I'm baaaack...
 

... From a five week absense owing to a health emergency. (My dad's, not mine.)

He's on the road to recovery now, but it was a really bumpy road. It was all hands on deck in the family looking after both my folks.

Pretty good genes on my dad's side...

My granddad lived to 96, ate sensibly, exercised regularly, drank in moderation, and was in fantastic health when his hip spontaneously broke one day. He was in the hospital for a short while... when a blood clot got him (stroke). Not an unheard-of thing after breaking a big bone.

My dad's 86, also a reasonably sensible eater / drinker, but not very active compared to Granddad. Maybe not coincidentally, his crisis was also bone-related: spontaneous compression fracture in his spine & paralyzing pain.

Note to self: stay active (I'm more like my granddad... that trait must have skipped a generation). Get enough calcium & vitamin D. Do more weight-bearing exercise.

Note #2 to self: Dad can't ride in the MPGiata anymore! Too low, too harsh on the old bones. Truth is, he hasn't been in it for a couple of years, and he can no longer get in/out of it anyway (on his own).

Good to hear dad is ok. Back pain is the absolute worst, and if it doesn't get better can spiral the rest of health down the drain.

If it was you that fixed the back end, thanks.

I had back problems starting with my career in construction, and knee problems from computer software (climbing stairs in a concrete stairwell).

Since no one wants me to work anymore, it's all better (excepting my neck. :eek:). I can go onto and off my knees very slowly, and if it's over a block, I ride my bike instead of walking on uneven ground.

My dad's back problems are from multiple causes, simmering for years before the latest issue.

But he self-inflicted some of it by jumping over a chain link fence in his mid-60's and decidedly NOT sticking the landing ... multiple fractures including 1 vertebra.

(Server ran out of disk space. Hosting company should have been auto notified about it ASAP but wasn't. Talking to them...)

I met a lot of people over 70y.o. who had hip fractures, yet most of the time it was due to falling inside the bathroom at home. But anyway, how is your father going?

Although I didn't experience anything untoward, thanks for the explanation.

You could entertain a bone density test to see if you may have later problems. If you have some years remaining, you can increase density by multiple schemes not involving doctors and expen$ive drugs.

So... I guess the "I'm baaaack" announcement was premature.

My dad fell and broke his hip just a couple of days after he got out of the hospital (when I started the thread).

The docs fixed the break, and he's been in physio since. Not progressing as fast as last time. Slow but steady improvement.

And my mom has a chronic health problem that has worsened.

Needless to say, all us kids have been busy. It sharpens the focus of what's important in life at the moment. I haven't duct taped a single piece of coroplast to a car in many months!

Did he get a prosthetic hip joint?

No, the break was at the top of the femur, but far enough below the "ball", so they put a rod & screws in it.

I'm not looking forward to being forced to sharpen focus. Grandmother is in a care home now, meanwhile the home built for her in the 70's is rotting away unoccupied (along with 3 trucks, and 2 cars).

I am totally unfamiliar with hip-joint replacements, yet a neighbor had it after falling in the bathroom. Not sure if that neighbor was the same age your father is now, but I'm sure he was well over 70 and still very active. I guess having to adjust to a much lower activity level was much more of a struggle to him.

Yeah, my dad wasn't very active before. He'll be even less so now.

He's still in hospital. Another week and a half to independence, the physio/rehab people figure.

He is JUST getting to the point where he's able to get out of bed and stand up from a seated position to a walker, unassisted. Borderline.

That reminds me I didn't do my exercise routine this morning. :(

I can relate to your situation. My mother and dad had a variety of medical issues over the years. In large part they were able to take care of one another, with my sister and I stepping in occasionally. Once they neared 90 years of age things got tougher for them and they moved into an 'independent living' complex; meals were made for them, cleaning and laundry taken care of, emergency call buttons handy with 24x7 in-house response. It was not their greatest desire but it served them well for 6+ years. Even so we were spending a lot of time in hospitals for this and that.

Then COVID happened and their facility went into a pretty strict lockdown. It worked in terms of keeping residents safe from the pandemic but I think it took other physical and mental tolls. I took over their shopping regimen, handing their packages in through an intermediary and only seeing them through a glass door, for 8 months. My sister couldn't even see them at all unless she violated restrictions, because she lives in another state. It was tough being separated from them for so long.

Shortly after restrictions eased, my dad's heart finally called it quits last October. We couldn't have a proper service due to the pandemic but managed to get a few folks together. My duties increased to include doing the financial stuff for mom in addition to the rest. At least I could get in to see her! Then she wound up in the hospital for a relatively minor thing, but suffered a stroke while there. She went this past August.

They both had long, eventful lives filled with love and family so that was good. Doesn't make me miss them any less.

My wife's son also died, from COVID, at age 49. At Christmastime. His wife refused to let any of the family visit or even be informed of his condition during the weeks he fought the virus, which is one of the cruelest things I have ever personally witnessed. We still don't know what has become of his remains.

It's been a stressful, busy, loss-filled time. Getting near 2 years of this. It's nuts.

That reminds me I haven't exercised since Covid hit, and not due to Covid, though I can't exactly say why that was when I stopped.

I think lack of social interaction was just the little bit of depression required for me to stop my healthy routines.

My little brother passed before the plandemic, but his son never pulled things together to have any memorial or wake. I still have a bottle of Red Revolution Cola he'd given me that I wanted to pour on the ground. It's got high fructose corn syrup.

Anyways, I bussed and bicycled over to the West side this afternoon. Took two hours for a $3.65 stereo speaker jack (Philmore 504K).

See, pouring it out is probably the healthy thing to do.

It's been 4 years since grandfather died, and I'm just about out of his stash of Cutty Sark. Will be a sad day when the last of it is gone. Still mad that my parents threw out the years expired Coors cache. It may never have been great, but it didn't taste much worse expired. Still refreshing on a hot day. Kind of like taking communion, but instead of the blood of Christ, the expired booze of grandfather.

That said, I got permission from grandmother to drive his mint S10. I'm replacing the seized rear calipers and already replaced the battery. Should be on the road soon, which will be a fun way to remember grandfather. He always intended me to have the truck, we just never got around to it.

I'll be able to keep the Acura at my parents, which will allow them to sell both of their old Camry's. Now's the time to sell extra vehicles.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1634941047

^ Old beer! That's funny. I found an ancient unopened Coors in a creek this spring and joked with the guys I was kayaking with that we should drink it! Perfectly chilled. (We chickened out.)

wdb: sorry to hear about your folks passing.

We (siblings) have made it so our parents could stay in their home longer than they could have otherwise. Fortunately, there are 4 of us kids: 3 nearby and 1 sort of. 2 are sort of retired, another one getting close. So lots of hands making light work, but it can still be pretty stressful at times when things go off the rails.

Looks like my dad won't be driving for the foreseeable future (if ever again). My mom gave it up a while back due to declining sight, so I've become the default support there. (I was already doing 95% of their errands during the pandemic anyway.)

I don't mind. They put in endless time, energy & love bringing up us kids.

Nice ZR. Bought one for my son to replace the Ranger, but he hated it.

Had the same covid issues with my wifes mom at the care home but she got moved out to my sister-in-laws house and then 3 months later got summarily evicted last Christmas eve. This Covid thing seems to make people selfishly stupid

I have a 75 year old armagnac brandy that I bought for my dad and was thinking I should go down to the San Diego vets cemetary and share with him and my uncle.

Ah well maybe someday maybe not. Today I need to bake vegan breadstuffs for grandma because nobody does vegan at the seniorcare places

Headed to my parents this morning to sip some of grandfathers scotch and put the reman calipers on the truck. I believe the O-ring in the original had swollen and caused them to bind. The drivers door sags a little, and I'm not sure if there's any fix for that.

If I started using it as a truck, I'd probably want to get a bed liner. Not sure if that's something I should DIY, or have a professional do.

I would start by checking the door pins and bushings

I found that the door frames ended up being flimsy and you could jack the door back up to fit for a year or two. We also greased the caliper slides

Maybe I'll loosen the mounting hardware on the door and then jack it up slightly and tighten. It's only a bit off, so it closes fine, it just visibly moves up as the door engages. BTW, this method often works for household doors where it doesn't align with the slot. Use longer screws to secure the hinges as most installers use dinky 1" ones.

I don't recall brakes being so difficult, but it fought me every step today. The bracket slide pins were differing materials between the calipers, one appearing to be grade 8, and the other the normal silver steel color. The steel ones didn't seem to be aligned as precisely as the grade 8. Had issues fastening the slide bolt boots where they needed to be.

Couldn't remember if the wear indicators were supposed to be at the leading or trailing edge of the rotor, so I Googled that and didn't find definitive answers, so I assume it doesn't matter much. All pads have them, so no figuring inside or outside. Briefly questioned if the brake bleed was supposed to be up or down. Struggled fitting the pads into the brackets.

Finally, dad had misplaced 2 of the caliper bolts. Found them as I left. Almost done with what should have been a 60min job (2hrs in). Got grease under the fingernails, which is fine because tomorrow is oil change day and I'll be under at least 4 vehicles.

^^^^^ This. I didn't mind a minute of it either. Still don't; there are ongoing items relating to their lives and their passing that require my time and attention.

In fact a remarkable thing happened during all of that stuff. Compared to my sister I was always the 'black sheep', getting into trouble and wrecking cars and coming home after curfew all that kind of thing; meanwhile my sister graduated at the top of the class and was editor of the yearbook (HS *and* college) and married the perfect guy and all that kind of thing. As the years went by I didn't see anything that would have changed those roles. As my folks aged I just assumed she'd be their go-to person when they got to the point of needing someone to help with their personal and financial affairs. Instead, they reached out to me. I never cranked up enough nerve to ask why.

When my grandmother passed my cousin drank a budweiser that had been in the back of her fridge for as long as I can remember (at least a decade). He said it tasted like Bud.

My aunt is 77 and required 24 hour care. My parents are taking care of her (mostly my father) and it is definitely taking a toll on him. We had a family meeting over the 4th and my brother and I convinced him to bring in more professional care to give him a break. He was watching her 5 days a week with 2 days off. Now he has Thursday - Saturday off. He wants to do right by his sister but he is also burning what is likely the last remaining healthy years of his life just like my Aunt did caring for my uncle for 4 years.

When my Uncle passed my aunt wanted to move to an assisted living community but my parents talked her out of it. Then she quickly went downhill to the point that nobody will take her. I haven't asked my parents if that regret that decision. I just feel sad for all of them and wonder if my aunt would have done better in the assisted-living community surround by people instead of sitting in her house alone.

Sorry to hear that with your dad, I hope he's getting better soon.
I'm glad to be basicly immune to issues like that.

Short of checking out early, what's your plan?

How the heck do you plan for an infinate series of opportunities and unknown known trials?

Saving a lot of money helps.

Plan... have lots of kids, and hope some of them will look after you in your dotage? :D

Robots should be much more helpful when I need major help.

Downside is that plan violates JSH's advice.

I'm betting on paid health care providers being more reliable than "free" care from relatives. Money is also mobile. I can get the same care for pennies on the dollar in other parts of the world.

For example the home healthcare worker watching my Aunt is $18 an hour. In Costa Rica they are $2 an hour. You could have 24 hr care for $17,500 a year or a bit more than a month in a US nursing home.

I'd posed the question to Autobahnschleicher about his presumed immunity.

I wanted to be a patriarch, but consensual reality has been less that cooperative. ;(

I'd take redpoint5's robot in the form of a smol house.

I read his post as saying he is immune from the problem of caring for elderly relatives - not that he is immune from getting old himself.

Actualy I'm basicly immune to osteoporosis and have realy strong bones due to a mutation.
Downside is that I sink like a stone in water and have a strong jawline.

Yet another reason I need to get serious about learning to be fluent in Spanish someday.

Moving / travelling abroad was my primary reason to start learning Spanish. The fact that the majority of promotions in my organization have been going to fluent Spanish speakers helps as well.

We keep trying to convince our siblings that our nieces and nephews should be learning Spanish ASAP. They don't see the point and are encouraging the kids to just take German in high school. (My wife's side has heavy German ancestry) It is never to late to learn a language but it sure is harder as an adult.

Exactly. I still remember nearly all the Japanese I learned when I was 5 and went to Japan even though I never practiced after. Neural pathways are more bendy at that age.

My original goal was to develop the linguistic skill of a 3 year old native Spanish speaker, but maybe I should shoot for the moon at 6.

My sister is married to a Mexican immigrant, so her daughter should pick up Spanish. I probably understand more Spanish than my sister though so I’m not too hopeful.

I was also some sort of black sheep of the family on both sides yet I was only 13 when my father-side grandfather died so there was not so much to expect from me at that time. I was 25 when grandmother died, and quite reckless to be honest, yet at that point I became her favorite grandson. From mother's side both grandparents are still alive, yet not at their best health, and even though my uncle had been their favorite kid nowadays most of the time they know my mother takes better care of them. Lately some cultural clashes have been quite unavoidable for a gaucho like me, because my grandfather is a traditional nordestino.

Might the flaw here be getting the aunt to Costa Rica? Had a mini war with mom and she never left town, or is this pertaining to just you?

Hmmm $17,500 is a wee bit more than I get from social security