Not that you need a reason

[cpaharley2008]

Norm, I'm glad for both of you. I knew about the prostrate, most men die with it not from it, it seems Alzheimers now has taken the lead. But with camping and traveling you will constantly exercise your mind as well as body, which increases your longevity.

[Kai in Seattle]

I always thought "really old" was about 10 years older than you are yourself...


8)


BEST
Kai

[cpaharley2008]

This is really old

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

This is really old

That's really funny Jim. Many of the people we went to high school with do seem really older than us. None of them choose the RV lifestyle.

[Silver River]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Our doctor asked about our vision, wanting us to get an eye test every year. Ginny said our night vision was not as sharp and we generally avoid night driving. When we drive at night we both pay super attention and drive slower. (Though honestly Ginny always stays awake, night or day, and pays equal attention to traffic.)

The aging is interesting, some parts of us have degraded faster than we might have imagined, hearing and vision, others have gotten better, strength, knees and weight. The latter are something we've been able to do something about, that actually everyone can improve. It's nice to know everything is not out of one's ability. (Life is a series of choices, make good ones.)

Along with prostate cancer, if you are lucky enough to grow older you will also get cataracts. They also sneak up on you. In my case they affected my night vision first, and while driving to State College, PA in 2007 I noticed that the green signs on the interstate highway just blended into the green background of the forests. My optometrist had already told me that I would probably need cataracts in 5 years, so he must have seen something. After that trip my family doctor told me to see an ophthalmologist. That Dr. diagnosed very light cataracts on the back of the lens but directly in the center and they scattered the light enough to blur similar colors and added a yellow tint. I got a Crystal Lens implant in my left eye and it was truly an OMG experience. Then for the next three years my right eye didn't qualify enough for insurance to pay for the surgery but I could see the difference in colors between each eye. I finally got the right eye done after three years and can see distance very well but I can also read very tiny print and can even see my fingerprints. Now I never use reading glasses. I have the Crystal Lens rev. B in my left eye and rev.C in my right. Rev C is slightly better but both work very well.

[rgrugg]

Norm. Tell your doc that you want a PSA. My doc routinely does one for me each year. This year it was elevated so he told me to see my urologist. I did and he did a biopsy and cancer was there. My son and I spent an hour with him going over all the possibilities. I opted for close monitoring. That's psa and office visit every three or four months. He said my options would be the monitoring, radiation, or hormone treatment which he said I would NOT like. He said that most men my age (80) die with prostate cancer and not because of it. He says it's very difficult to remove the prostate without causing some degree of incontinence. At my age I travel all over the country with my Escape 19, sometimes with my lady friend, and I just bought a new almost 35 foot stickie which I will take to AZ and leave there as my winter home. I'll continue to travel, go camping, winter in AZ as long as my body allows it. At this point I'm in very good health.


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[honda03842]

We're home in FL and back to our normal routine with one addition, the Downward Facing Dog (DFD) Yoga position. Here we are at 74 trying to do something we haven't been able to do in probably 50 years... or more.

Both Ginny and I added it to our exercise routines yesterday.,, wow really hard. It will take us weeks to do this one the correct way. We are simply not flexible enough to get this right without a lot of work but Ginny wants to improve her strength and I can see it will help.

Yesterday we watched the Patriots football game.. really our first television in seven months. We watched the punter kick, that guy could easily do the DFD. He can literally kiss his knee, his kicking leg is literally parallel to his chest, just amazing flexibility.

I guess if we can happily live in our little Scamp for 310 days in a row, we can do this as well. Another little life challenge.

[Carl Pa]

Originally Posted by honda03842

We're quite happy to be 'really old'. It started with our two boys, they never recognize that we are old. Of course they love our life and ache for our freedom.

I think it's important that people, particularly your children, recognize your reality. Parents need to prepare and children need to recognize that there's a point they need to step in and help out, physically and with decisions.

Our age doesn't stop or discourage us but rather it does remind us of our limitations.

Our doctor asked about our vision, wanting us to get an eye test every year. Ginny said our night vision was not as sharp and we generally avoid night driving. When we drive at night we both pay super attention and drive slower. (Though honestly Ginny always stays awake, night or day, and pays equal attention to traffic.)

The aging is interesting, some parts of us have degraded faster than we might have imagined, hearing and vision, others have gotten better, strength, knees and weight. The latter are something we've been able to do something about, that actually everyone can improve. It's nice to know everything is not out of one's ability. (Life is a series of choices, make good ones.)

Yesterday I spent an hour talking with a special human who knows a lot more than me about the state of the nation. His thoughts and comments left me spinning, actually all night spinning. Giving me all kinds of topics to investigate. One of the best parts of our lives is the opportunity to learn. Our road time has been marvelous thinking time. If I could reverse my life I would start off living in a small trailer. Better late than never.

Talking about vision, I am going to be 72 in a month or so and i just had cataract surgery in both eyes. It took most of the summer with the scheduling and waiting. Anyhow i feel as though i was reborn again, everything is so clear, the sky is so blue, what a beautiful world i forgot we lived in. Night time driving is very good, lights and glare are gone. I do not have to worry about getting home before dark anymore. So if you have to have it done move on it with out fear, life will be a whole lot bigger world. Carl

[DeanCHS1980]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Not that you need a reason to buy an RV and hit the road but we stopped to for our annual physical in NC where our NH doctor moved. We told him we'd follow him where ever he went. We both use the same doctor.

He's a wonderful man in the New Bern, NC area. He always reminds us if we need anything medical while we're traveling to call him and he'll make an appropriate appointment for us. Just a great resource for people who've traveled 7 months a year for the last 16 years. In those years we've only used the service twice but it's comforting.

We are 74 now and had our best medical report since we've been traveling. We consider this amazing because we're really old. We both lost about 8 more pounds this year. Ginny continues doing her planks and we're both adding a yoga position, the downward facing dog. Ginny wants to increase her upper body strength and I'll be supporting her by doing it as well.

I'm amazed that at our age we continue to get better, and so is the doctor. He says few people are willing to try to change. The biggest miracle of the whole visit was that after testing Ginny's knees he said they seem to have recovered from when we started... Ginny's had knee issues for a couple of decades but hasn't been bothered in a long time.

The biggest disappointment was they stopped doing a PSA test (for Prostrate cancer). He says I'm too old. He says 70% of men who are 80 have Prostrate Cancer. In old people it grows slowly and the cure is worse than the disease. It was shocking to be told I'm too old to be cured. Oh well there is a message there.

Oh yes Ginny and I think one of the best things we ever did was buy a trailer and hit the road. We just completed this year's 7 month trip and are already planning next year's trip. Traveling together is stimulating in so many ways.

I received an email today and the writer was surprised about our recent trip to Jonesborough, TN "After all these years, you're still finding new and exciting places."

Hi Norm and Ginny,

Thank you for the thread and so nice to hear about your good health and continued travels. I joined this forum in late summer 2015. I read many of your posts to Laura. You and others inspired us not wait until retirement or until the kids graduated from college before traveling and RVing. We bought our new to us Casita in November '15 and started camping in March '16 and by mid November this year we will finish the camping season with 38 nights. We look forward to traveling more, but so glad that we started as empty nesters rather than waiting.

I have dabbled with yoga. It is so ding-dang hard! I am always so happy when it is over. Does the yoga make me happy or I am just happy to have it done with!!! In any case, yoga is good medicine to help the body and soul.

Thanks again for the thread!

Take care,

Dean

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by honda03842

We're home in FL and back to our normal routine with one addition, the Downward Facing Dog (DFD) Yoga position. Here we are at 74 trying to do something we haven't been able to do in probably 50 years... or more.

Both Ginny and I added it to our exercise routines yesterday.,, wow really hard. It will take us weeks to do this one the correct way. We are simply not flexible enough to get this right without a lot of work but Ginny wants to improve her strength and I can see it will help.

Yesterday we watched the Patriots football game.. really our first television in seven months. We watched the punter kick, that guy could easily do the DFD. He can literally kiss his knee, his kicking leg is literally parallel to his chest, just amazing flexibility.

I guess if we can happily live in our little Scamp for 310 days in a row, we can do this as well. Another little life challenge.

Norm and Ginny, if you're adding in Downward Dog, consider also adding Cobra. The movement between these two is very beneficial, strength building, etc. You can start cobra very low down, elbows bent (more like Sphinx) and gradually raise up. I think Cobra counteracts the spine's natural inclination to round forward as we get older. I round BACK as much as I possibly can, especially in the shoulder area. When you find you can easily raise from cobra to DD, you will be really With It!. (It's a nice sequence with plank also)

[honda03842]

Ellpea,
Thanks for the excellent suggestion. I watched a video and it does look like a good transition.

I wonder how many people do yoga.

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[honda03842]

Carl PA
We get our eyes tested every year and look forward, no glasses and improved color, to their replacement.

We had an older friend who had one eye done. When she returned home she went wild because she could for the first time see the color scheme of her house, which she now hated. Most of her friends had silently felt the same way.

The good and the bad.

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[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Ellpea,

I wonder how many people do yoga.

Not enough people!
Fun fact: One school started sending kids to meditation and yoga room instead of detention. Amazing results. Fewer fights, arguments, kids behaved better.

[honda03842]

Dean,
Glad that you had 38 days out. If I had bought an RV before retiring, I would have retired earlier. When we returned to FL this week Ginny said that the last 7 months were our best ever.

They were a good 7 road months, like summer vacation as a child but longer.

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[honda03842]

Dean,
I've become a real routine guy, up early, exercises, writing, breakfast and a two mile walk with friends, done by 9am and ready for the day.

Yesterday I power washed the house and put up the hurricane awnings. Today I power washed the roof. This all gets us ready for 5-6 months in FL.

Life is good.

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[honda03842]

Routine.
One nice aspect of our morning routine is it defines a start to each day.

Both Ginny and are doing the plank, the cobra and downward facing dog. Having joint activities helps strengthen long term RV travels. Often we'll read the same books providing common discussion points.

Since certain we've become travelers, I've learned to be more attentive to Ginny, paying more attention to who she is, a growing experience for me and a real benefit of our travels.

By the way the Cobra is a very good starting point to in yoga. Thanks for the input.

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