I think the changes and the speed of the changes have surprised me the most. Back when I turned 70 I did an inventory and was pleased to find most systems worked and all in all I was pretty healthy. Then one day I noticed a bunion on my right foot. My mom says, no big deal, she's had hers fixed twice and my sister had her's fixed once. I hate doctors and especially don't like hospitals, so I bought a cane. The problem is the big knob makes shoes tough to fit. This problem got exacerbated when I bashed my shin, didn't even draw blood, but it decided to get infected. To kill the infection I was put on three different courses of antibiotics and eventually ended up with a hole which took forever to heal. In the end, between the bunion and the screwed up leg I couldn't walk very well and started to lose muscle tone. As a bonus, all the antibiotics killed all the "good" bugs in my gut which produced a new set of issues. However, I still felt not too bad by my 74th birthday.
Then I discovered that I would require a medical certificate to renew my driver's licence on my 75th birthday.
Back when I turned 60 the doc announced I had developed type II diabetes. Seems it runs in the male side of the family so no big deal, or so I thought. Turns out it causes circulation problems in the legs, which helped make my shin bash into a big deal. But also screws with the nerves in my feet so I now have trouble with balance since my feet don't feedback full sensation to the brain. This lack of feeling makes driving interesting. I fully expect to hit a Check Stop some day and be asked me to do the "heal to toe" walk sobriety test.
So I'm busy getting my ducks lined up for my "medical" and decide to get my eyes checked. I had noticed a few eye issues and figured I needed new glasses. I had started to notice straight edges didn't always look straight. I also noticed my night vision was bad and to do things around the house required extra light. I must have 25 LED flashlights. The next issue was depth of field, I found myself reaching for things and missing by an inch or so. Trying to use a fly swatter is a joke, that my grand-kids very much enjoy. So the eye doc says, cataracts and dry macular degeneration. Oh joy! He says happily that I only need one to drive and it appears my left eye is still 20/20 but my right is basically fubar.
Got the paper and tests done and on my 75th birthday I managed to get my license renewed for another 5 years. Haven't started to worry about my 80th birthday test yet. Maybe a self driving robot is in my future.
During the last 5 months, my dry macular switched to wet macular. This is a mixed blessing, dry macular is untreatable but progresses very slowly, while the wet type develops very fast but can be slowed right down. The treatment sucks. Every four weeks about 7 or 8 different eye drops followed by an injection into the eyeball. Not fun but it seems to be working. Next week I under go the knife and have the cataract in my right eye removed. I expect the left eye will get sliced and diced next. I also discovered that getting on the floor to play with grand-kids is not a good idea. Getting up turns out to be an interesting feat. My wife was ready to call the EMS before I managed to get vertical again. So working on the Fury is basically out
Today is my 76th birthday and I find myself in a dash to the finish line with my Fury. It's a race that might make a good TV reality show!
Sorry for all the doom and gloom, turning 76 does funny things to your head! We'll see what 77 brings.


