I just found out this afternoon that if you do 2 steps at a time on the way down the stairs, you expend half the energy.
intercst
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@intercst That looks REALLY good! Youâre a strong guy.
However I still strongly recommend moving to a first floor apartment. Not because you canât do the stairs, because obviously you can do them very well. But because someday in the future you may (will!) have a bout of weakness, and then you will be stuck in your apartment for a few days, a week, or two weeks. Iâve seen it happen too many times, and it is a HUGE pain in the azz.
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I appreciate the advice, but Iâve long kept at least 2 weeksâ worth of provisions in my home against the chance that Iâm shut in by natural disaster, civil unrest, etc. Being âtoo weakâ to go down the stairs is just another peril Iâll add to the list.
The primary reason I wanted to remain in my 2nd floor condo was that the stairs would force me to get a little extra exercise during my 3 to 6 months of at home physical and occupational therapy.
When I was in the hospital, the in-patient 14-day fast rehab program sent a physical therapist (PT) to my hospital bed to assess my candidacy from the program as a 69-year old. She had 10 exercises one could do in a bed and 3 of the 10 were exercises few seniors could do. One was to lift your rear end about 12" above the mattress (Itâs called âhalf-bridgingâ), the second was wheelchair push ups (i.e., push down on the armrests and lift your body out of the chair, and the third was to roll over in bed on your stomach. (I asked, âHow is that an exercise?â after turning over. PT said, âMost seniors canât do it.â
The physical therapy sessions seemed to be 2 or 3 reps of one exercise or another, mostly stretching rather than any body weight work beyond using a walker and traveling a distance of maybe 80 ft.
They had a 4 step stairs with a handrail in the gym with a landing. I went up and down that with a crutch in one hand and the handrail in the other pretty easily, and everyone in the room looked like theyâd just seen LeBron James. I asked âWhat?â Answer, âMost people canât do that as a new amputee with a crutch.â I said, âLetâs do a flight of steps in the fire stairsâ Answer, âMaybe tomorrowâ.
I want want to keep moving as much as possible. Apparently a senior citizen loses 26% of their muscle mass after only 3 days in the hospital. I was there for 23 days (including 14 for rehab) â and for the first 21 days the bed was alarmed so that if I tried to do push ups in bed, the alarm went off.
intercst
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Well done
As someone who has done a lot of driving and likes it simplified, I suggest not getting FSD. Keep the mixed signals out of it.
Youâre in charge.
Yes. Keep moving. As much as possible. And thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.
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Second that. While you may be able to handle the stairs with arm strength alone now, aging does things to all extremities, and eventually you wonât. Mine came between age 70-72, I watch my fatherâs strength deteriorate at about the same place in his journey.
Even if itâs not imminent, I suggest you keep your eye out for a place which wonât require the kinds of gymnastics youâre doing now, because eventually (hopefully later than sooner) you wonât be able to.
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Absolutely! The next real estate bust should provide a suitable accommodation.
intercst
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Once youâre in the game, youâre in the game. During the next bust you wonât be able to sell your place for the price youâd get today, so youâll be getting fewer dollars while spending fewer dollars.
You need to (crowd groans in disapproval) market time and sell high, and wait for the collapse to buy low. You can sell now, avoid up to $250k of gains, rent for a while, then buy if/when the market comes down.
The advantage, even if you miss the perfect market timing moment, is that you sell now (or soon) and find a place which doesnât require stairs to rent, then wait for another property that works for you to buy - or not - depending on your druthers.
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Excellent plan. Or, as my Marine father used to say, to avoid snipers, âPresent a moving target.â
Good luck with your impressive recovery. You have the right spirit.
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If youâre selling and buying something similar, regardless of prevailing price you should be roughly even (minus transaction costs, of course). If you sell at $200k and buy at $200k, or sell at $150k and buy at $150k, then you come out roughly equal for both cases.
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On a different but related note, Iâm 64 and I pick up and carry my disabled son multiple times a day. He weighs between 100 and 110 pounds. My family is constantly encouraging me to use a Hoyer lift to do that lifting and moving. I appreciate their concern, but I donât follow that advice. I can do that daily exercise because I consistently do it. I have learned good technique and apply it every time. I am well aware that Iâm one bad lift away from injury. But that is the same for many exercises one might do.
On the other hand, I am having a bathroom remodeled to eliminate a bath tub and install a curbless shower. That will allow me to roll my son into the shower instead of having to awkwardly lift him in and out of a shower chair inside the tub. It will make my exercise of lifting and carrying him safer for both of us. It also makes it possible to use a hoyer lift to get him into the shower without a complicated process.
Iâm well aware that the day will come when I canât do this kind of physical feat. But Iâm continuing to do it so that I can do it as long as possible.
âPeter
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Iâm not trying to encourage you either way, just know that what you say is absolutely a real possibility. I was cruising along fine, and one day I stooped to open a window in my workshop. Now in fairness, itâs a big window, and because there was a fan in front of it I didnât get close to it and use my legs, I bent over and tried to lift, and I could hear the audible âpopâ of a disk in my spine giving out.
The pain was excruciating; I hobbled for weeks including using a walker, and finally had back surgery to fuse the two vertebra together. Terribly painful surgery, awful recovery which took weeks, and I have ongoing pain every single day (some days worse, some days better), and if I had out to do over again Iâd beat the snot out of that window and kick through the glass rather than try to lift it.
Be careful. A momentâs carelessness can bring you âthe rest of your lifeâ full of trouble. Oh, and I canât lift anything heavy anymore besides. Jolly.
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I observed this myself after my splenectomy (age 16), hysterectomy (age 54), bilateral mastectomy (age 61) and open-heart surgery (age 70, when I was in the hospital for 9 days with fluid compressing my lungs).
That is why my practice is to exercise every single muscle every day which wouldnât directly injure the surgical site. Every modification is permitted, whether sitting in a chair, using strap-on weights (for the leg), deep water in the pool, standing in the doorway for support, etc. I ignored my cardiologistâs advice to stop exercising.
I applaud you for your can-do approach.
However, I agree with @MarkR (who is a very smart guy and always right). Move to a first-floor apartment!
@intercst you are being overconfident â again!
Having a couple of weeks of provisions isnât enough to protect you in the long term. You arenât taking into consideration that you will almost certainly become weaker as you age.
Your plan should be:
- Get as strong as you can while healing.
- Get your prosthetic and work on becoming agile and strong.
- Find a first-floor apartment and move all your stuff. This is non-trivial.
- Work out every single day with weights to maintain your strength.
If you live on the second floor you donât have an option â you are trapped if your medical problem lasts more than 2 weeks. If you live on the first floor you expand your options. You can still work out as hard as you want, including stair-stepping machines.
Also, think of what it will mean should you have a medical emergency or fall and need rescue on a stretcher.
Of course you will reject this advice because you are intercst. Youâre so smart that nobody can tell you a thing.
Wendy
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Yours is one of many similar stories Iâm aware of. I donât want to say I live in fear of a similar injury, but the thought of it is at the front of my mind every time I set up for a lift.
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I am DEFINITIVELY NOT always right! Just this morning on a conference call with old work friends (we do that every Monday and Friday), I was wrong. One guy said he just bought a few Tesla Powerwalls for his house, and after a whole bunch of ribbing from everyone because he deeply despises Trump and Musk, I said that he may not be eligible for the tax credit due to income level. Well, I checked (while still on the call) at the IRS site, and sure enough, there is no income level limit for that particular tax credit (the Federal one, I didnât check state ones because there are none in our state).
I corrected myself about 5 minutes later. Not only that, but he (my former co-worker) was knowledgable enough to know that itâs a non-refundable credit, so he had to create enough taxable income such that his overall tax liability was high enough to take advantage of the full credit (heâs spending a little over $30k, so the credit is just under $10k, so he needs at least $10k of tax liability). He will adjust traditional IRA to Roth IRA conversions as necessary to reach that level of tax liability.
@intercst, If you move into a ground floor apartment, there is nothing at all stopping you from going upstairs and downstairs a few times a day as desired.
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intercst, beware, âcuz
Wendy aint putting up with no adolescent airs and imaginings if its gonna get one of her âkidsâ (you) injured.
And I know quite a few others she is using this post to give âwarningâ to (âDonât you even begin to imagine that I donât already know the mischief you be planning and I aint putting up with it!!!â)
Good luck!
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Of course. {{ LOL))
My stock in trade is as a problem solver, original thinker and opponent of conventional wisdom. Iâm willing to die on my sword.
Went to the surgeonâs office today to check the wound and remove the sutures from my stump. Everything is healing nicely and they told me to see the prosthetic clinic for the start of the process of wrapping the stump in progressively tighter compression bandages to shape it to accept the prosthesis.If this is successful, I may not need a second âstump reduction surgeryâ to properly shape it.
Iâve been reviewing the sales literature from the various device providers.This activity is covered under Medicare Part B with a 20% copay of the Medicare reimbursement. I assume that Medicare is getting a volume discount from the list prices mentioned. A hydraulic device with a knee and foot joint can be as much as $50,000. A top-of-the-line electronically-controlled model is as much as $120,000. The blade runner carbon fiber spring foot alone goes for $20,000.
Iâve also seen some heart warming âsuccess storiesâ from these various clinics and merchants.
" Over time and with practice, amputees will be able to walk without the assistance of any devices. In fact, one of our success stories at PrimeCare, Ralph, tells us that one of his biggest accomplishments is walking up and down the stairs without pain after being fitted for his prosthetic."
<>
I believe Iâm already doing that without a prosthesis. {{ LOL }}
intercst
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Yep. Thatâs why I detest the idea of selling the condo. My current monthly out-of pocket housing cost on a mortgage-free home is less than $500/month for a condo that would rent for $2,000/month or more. The transaction costs on a sale are more than a yearâs worth of rent payments â âMinimize the Skimâ.
intercst
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You are making it clear that you will listen to prudent advice but you, and only you, will set your limits. I get that. And respect it.
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To solve problems you need data.
One of the worst parts about getting old is stiffening and embrittlement of tendons. Muscles can stay strong with weight-bearing exercise. (Which we should all do.) But the exercise does not strengthen the tendons which are 99% collagen fibrils and donât have a blood supply. (Which is why they are white.)
The problem is that everything feels normal until the tendon fails doing an exercise that you have done for years without harm.
I tore my biceps tendon lifting weights at age 48. I developed Stage 2 Posterior Tibial Tendon Disorder in both ankles doing Zumba dancing exactly as I had done for years.
I strained my rotator cuff (deltoid) in cardiac rehab class a couple of weeks ago by using 8 pound weights instead of my usual 5 pound weights. The pain wakes me up at night. Tendons are very slow to heal.
I admire your strength but the same strength is putting a tremendous amount of strain onto your tendons and joints. This is one reason I say you are overconfident. All it would take is one rotator cuff or ankle tendon to fail and you would be trapped in your condo.
Once you have your prosthetic the strain will be less but doing the one-leg hop is putting great stress onto your only good leg. What about that aneurysm?
Youâre smart. We all know that. But you have already been blindsided. Donât be blindsided again. Lower your risk.
You can figure out a way easily enough. Rent your condo if you donât want to sell it. Or sell it and buy another one. Or rent a first-floor apartment temporarily until you are walking on your prosthetic.
Stop being such a cheap bastard! You can afford the âskimâ of selling and buying or of renting! Thatâs what the money is for â to make your life safer. Whatâs the point of being a millionaire if you wonât spend the money when you need to?
Dying on your sword may seem heroic to you. But it wonât be heroic if you are trapped by an entirely foreseeable problem.
Wendy
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