The childhood song has been going through my head. Husband is 72. Boommate and I are 68. Between the three of us, I think we have one functional body (but three functional brains).
Husband has arthritis and carpal tunnel issues in both hands. Boommate has had both knees replaced. She also had a shoulder repair after getting knocked over by a horse. I was doing pretty well until recently when I seem to have developed arthritis in both my shoulders that has greatly reduced my range of motion and caused a lot of pain. The sciatica issues for me are manageable and just intermittent. I have a broken toe that healed crooked and is totally numb.
It has been interesting seeing how we have managed to get gardening and moving chores done cooperatively. I am the only one who can crawl on my hands and knees. That means I can get down really low and weed and plant and plug things in. Boommate and Husband are taller than I am, so they can stretch and reach things that I can’t. Boommate and I have great manual dexterity to counter Husband’s hand problems. Husband is very strong and can carry stuff we can’t. It is all working out!
How are you joints and tendons these days? What chores are you doling out to others? What is the best team you ever worked with?
Trail Baboon 
Oh, someone is giving me a chance to complain? 😉 Okay, here goes… I have lumbar scoliosis and mild kyphosis. My back aches. It really always has ached a bit, but now there’s arthritis in my lumbar spine, and some days are tough. I also have arthritis in both knees now, worse on the right. I’ve noticed that if I drop a few pounds, the pain improves. I wish I could keep the weight off. My right shoulder must have some arthritis in it, and the second and third toes on my right foot too. I’m grateful that I don’t have carpal tunnel or hand issues. I do a lot of things that require repetitive motions, such as typing, knitting, and playing mandolin.
So far I haven’t had to dole tasks out to anyone else. I’d have a hard time with that anyway. I’ve been alone and independent for way too long to expect any help. I’m very grateful for my new next door neighbor, Shirley. We let each other know if we’re going to be gone for more than a couple of days. I’m going to Two Harbors today for the next week. Shirley is going to water the plants in my new garden (which is coming along nicely, and looks great)!
We didn’t always get along, but the best team I ever worked with was the team of doctors and nurses who worked on the medical floor of the old regional center hospital in Faribault. I never did get that kind of camaraderie back in any team I ever worked with after that. Our disagreements were usually only about getting time off. We were always short-staffed, so time off seemed like a dream sometimes. If someone actually scored a few days off, it was a pretty big deal. Once I had someone tell me that I should work all of the holidays and be happy to do so because I didn’t have kids. I couldn’t help but take offense about that, but I understood how disappointed she must have been about not being able to enjoy Christmas with her family.
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Lumbar scolosis is the cause of my sciatica.
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I count myself lucky that so far my arthritis hasn’t hampered me much – mostly in my upper thumb joint (looked it up: Interphalangeal joint). I’ve been alerted to some very interesting hand exercises that seem to help, at Sourav Yoga…
Back later for other questions..
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
I have pretty chronic arthritis in many places. As you all know, both hips and one knee have been replaced which I find to be a miracle. Over the past 7 years that process of becoming somewhat immobile, then having those surgeries was hard on me. I gained weight that I find difficult to shed now. I have been working hard at becoming mobile again. Water Aerobics is so helpful with the recovery, as is a puppy who needs exercise.
This weekend I had my former cleaning lady come in to wash windows, then clean the house. The arthritis in my neck and shoulders makes that task too painful, and I am happy to let someone else do that. With spring gardening I had gotten behind in keeping up the house. With the additional dirt in the house I needed help. In the future I will have her come in every couple of months, then keep up the rest myself. Plus this puppy is a World Class Shedder with his winter coat and puppy fur all coming out at the same time. He sheds huge wads of fur when I brush him, which I do regularly.
More later. Off to Water Aerobics.
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We have a lawn service that mows for us now.
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Good for you. I like to mow, especially with the new electric mower which is light. But you all know about my cleaning avoidance.
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Most of my issues have been orthopedic in nature. Since childhood I have fractured my left 4th finger, right tibia, left wrist, left femur (considered a hip fracture), and right ankle. The last two were related to osteoporosis, for which I am on medication. The right tibia was from a downhill skiing accident 36 years ago. I recovered well from each of these fractures. In addition to the fractures, I had surgery on my left shoulder (not rotator cuff) about 30 years ago because the distal end of my collar bone was ragged and causing pain all the way down to my fingers. Much more recently I had my little toes derotated – sounds awful but was actually not a big deal. Fortunately I have never had back or knee issues and all my joints are original equipment.
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Do the old bone breaks hurt now with onset of “Senior Years”? My once broken wrist has all kinds of messages for me.
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The old fractures don’t bother me yet. My ankle joint sometimes feels stiff but the hardware is still there and I think the stiffness is at least partially due to that. I could have the hardware removed but don’t want to go through surgery again.
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