My daughter was asking what it feels like to be 51, I said no different from 40 or 30 or 25. I think she thinks I should say I ache all over and feel tired. Other than my long list of injuries, I don't really have any problems. If I would have stayed off of dirt bikes, when I was younger and avoided the other things that did damage, I would be doing pretty good. Even with all the injuries, I still get around pretty good, but it sure would be nice, if my left shoulder was not messed up, it's been messed up pretty badly since I was 19. Then both knees have been injured many times, tore up the cartilage in both knees when I was in school. Left knee got torn up three times while I was still in school, once I wiped out and ran something right through my left knee, dirt bike accident.
Then I shattered my left knee when I was 36, if I remember correctly, because I was feeling better than I had since high school or before and decided that I really wanted to ride dirt bikes again. So I got another one, then eventually had what seemed like a minor accident that shattered my left knee, broke ribs and I think broke my left foot. That injury and the shoulder injury, are the two that cause me the most irritations on a regular basis. They don't slow me down much, just cause problems, I wish I did not have. If it was not for those two injuries, I would be doing great. Most of the time, those injuries don't cause me any form of problems. The shoulder injury, is really only a problem when I try to sleep, I can't lay on my left side or my shoulder will start to hurt after about five minutes. Then I also can't shoot my bow for more than about 20 minutes or my left shoulder will hurt, pretty severely. But again, I have been like this since I was 19.
The leg and foot damage, limits my range of motion of my left knee, every once in a while causes some pain, but not really a problem. The plates and screws in my left leg I have to be careful with, such as kneeling down. If I kneel down on some small gravel or rocks, with my left knee and a rock or gravel puts pressure on a screw or plate in my left leg, it feels uncomfortable, it's hard to describe, just uncomfortable. Then I have one screw that goes all the way through the bone and sticks out about 1/4" out of the bone, the screws in my leg, look like wood screws, so they are nice and pointed. That one screw is down in the lower part of my shin, if I hit my left shin on something solid, with a good bit of force, which would normally hurt pretty good. It hurts a good bit more than normal, because that screw gets jammed into the muscle, that is over the end of that screw.
None of these things have anything to do with age, but they make my life not as prefect as it could be. So when these multiple injuries cause me some form of a problem, my daughter or wife, like to comment on how I am getting old and worn out. I keep telling them I am just smashed up, beat up, not old yet. What parts of my body, I have not damaged do not have problems.
I agree, when I was young, I thought 50 was very old, multiple people I knew were not very active at 50. But there were many of my family members that they looked old, but they still worked very hard, every day, way past 50. My great grandfather, worked hard every day, till he was 100 or 101. But then broke his hip, when he slipped on some ice. My grandmother and grandfather both worked all the time well up into their 80s, my mother's uncle, worked every day on the farm, till he was well up into his 70s or 80s, but then lung cancer got him. My mother still works a lot every day, she just turned 70. Still gets around great, but her husband, sits in a chair watching TV all day, he does good to get up and go to the kitchen and fix himself something to eat.
There is a whole lot I want to do in my life, sitting around doing nothing is not in my plans anytime soon.
Then I shattered my left knee when I was 36, if I remember correctly, because I was feeling better than I had since high school or before and decided that I really wanted to ride dirt bikes again. So I got another one, then eventually had what seemed like a minor accident that shattered my left knee, broke ribs and I think broke my left foot. That injury and the shoulder injury, are the two that cause me the most irritations on a regular basis. They don't slow me down much, just cause problems, I wish I did not have. If it was not for those two injuries, I would be doing great. Most of the time, those injuries don't cause me any form of problems. The shoulder injury, is really only a problem when I try to sleep, I can't lay on my left side or my shoulder will start to hurt after about five minutes. Then I also can't shoot my bow for more than about 20 minutes or my left shoulder will hurt, pretty severely. But again, I have been like this since I was 19.
The leg and foot damage, limits my range of motion of my left knee, every once in a while causes some pain, but not really a problem. The plates and screws in my left leg I have to be careful with, such as kneeling down. If I kneel down on some small gravel or rocks, with my left knee and a rock or gravel puts pressure on a screw or plate in my left leg, it feels uncomfortable, it's hard to describe, just uncomfortable. Then I have one screw that goes all the way through the bone and sticks out about 1/4" out of the bone, the screws in my leg, look like wood screws, so they are nice and pointed. That one screw is down in the lower part of my shin, if I hit my left shin on something solid, with a good bit of force, which would normally hurt pretty good. It hurts a good bit more than normal, because that screw gets jammed into the muscle, that is over the end of that screw.
None of these things have anything to do with age, but they make my life not as prefect as it could be. So when these multiple injuries cause me some form of a problem, my daughter or wife, like to comment on how I am getting old and worn out. I keep telling them I am just smashed up, beat up, not old yet. What parts of my body, I have not damaged do not have problems.
I agree, when I was young, I thought 50 was very old, multiple people I knew were not very active at 50. But there were many of my family members that they looked old, but they still worked very hard, every day, way past 50. My great grandfather, worked hard every day, till he was 100 or 101. But then broke his hip, when he slipped on some ice. My grandmother and grandfather both worked all the time well up into their 80s, my mother's uncle, worked every day on the farm, till he was well up into his 70s or 80s, but then lung cancer got him. My mother still works a lot every day, she just turned 70. Still gets around great, but her husband, sits in a chair watching TV all day, he does good to get up and go to the kitchen and fix himself something to eat.
There is a whole lot I want to do in my life, sitting around doing nothing is not in my plans anytime soon.
and believe it or not, I've learned a whole lot since I was 50.
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