Old age and getting run down

[Pedro]

As you get older, it's always a lottery how fit you are. But, within reason, you can affect that. You've always got to keep active. By which I don't really mean being a top athlete. In fact I'm sure that pushing your body constantly when you are young has repercussions down the line. I can attribute many of my aches and pains to playing rugby and the odd injury from my working life. Breaks and dislocations you thought were well behind you come back to bite you as time marches on (I'll be 70 next month). But it is true that you'll lose it if you don't use it. So, folks, keep active. Walk that dog, do the home repairs and the garden where you can and have a bit of rough and tumble with the grandkids.

As age progresses, being a couch potato is more appealing, but don't succumb. There'll probably come a time when you become one anyway. The same goes with your brain. Keep it stimulated and the best way to to that is with interactions with others. Cherish your family and possibly even more so, your friends. Sadly, through lifestyles and natural wastage (death), friends become fewer. But don't turn down the opportunities to make new ones. We do tend to be more set in our ways and picky as we get older, but don't be. When we were at school, we likely had many friends because we were more open. So try and keep a bit of that. Although I don't think I'll ever like that Kanye West feller.

Get a new hobby! My new hobby is waiting in hospital and GP surgery waiting rooms.

However, optimism is the key. Yep, we are all going to die and there may well be a downward slope to that. But enjoy what you can, for as long as you can. For tomorow.......

 

[HonestJohn]

Longevity escape velocity! Look it up.
Theres a good chance if you make it to the mid 2030s you could be living a lot longer. People always say they dont want to be sat in a pool of **** in a nursing home at 100 and rightly so...but if you could still be dragging deer about at 100??? A very difficult prospect
60s no longer the 60 it used to be, were living longer and more importantly healthier lives than ever before and this will continue to improve.
It’s supposedly 3 extra months for every year you currently live so keep moving eat well and stay positive.

Indeed, have had three friend die recently in their 40’s to 50’s and one sister on top. Makes you realise the fragility of the human body. Not many years ago had to help carry a dead stalking friend from a field after a heart attack after shooting a buck and he tried carrying it out. It was a nice buck, he did well! I use his Binos to this day.

 

[bullet chucker]

Sounds like you nicked the Deer's bino's.

BC.

 

[wanderer]

most stalkers are in a zimmerframe

Cuts out the need for quad sticks!

 

[willowbank]

As you get older, it's always a lottery how fit you are. But, within reason, you can affect that. You've always got to keep active. By which I don't really mean being a top athlete. In fact I'm sure that pushing your body constantly when you are young has repercussions down the line. I can attribute many of my aches and pains to playing rugby and the odd injury from my working life. Breaks and dislocations you thought were well behind you come back to bite you as time marches on (I'll be 70 next month). But it is true that you'll lose it if you don't use it. So, folks, keep active. Walk that dog, do the home repairs and the garden where you can and have a bit of rough and tumble with the grandkids.

As age progresses, being a couch potato is more appealing, but don't succumb. There'll probably come a time when you become one anyway. The same goes with your brain. Keep it stimulated and the best way to to that is with interactions with others. Cherish your family and possibly even more so, your friends. Sadly, through lifestyles and natural wastage (death), friends become fewer. But don't turn down the opportunities to make new ones. We do tend to be more set in our ways and picky as we get older, but don't be. When we were at school, we likely had many friends because we were more open. So try and keep a bit of that. Although I don't think I'll ever like that Kanye West feller.

Get a new hobby! My new hobby is waiting in hospital and GP surgery waiting rooms.

However, optimism is the key. Yep, we are all going to die and there may well be a downward slope to that. But enjoy what you can, for as long as you can. For tomorow.......

Good post.. a lot of truth there, “ the less you do, the least you can do” has been my motto these past years.

Also… surround yourself with younger people… dad dancing’s not so crazy lol.

Willowbank

 

[willowbank]

Think yourself lucky you could retire at 55!
Many have to work hard and play hard for many more years than that age before choosing a life of leisure.
KB.

A life of leisure, you have to be joking… how i ever found the time to go to work puzzles me lol.

WB

 

[Merlyn]

A reminder that I am looking at this from my 87th year and have cancer to boot.
You can, and I did, keep myself fit after retirement at 65. All my working life I basically sat on my bum. (Airline pilot). After retirement, I became an almost full-time gamekeeper and kept up my interest, passion the wife called it, for wild fowling. Always out and about at something. At 78, I sold my small wild fowling boat and concentrated on being on the mud in my waders. This came about after I nearly fell out of the boat at 4am, well before dawn broke, on a flood tide on the Alde river. I was, as usual, on my own.
At 80, I decided the long walks, sometimes carrying two or three geese plus all the usual gear was becoming a bit too much and, very reluctantly, I stopped fowling after 60 odd years.
After that I morphed from keepering to stalking, and handed over the pheasants to a much younger man and went off to do a proper DSC1 training course and followed that up with the necessary training and exams to attain Trained Hunter status. None of this was necessary but if you are going to do something then do it right. And I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it kept the brain active.
All this charging about after the wildlife of East Anglia included lots of conservation work and kept me very fit. I developed glaucoma and lost most of the sight in my right eye which meant that I had to learn to shoot left-handed. Give it a try sometime...
Then, last year, came cancer which you absolutely cannot prepare yourself for or do anything to prevent. You just have to get on with it and keep your fingers crossed for a good outcome.
So, why did I write this? Just to impress upon you youngsters of 70 and upwards, that you must NEVER give up. If being out in the field really means that much to you then you will find some way to do it - somehow. I have struggled with left-handed rifles and shotguns, contact lenses, fitting winches to my ancient Land Rover, selling my beloved little fowling boat, listening to blokes half my age tell me why I missed the target completely the first time I tried a left-handed rifle, etc, etc. Now I shoot rifles as well left-handed as I ever did right-handed but gave up on shot guns.
Am I ever going to give up my stalking? Only when I absolutely have to.
If you love it then you will find a way to do it. If you can't walk very well then sit in a high seat, if you can't climb the high seat, then find something that you can climb on to. An old trailer or tractor or, as in my case, an old Land Rover. No, it's not the same as it used to be when I could stomp all over the woods and hills all day, but I am there and, most importantly, enjoying every minute of it. For god's sake, keep going.

 

[thistledeyke]

76 in 10 days time 2 new knees 2 years ago gave me full mobility back all be it at a slower pace and the usual age related aches and pains. Still activly game shoot and help part time on the shoot, have 2 cockers to keep me going and stalk in Scotland when I get chance and stalk localy. Went to SA on a hunting safari last year and going again in June. I only say this as I've seen too many give in and become sedetary which brings on the end! Never been an active gym/exercisor but there is plenty of advice and appropriate excersise programs on youtube which I have found helpful to keep my mobility and strenght up. Oh and a few beers and red wine along the way helps.

 

[Merlyn]

76 in 10 days time 2 new knees 2 years ago gave me full mobility back all be it at a slower pace and the usual age related aches and pains. Still activly game shoot and help part time on the shoot, have 2 cockers to keep me going and stalk in Scotland when I get chance and stalk localy. Went to SA on a hunting safari last year and going again in June. I only say this as I've seen too many give in and become sedetary which brings on the end! Never been an active gym/exercisor but there is plenty of advice and appropriate excersise programs on youtube which I have found helpful to keep my mobility and strenght up. Oh and a few beers and red wine along the way helps.

Keep at it thistledeyke, you seem to be doing all the right things based upon my experience. Good luck in SA. Shoot straight.

 

[Merlyn]

Keep at it thistledeyke, you are going the right way. Good luck in SA and shoot straight.

 

[thistledeyke]

Keep at it thistledeyke, you seem to be doing all the right things based upon my experience. Good luck in SA. Shoot straight.

Thanks Merlyn appreciate it, lets keep going.

 

[Scarpa]

I'm just a youngster coming up to 59, been Type 1 diabetic for 50 years, I remember the old days of glass syringes and a urine test that would tell you what your blood glucose was 3 hours ago Now living in the Austrian Alps, skiing on and off piste, ski touring, X country skate skiing, ice and rock climbing, hiking, cycling 100 miles in a day and generally trying to ignore old injuries catching up with me. Out here we often see people skiing in their 80s, they think nothing of walking 6km to the next village in the morning, plus ebikes allow the elderly to still cycle up to the mountain huts. As already said, listen to your body but keep as active as you can, it shifts the odds in your favour.

 

[Lloyd90]

Only a young man compared to most here at 36, however about 10/11 weeks ago crossing a stream whilst out shooting I had a fall, crossed it fine coming over, but going back I hit a soft spot as I jumped down and the ground collapsed below me, I fell forward but my feet were trapped and couldn’t move.

Jarred my neck and herniated a disc at c5/6 which started to compress my spinal cord.

Several visits to GP to b fobbed off and a visit to A&E to also be told I was urgent but not an emergency; I paid for a private MRI to find just how bad it was.

Was looking at a 5 month wait on the NHS despite being an emergency issue, but went back to A&E again when starting to get worse and was rushed in for same day ACDF spinal fusion.

Neck seems ok so far, but I’ve had awful nerve pain (terrible burning sensation) down my legs and glutes following my spinal cord being decompressed, think it’s some sort of hypersensitivity now the cords signals can travel unrestricted.

Back to A&E after the nurses I was told to contact weren’t very helpful saying “well you shouldn’t have that”… and not a lot else: more scans shows the cord is decompressed and no structural issue, just have to hope and pray it goes away but no guarantee.

Several days no sleep and lots of pain caused me to have anxiety.

I immediately told the Police being a responsible licence holder and have put all my guns into storage or with mates and asked to hand in my SGC / FAC.

Only got a few more weeks sick pay and with a mortgage and a 2 year old it doesn’t help with the stress… just hoping this time next year I’m in a better situation and can look back on all this as a lucky escape.

The NHS surgery bit was brilliant, can’t fault them, but trying to get into services was an absolute nightmare and the aftercare has also been very lacking.

Wish I was posting about having these issues in my 70’s and 80’s like a lot of you lads.

 

[Scarpa]

Only a young man compared to most here at 36, however about 10/11 weeks ago crossing a stream whilst out shooting I had a fall, crossed it fine coming over, but going back I hit a soft spot as I jumped down and the ground collapsed below me, I fell forward but my feet were trapped and couldn’t move.

Jarred my neck and herniated a disc at c5/6 which started to compress my spinal cord.

Several visits to GP to b fobbed off and a visit to A&E to also be told I was urgent but not an emergency; I paid for a private MRI to find just how bad it was.

Was looking at a 5 month wait on the NHS despite being an emergency issue, but went back to A&E again when starting to get worse and was rushed in for same day ACDF spinal fusion.

Neck seems ok so far, but I’ve had awful nerve pain (terrible burning sensation) down my legs and glutes following my spinal cord being decompressed, think it’s some sort of hypersensitivity now the cords signals can travel unrestricted.

Back to A&E after the nurses I was told to contact weren’t very helpful saying “well you shouldn’t have that”… and not a lot else: more scans shows the cord is decompressed and no structural issue, just have to hope and pray it goes away but no guarantee.

Several days no sleep and lots of pain caused me to have anxiety.

I immediately told the Police being a responsible licence holder and have put all my guns into storage or with mates and asked to hand in my SGC / FAC.

Only got a few more weeks sick pay and with a mortgage and a 2 year old it doesn’t help with the stress… just hoping this time next year I’m in a better situation and can look back on all this as a lucky escape.

The NHS surgery bit was brilliant, can’t fault them, but trying to get into services was an absolute nightmare and the aftercare has also been very lacking.

Wish I was posting about having these issues in my 70’s and 80’s like a lot of you lads.

Sounds a tough call. You have the right attitude though, time really helps. All the best with the prognosis.

 

[MarinePMI]

I don't think it's humans of a certain age feeling done in,I think most active,working humans feel the same.
25th of March 2025 I fell off the bed of my wagon & broke my leg in 4 places,I have no ankle now& have an 8 inch plate with 4 screws in the Tibia.What's left of my ankle fragments is held together with 2 screws & my foot is screwed into the bottom of my Tibia.
Last year was hard but by June I was out shooting with a friend with my moonboot on.
I started ferreting again in October & I wouldn't let it beat me but it's been bloody tough at times.
I now have a different outlook on my life in general & I now have a shunting job on a artic instead of tramping up & down the country which I did for around 12 yrs.
I have a perspective now that I work to live not the other way round & being in the countryside around nature,watching my ferrets work helped me through that difficult period...everything else in just noise.

As the saying goes here, "It ain't the years, it's the miles."

 

[MarinePMI]

A reminder that I am looking at this from my 87th year and have cancer to boot.
You can, and I did, keep myself fit after retirement at 65. All my working life I basically sat on my bum. (Airline pilot). After retirement, I became an almost full-time gamekeeper and kept up my interest, passion the wife called it, for wild fowling. Always out and about at something. At 78, I sold my small wild fowling boat and concentrated on being on the mud in my waders. This came about after I nearly fell out of the boat at 4am, well before dawn broke, on a flood tide on the Alde river. I was, as usual, on my own.
At 80, I decided the long walks, sometimes carrying two or three geese plus all the usual gear was becoming a bit too much and, very reluctantly, I stopped fowling after 60 odd years.
After that I morphed from keepering to stalking, and handed over the pheasants to a much younger man and went off to do a proper DSC1 training course and followed that up with the necessary training and exams to attain Trained Hunter status. None of this was necessary but if you are going to do something then do it right. And I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it kept the brain active.
All this charging about after the wildlife of East Anglia included lots of conservation work and kept me very fit. I developed glaucoma and lost most of the sight in my right eye which meant that I had to learn to shoot left-handed. Give it a try sometime...
Then, last year, came cancer which you absolutely cannot prepare yourself for or do anything to prevent. You just have to get on with it and keep your fingers crossed for a good outcome.
So, why did I write this? Just to impress upon you youngsters of 70 and upwards, that you must NEVER give up. If being out in the field really means that much to you then you will find some way to do it - somehow. I have struggled with left-handed rifles and shotguns, contact lenses, fitting winches to my ancient Land Rover, selling my beloved little fowling boat, listening to blokes half my age tell me why I missed the target completely the first time I tried a left-handed rifle, etc, etc. Now I shoot rifles as well left-handed as I ever did right-handed but gave up on shot guns.
Am I ever going to give up my stalking? Only when I absolutely have to.
If you love it then you will find a way to do it. If you can't walk very well then sit in a high seat, if you can't climb the high seat, then find something that you can climb on to. An old trailer or tractor or, as in my case, an old Land Rover. No, it's not the same as it used to be when I could stomp all over the woods and hills all day, but I am there and, most importantly, enjoying every minute of it. For god's sake, keep going.

I am a pup years wise in comparison to you, but can say that you are correct that you must never give up, when faced with something like cancer.

I am about to turn 56 and retire. But at age 48 I was diagnosed with a rare (benign) tumor of the head (skull base). Very difficult to operate on, with low success using a gamma knife, and a frightening level of morbidity during surgery (14 hrs in my case). At the time I was in excellent physical shape, so having a cold that would not seem to go away, I went into see the doctor only to be told (after several tests, CAT scans and MRIs) that I had a tumor the size of a golf ball located at the base of my skull, that was slowly cutting off blood to my brain (was wrapped around my carotid). The news was...well, a shock. The surgery(ies) were...brutal. Lost hearing, had paralysis on the right side. Recovery was...brutal.

But as you said, you just have resign yourself to never giving up. I coded after my 3rd surgery...while conscious. Passing over to the other side is quite easy and comfortable. Coming back though, that required that same "never give up" attitude, as I realized I wasn't breathing anymore, and needing to force that to happen. It was hard. But after keeping at it (focusing on trying to breathe) I woke up to the Neuro ICU staff standing over me with a defibrillator.

There is no doubt in my mind that had I just given up, I would not have come through it all. So your advice is spot on. Never. Give. Up.

I am now back to almost a full recovery (which will never happen), but can still do most things I enjoy, even if not at a competitive level anymore. But the recovery was, as you say, successful from making the decision to not give up.

Much respect to you Merlyn. I only hope we all can have that same attitude in our advanced years.

 

[NullMac]

I am in my early 60’s, I was out with school mates shooting clays at the weekend.

They are so slooooow. Shuffling about like ‘old’ men.

It’s not age, it’s 3 stone overweight and never having done any exercise in 30 years.

That’s not old age, it’s neglect. Yes we get older, the knees have done a few miles but we don’t have to behave like we are old

 

[Klenchblaize]

For the first time in my life I'm suffering with a strange right inner side knee pain after a day in the woods that takes a week to 'calm' down.

Can't decide if to get with the 8AM call to GP or up the vitamin D and pig liver intake!

Its a booooger being 67 but at least I got there to collect a State Pension.

K

 

[C h r i s]

In my mid 50's I think its the disturbed sleep that ruins my days out with a rifle, suddenly what was easy for a fit man becomes hard, and I'm constantly over-thinking the next hill and the weight of the (AI) rifle as the sling digs hard into my shoulder, and a 'lighter' rifle isn't much better lol. But you know what, I love it - this country might p1ss me off but I'd happily live another 100 years if I could carry on doing this shiz every day.

 

[willowbank]

For the first time in my life I'm suffering with a strange right inner side knee pain after a day in the woods that takes a week to 'calm' down.

Can't decide if to get with the 8AM call to GP or up the vitamin D and pig liver intake!

Its a booooger being 67 but at least I got there to collect a State Pension.

K

That’s the bummer.. so many work hard all their lives, looking forward to a better life in retirement only to become so ill or pass before “ “payout” even worse is the younger wife left behind.

One of the biggest “crimes of the century” in my opinion was putting up the pension age when so many were “ that close”

Willowbank