Why a forum on disabilities?

[goldstar31]

The real secret is that the author of the book died at 58.

Which is 30 years younger than this old wizened git!

Norm

 

[DJP]

People get hit by buses too. You do the best that you can with the time allotted.

 

[goldstar31]

'Dr Lodge died of Prostate Cancer which I said earlier is a one on four disease for males- and is generally curable if diagnosed early enough which is where I was.

It's not a pleasant examination initially and with a radical prostatectomy even more unpleasant being 'Black and Decker-ed'.

One realises the words in the Epistle of Saint ( doctor) Luke these 2000 years ago are as fresh today as they were then.

Me??? I'm still wandering about with a Prostate Cancer Appeal sticker in my lapel. My son was running in the Great North Run last time for that as his father in law and my good friend was a victim.

No theory folks or surmise or whatever but cold, terribly real and sad facts.

If this little entry helps to save just one life, my own unimportant life will have been worth living

Norman

 

[Rocket Man]

I have had doctors tell me, you will die with prostate cancer not of prostate cancer. If your over 70 you will probably die of something else before you die of prostate cancer. My father found out he had prostate cancer at 75 he lived to be 93 and never had surgery or treatments. My neighbor found out he had prostate cancer at 70, he had already had kidney cancer at 65 so he was not taking any chances he had prostate surgery that was 8 years he is doing good. My doctor said, if you don't use it you loose it, have *** every day if you can it keeps the prostate healthy.

 

[goldstar31]

Rocket Man
My thanks but it doesn't always happen the way that you describe. I've just returned from a Masonic Evening where the Provincial collector of contributions was present. We ARE very concerned and it would be lovely to die WITH prostate cancer but sadly, it doesn't always happen.
Again for the ladies, ovarian cancer is another of those things. My wife as a surgeon herself thought her op included the things but the surgeon knew better than her. I'm now a widower. our daughter, also a surgeon has read the writing on the wall. 'Nuff said.

My best wishes

Norman

 

[Rocket Man]

Be careful some doctors will cut on you just to make money. I have been to several doctors wanting to do back surgery on me. I am a mechanical engineer not a doctor but I am smart enough not to believe the first doctor I talk. After talking to 1 doctor only 1 minutes he scheduled me for surgery 2 days later with, no tests, no Xrays, no ultra sound, nothing, how is he going to know the exact spot to cut? I held out for a while finally found an honest doctor that said, your problem is your getting old nothing out of the ordinary, you do not need surgery. Discs between bones are gone that is why your 1 inch shorter than you use to be. Skin and muscles at your age are not flexible that is why you feel good when you get out of bed but once you start using your muscles they begin to hurt it causes tension in the muscles then you have terrible pain. I was in a wheel chair for a year now I am not and I had no surgery. A very hot shower beating on my back 20 minutes every morning works miracles, hot pad in the chair helps, stretching exercised is the best miracle cure ever day. I went to physical therapy 3 months now I feel 30 years younger. I hate the exercises and other things I need to do but it works. My wife was told she had cancer, she was worried to death for a week but she is not a person that will believer the first doctor she talks too so she went to 2 more doctors and 1 doctor was honest told here there is no cancer. She went to more doctors finally found more doctors that said, no cancer. That was 15 years ago she is doing fine. 10 years ago my doctor told me I had prostate cancer this is the same doctor that refuses to give antibiotics for sinus infections and ear infections claiming this is an allergy not a sickness. I went to another doctor he said, WHO on earth told you that you have prostate cancer??? There is nothing wrong with you. I refuse to believe anything anyone says these days if there is money to be made don't trust them. WE switched insurance companies Blue Cross is the worthless they refuse to pay for just about everything. We chanced insurance every year now we have Humana they are the best they send you to lots of wellness checkups just to keep you healthy and they pay for every thing. If they keep you in good health there is no large bills for insurance to pay that saves them BIG money. Humana even pays for glasses and dentist but shop around don't go to the doctors they send you to. Eye doctors range from $75 to $1000. Dentist range from $65 to $4800. Stay away from those nation wide dental companies that advertise $59 teeth cleaning and xrays they are a scam, after the xray they want to do $2500 to $4000 worth of dental work if you say NO you don't get the free teeth cleaning. Go to an honest dentist. I have a friend that graduated from dental school about 6 years ago, teacher tells students never give anyone a price until after you look at their teeth. If they already have a lot of expensive dental work then you know they have money or good insurance so charge them as much as you can get, 4 times more than other people. This type thing is evil.

 

[goldstar31]

Clearly, I must live in Utopia because for the average person in the United Kingdom Rocket Man's difficult to read- I have macular degeneration, has virtually free health treatment.
On Monday, a man called at the door at 9am, checked my name and handed me part of a set of free medicine for my chronic pulmonary obstructive disease. At 88, I also have a Vitamin B12 deficiency and not only get regulat vitamin supplements but also a regular *** to keep me going. The nurse giving injection reminded me that I had forgotten to do anything about a free aorta check. I made a phone call and was put on the list for checking- free.
My remaining teeth, all of at least 80 years old are a bit rickety and my front incisor comes loose. Sometimes the glue job is free sometimes, I pay a few pounds for a regular check up. My eyes are- I said have macular degeneration and I recently had a series of free injections into one eye ball at the local hospital- again, as I said free apart from the fare to avoid a longish free ambulance service. With eye sight, I was jumped on by my optician and it ended up with me having to undergo a free series of eye sight tests with the local optician with specialist equipment and I have a bright new shiny driving licence to see me into my 91st year- free gratis and for now't.

But hang on a moment, I have forgotten that I'm a victim of hearing damage dating back to 1948-50 when I was a callow youth and with the dizzy rank of corporal on a fantastic three guineas a week was paying tax and a national insurance contribution of a total of 3 shillings. I am now being provided with a set of top of the market hearing aids and it is all free but costing perhaps £7,000 otherwise. In the delightful package, I'm going to get my i-phone coupled in and someone is coming to fit a gadget on my television and the licence for using the set is free. I'm losing things and some kind technician is going to organise my phone to find the little things should I carelessly lose one- somewhere in my stately home which receives £300 Christmas box to heat the indoor workshop.

Ah the trials and tribulations of my past life. I married a dentist who in turn raised another who married a consultant heart surgeon. Ah yes, dear Rocket Man, there is nothing like sleeping with one to get the lowdown.
So my wife was at 8 doing latin and greek and got a free place at a prestigious school for promising young ladies.
So she not only became a dentist but the second lady Fellow in Dentistry of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, was refused a hospital consultancy- because her place, so said a Scottish Countess, was with- her children! True to her roots she ended up with a team of dentists who looked after the dental needs of a half million populace- and all for free to them. She received a State agreed salary - with no bonuses or even a Christmas box of a few biscuits. Even at that, she was in those cash strapped days the claim that she was 'too expensive' and at 55 she left dentistry along with 400 children to whom she was giving orthodontic treatment.
Somewhat annoyed, she offered to continue their treatment- at her own expense. Help was refused!

Today, her son in law is working every hour inserting stents into people at no cost to them and he receives a state agreed salary.

So it is not quite what happens in the UK.
Being a bit of a bean counter, I still have my late wife's tax returns, should doubts arise.

Probably some one in the UK might agree

Norm

 

[DJP]

Health care for an aging boomer population is and will continue to be a funding issue for some time. Each country has varying levels of state funded care and what is not funded and regulated can be subject to abuse. I believe all of the stories, good and bad, about health care outcomes and cautions. Mostly I am a skeptic and cautious. I have a feeling that treatments earlier in my life were expedited because I was young, strong, with a professional career and a family to support. Now later in life my injuries are considered part of getting old. In some ways, I'm OK with that as a rush to surgery that has risk can mess up what remaining years I may have.

Time in my workshop and on the Trap range is all that I need as the family is successful and it's time for them to lead. Life is good even when slower.

 

[G Jones]

Thank you guys soooo much for posting all this. I injured my spine quite badly about 10 years ago and as a result I'm on long term disability (a.k.a. retired at 33). I've been struggling to find a hobby I can do with my injury and chronic pain, and you guys have given me a lot of confidence that this is something I can do and enjoy for years to come!

 

[bobhisey]

HI. I am 88 and standing is painful. My shop is arranged like a pilots cockpit. A workbench with a Sherline lathe and milling machine. Both light enough to pull around as desired. On the left is a big multi drawer tool chest. I am in the middle in a roller chair. and behind me is another workbench. At the open end of the U is a set of shelves with stuff. It would be handy to have a computer to access all the wonderful iformative videos on metal working. Good luck

 

[Jennifer Edwards]

G Jones,

I also suffer from a chronic back problem. In 1985 I was involved in s high speed motorcycle accident that left me with compression fractures of over 35% on L2,L3, & L4 vertebrae as well as fragmented disks in the same area. After three major surgeries including spinal fusion I am stable enough to enjoy model engineering.

Like you, I was forced to retire early at the age of 56 some seven years ago. Remembering the joy I got from working as a machinist in the aerospace industry whilst attending university. I took up model engineering as a hobby.

When building my workshop I gave serious consideration to ergonomic factors but never compromised safety to do so,

I found that sometimes I had to sacrifice comfort for safety. Especially when setting up my machines and their surrounding areas.

Please bear this in mind when building your workshop. Do not risk things like vision safety for a comfortable working position and the like.

Sometimes you just have to accept a little pain in exchange for a safe working environment.

I use strong pain meds on a regular basis, more so during extremely uncomfortable days. I never work on my projects when I feel the slightest bit impaired. I suggest you bear this most important discipline in mind when you get the hankering to work on a project.

My projects take a lot longer to complete due to my having the good sense to know when it is not safe to work due to using these medications.

Please be careful. Especially when first beginning in this fascinating hobby as enthusiasm tends to run quite high at that time.

I hope this tidbit of wisdom helps you to enjoy yourself without adding to the risk of further injury.

Jenny

 

[G Jones]

Thanks for sharing Jenny I have damage to L3-5, and, more problematic, a crushed nerve root on my l5 disc. I'm lucky to be able to walk well enough, if not for very long, (maybe 15 minutes at a slow pace but I'm working on it!). I don't take painkillers any more, just some heavy duty muscle relaxants at night for the muscle spasms. I had taken pills for years but I'm glad I've come to manage without. I just can't do nearly as much in a day as with them, but that's okay.

It must have been amazing working in the aerospace industry! I was watching some shop tours, either Hermle or Kern, I'm not sure, and they had a turbine for a pump that powered the flow of fuel from the tanks to the engine, machined all in one piece on a 5 axis out of titanium, really, incredible stuff. Its flow rate was in the hundreds of litres per second.

 

[Jennifer Edwards]

Good for you! I’m glad you can manage without taking pain meds.

When I crashed I blew a turn at 105mph and went into a five foot deep drain ditch, the bike, a modified HD, end over ended on top of me, which folded me over backwards. That is what I assume caused the most damage.

I awoke that evening in hospital with no feeling in my legs. After the third day the doc gave me the “be prepared to never walk again” talk.

Fortunately a very good neurosurgeon heard about my case and offered to try a “last ditch” surgery with a low chance of success. After two more days I began to get feeling back.

To make a long story short after three years of going from a Walker to just a cane I was able to resume my career.

Twice since then I lost the use of one leg or the other which was correctable by surgery. So I consider myself so very lucky.

Unfortunately I still have pressure on some nerves that causes excruciating pain, which due to all the scar tissue and arthritis cannot be corrected surgically without a good chance of losing control of body functions or mobility. So I grin and bear it knowing that I have been lucky as all heck.

My degrees were in computer science, so I was able to make a very good living in a sedentary job. Finally even sitting at a desk for too long was becoming impossible, so I took early retirement.

I worked for two different aerospace companies in Southern California. Solar Turbines in San Diego and Lockheed’s Advanced Development Projects division in Palmdale.

At Lockheed we did a lot of one off and small production runs. The work was really challenging and big fun. We got to play with all types of exotic metals like inconel, titanium, stainless alloys, copper alloys & etc...

When I had my accident on October 20th, 1985 at 4:20pm my machining career was over. So when I was able I used my CS schooling to become a programmer specialising in manufacturing systems. Eventually I wound up as a director of Information systems. A board level position. I lived frugally putting 1/3 of my salary from around 1990 to 2012. It allowed me to retire early.

When I did we moved here to Bridlington in East Yorkshire. My partner of 21 years was born and bred here which allowed me to immigrate.

My shop is small just 1/3 of a conservatory that is all double glazed from walls to ceiling, It is bright and the best part is it is attached to our house, which allows me to just pop into my shop without having to go outside into a shed. It is also always warm which j am sure you can appreciate.

My workspace is just eight feet wide and about eight feet deep. I keep an Axminster SC2 lathe and SX2 mill. Those two pieces of machinery along with a foredom tool, a linisher and sharpening machine are all that I have.

It is more than enough for me to build nice steam and IC models.

This is getting a little long so I’ll stop here, if you want to communicate further we can use the private message feature to keep from boring the others on the forum to death ;-)

This is my little shop.

 

[Mechanicboy]

Jennifer,.. difference from men: A nice and clean workshop.

 

[Jennifer Edwards]

And here I hesitated to post that picture because I thought my shop was too messy to have the world see!

 

[Jim Woodworth]

My office desk isn't even that neat !
As for disabilities the key in my opinion is "never give up"
In August of 91 I was hit on a grade by a loaded semi that shut down I70 westbound near Antietam Creek Bridge in MD for 3 days. I had just purchased a truck in Baltimore and was on my way back home when the semi literally drove over the top off me. Once they decided I would live they transferred me to the Cleveland Clinic and I spent the next 18 months in a 3/4 halo.
I relearned the alphabet and numbers with my seven year old son. Eventually through long rehabilitations and multiple surgeries I was able to walk and talk reasonably coherently and worked my way all the way through college, again. At 43 I was a freshman with that same son. Before you think I won some big settlement against the trucking company and its been easy street, not so. We lost our house and my attorney lowered his fees so that I could pay off medical bills. The trucking companies had high level connections and forced settlement under "no fault" regulations, even though my home state was a tort state. Pain became a constant companion and now as I'm aging the fusion that I had of C4,C5, and C6 has worn C3 and C7 dramatically causing more complications. So I fully understand limited time in my shop but every minute becomes more precious.
This hobby is great for folks with limitations and this is a great site to learn and has inspired those of us with limitations to accomplish tasks that we couldn't have without the generosity of sharing represented by this sites membership/
Thanks everybody !

 

[Jennifer Edwards]

All I can say is Wow! Wow that your mate stuck with you, and wow that you toughed out your rehabilitation, both physically and financially.., Kudos !

That is an excellent point which I totally forgot to mention. The financial impact.

My insurance only covered the first 250k of my over one million in hospital and legal bills. Like you I lost my home. What felt worse at the time was my husband bailed on me. I was devastated.

At the lowest point I found myself sitting in a motel room with two suitcases and my dog! I was just 30 or do years old and carried that debt along with a pretty hefty portfolio of student loans.

On the other side of the coin I am pretty proud of the fact that by the time I was forty I had my own home paid off and also settled my hospital and legal bills, which like you, were discounted.

Now at 63 I am fully retired, have been for almost seven years, and living with an awesome partner in a northeastern England seaside town on the North Sea!

A huge change from Floriduh where I had settled.

Do not get me started on cervical spinal issues. A few years back I began getting shooting nerve pain down both arms, more so on the left. I thought I was having a heart attack!

It turned out that back in 1985, when I crashed, I had also compressed my neck. The emergency room folks were so focused on my lower back they never thought to look at the rest of my spine.

Yes it is important to keep pushing as hard and as far as you can. I struggled, continuing to work, for almost two decades after the crash.

In the back of my mind I think I always knew I would not be able to make it to my full retirement age. That’s why I lived modestly whilst saving aggressively.

I will not get political other than pointing out that here in the United Kingdom that would never have happened.

We are a socialist country. Here we have several layers of safety net beginning with cradle to grave healthcare, housing for those that need it, as well as a modest income for anyone who cannot work.

If I had been living here at the time my middle age years would have been much different. Definitely not financially in dire straits over the cost of medical care.

Loved your post thanks for sharing your story with the group.

 

[goldstar31]

[QUOTE="Jennifer Edwards, post: 329821, member: 39071"

Now at 63 I am fully retired, have been for almost seven years, and living with an awesome partner in a northeastern England seaside town on the North Sea

We are a socialist country. Here we have several layers of safety net beginning with cradle to grave healthcare, housing for those that need it, as well as a modest income for anyone who cannot work.


.[/QUOTE]

I honestly wish it was true about what was in 1948, the Beveridge plan covering the cradle to the grave. In fact, free wigs were available!

Today we live in long queues for medical attention and if one is rich the pain of life in various forms can be reduced by going privately- and spending much of the children's inheritance.
My 2 cataract ops were a Christmas Box and a Birthday Present whilst my wife's were much the same. Her hip replacement was also paid for. One of my friend's hip was replaced free but she had been on the list for it to be dome privately.
My hearing aids- I was a war hero or something came 70 years after the incident. Now that's progress as it happened when the Beveridge Plan was 'invented' or something. I was paying both tax and health insurance on a vast income as a non commissioned officer on - wait for it- 9 shillings a day! Heigh Ho!

Today, a visit to the supermarket will reveal the donations of food to the many poor whilst early each morning primary school teachers are buying breakfasts for their little pupils. Yesterday's press revealed that many single mothers were so poor that they were forced into prostitution.

I'm sorry but that is not what I expected those screams from my dying comrades should have brought.

Goldstar31 is a bit from Royal Air Force( the Goldstars) 31 Squadron in case others hace forgotten. We dropped and delivered food to a beleaguered Berlin but no body has reciprocated to our starving kids of today.

Thank you for reading what sadly is the truth. Modestly, I work for what is possibly the World's largest charity.
We may never be seen much to confirm this- but, proudly, we are

Norman

 

[Jennifer Edwards]

I understand. Up here in the East Riding I find that the NHS does a good job.

Yes there is a wait for stuff like cataracts snd joints, but if you are in a medical crisis they take care of you quickly and professionally,

Three years ago I had double pneumonia. I could not breathe, so dialled 999 They we’re here in less than ten minutes, stabilised me, which took over an hour and took me to Scarborough hospital.

I was admitted right away, and was on a ward within 30 minutes. Eight days in hospital and it cost me zero!

I really cannot complain.

Now what bugs me is that we have an epidemic of obesity and people starving at the same time! Figure that one out.

Yes there is room for improvement but I still think it is one of the best systems on the planet.

Thanks for doing your part in the war.

Dad was a front line medic. He fought in Africa, Italy, and France. What did America get for the blood it shed? Yup Trump!

 

[Mechanicboy]

And here I hesitated to post that picture because I thought my shop was too messy to have the world see!

Hehehe, not so messy as i can see..

My handicap is deaf, but it doesn't stop me from getting to my own machine workshop in the basement.