts when the weather changes, which isn't all that often here in SoCal.

gener202002

I think I can relate. I had a knee replacement about 5 years ago. They told me the other knee would need a replacement in two years. With the weakness in the left knee, it is still far better than the one that was operated on. The muscles are weak. At a certain point my leg collapses and I have to catch myself with the other leg. If only I had known. Especially when these replacements only last a few years. I would have never had an operation. I told the doctor, I don't care about pain, I just need to be able to use my knee. After the operation the pain was worse, and the knee less functional.

I don't mean to say everyone would experience this in the same way, but that was my experience.

tramsey Loc: Texas

A couple of years ago I was taking a low dose aspirin because my doctor said it would be a good idea. I got a sharp pain under my left rib cage that wouldn't go away. The only thing that is there is the spleen so I went to the doctor to check it out. She sent me to another doctor who did some tests. He sent me to a an oncologist. I said, "Naaaa," but he said "Yaaaaa, lymphoma non-Hodgkins to be specific. I don't have chemo I have something with a longer more difficult name that targets just the cancer cells. But I still have lost my hair, spend a lot of time vomiting and with the big d (I'm not talking about Dallas) They saw that my blood pressure was climbing past 190/90 so I take a handful of meds for that to. Gone are the days of just a low dose aspirin. But I am still able to put my feet under the kitchen table and enjoy a meal

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

The bad news blockage and more meds. The good news you’re here to tell your tale of woe. Many of us on the HOG are up in years. I know way too many people from HS classmates to relative who didn’t get the chance to talk about our aches and pains as we grow old.
Glad to hear you are doing better.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

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Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Nope not for Sissies or the faint of heart.

But Soooooooooooooo much better than the alternative!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I forgot, this last Thursday I got hearing aids.
Kaiser tested me and the Audiologist said that besides my tinnitus I had loss in the high end and recommended I go to the VA to get them because with my VA disability they might be free instead of a copay at Kaiser. They were free from VA and a higher end model than Kaiser had for me on my teacher's retirement plan.
But on the followup in 4 weeks I need to get these things adjusted, the computer keys, rain on the roof, chewing, hair brushing my ears (the wife trimmed it yesterday etc. are now amplified too LOUD. My world now has too much sound. When I shaved I could hear every whisker getting cut.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

whatdat Loc: Del Valle, Tx.

Are your hearing aids easily adjustable? Mine can be adjusted via a button on the hearing aid or via a iPhone app (easier) to control volume, sensitivity, and tone range. Made by Oticon. My audiologist told me it would take about 4 months or so to get adjusted to them, telling me the part of the brain having to do with hearing goes through an adjustment to the hearing aids and what they are hearing. That seemed to be the case for me. Much better able hear tv, and normal conversations. (Wife sure is happy). I realize not every version works the same for everyone; just my 2 cents worth.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

Hey Mangle hang in there, we need our resident mechanic to stay on board.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If you have heart issues (I’ve had two “widow maker” 100% blockage of the LAD heart attacks and stented both times), let me suggest a couple of devices that will help you tell if you’re having a recurrence or a new issue that needs your immediate attention.

First is the Kardia mini 2 lead EKG. It’s about 3/4”x3”x1/4” thick and fits in a neat holder that sticks to the back of my IPhone. There’s an accompanying ap that you load on your phone. To take an EKG, you hold it between your fingers of each hand and it does a 30 second ekg. It shows you the waveform from the entire record, your heart rate and reads out whether it’s a normal heart EKG or an arrhythmia. You can save it as a pdf and text it to your doctor in real time. Costs about $80 and if you know what to look for, it will tell you instantly if you’re having an arrhythmia or an MI. Can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been reassured when I get a chest pain and saved a trip to the ER. Highly recommended. https://kardia.com/kardiamobile?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA3JCvBhA8EiwA4kujZpSJ8msL1XTCeNN-xfv3ZNpukOHUwcSrzm2-scqqJu4LCFhxNyDzYBoC53QQAvD_BwE

Secondly a pulse oximeter (pulse ox) will give you your heart rate and oxygen saturation instantly - just clamps on your finger and costs about $20 on Amazon.

And finally a blood pressure monitor that clamps on your wrist. I do it the old fashioned way with an inflatable cuff and a stethoscope, but this device makes it easy.

With these 3 tools, you can do an EKG, check your heart rate, oxygen salts and blood pressure within minutes, which can not only be reassuring, but save your life if you have a history of heart or coronary artery disease. Important once you come to realize that each day is a gift, not a given

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Glad to hear you are doing better Frank. Several ailments they are watching is my bladder cancer, COPD and high BP. Go in for next cancer check on 3/13/2024, have to go every 3 months. Meds have other two problems under control for now.

Don