BajaNomad - Not just Dennis

Not just Dennis

Osprey - 1-11-2014 at 11:11 AM

Not Just Dennis

Get well Dennis!! That’s easy to say but it will be a long and painful rehab with that kind of damage and all we can do is hope there are no complications.

I don’t have insurance and I can’t afford the trip to the VA so if and when I get sick or hurt real bad I won’t be in a hospital somewhere where Nomads can send me “Get well” wishes like they did for Dennis and Pompano and others. So I guess the hospital thing is the trigger here.

Looks like I’ve been missing out on all the good wishing because all my health problems are here at home. At 77 I’m starting to get all kinds of bad things to contend with – I can still afford Dr. Ruffino most of the time but I don’t have the money or the patience for tests he says he needs. I buy him off with big juicy dorado steaks nicely protected in Vacu-Seal bags.

Also it depends on what you post that are health emergencies, chronic conditions or just old peoples’ b-tching.

I didn’t bother the board when I got a vicious case of the Wobblies that made me think I was stroking out. Then there were those nasty months of dealing with “Old People Dry Elbow” --- weeks on end watching TV with both elbows stuck in bearing grease.

For every kind of killing bug, Ruffino gives me antibiotics which kill all the good bacteria in my gut and intestines while robbing me of the joy of eating grapefruit and dairy products. They invariably kill all the good bugs in my mouth leaving me with a Thrush tongue (like wearing a grayish brown sock on the tongue) --- that stuff makes the tongue unprotected and makes me cry with every gulp of Oso Negro gin I struggle to enjoy.

My enlarged spleen is bigger than a two year old Yorky – it accretes blood platelets and causes my body to reject all iron. One year Ruffino gave me 14 raw iron shots in my butt which never reached my bloodstream --- 3 years later Lynda walked into the bathroom as I was getting out of the shower and said “I know where the iron is”. Up till now I have kept that a secret lest some would begin to jest about it somehow.

Medicine for me is no problem. The doc gives me these instructions and I follow them to the letter. Some times I have busy schedules so when he says take this 3 times a day, I just set it up in the morning, take one at 9, one at 10, one at 11. All done. Simple as that. You don’t need those little plastic pill keeper things with the days/dates on em.

Anyway I just thought I would plant the seed “Could your sympathies be somehow misdirected? I’m just sayin’.

EnsenadaDr - 1-11-2014 at 11:19 AM

Sorry Osprey it's only because Dennis is high profile and riles things up on the board. But I am sorry you are suffering. Where exactly are you living? If you have a life threatening emergency you can get treated in the US under the EMTALA law. I don't think Dennis is asking for attention, in fact he shuns it most of the time. I think he enjoys it however. You take care of yourself. And remember, as I do, no man is better than the other man. You are just as important as a Nomad as Dennis is and I am sure others wish you well. I know I do!! BTW, you might want to join Seguro Popular and get referred to a surgeon and get that nasty spleen out, sounds like it's time.

DavidE - 1-11-2014 at 12:11 PM

OSPREY you get your butt to the USA ASAP! Por Favor

Ensenada Dr. is absolutely right on the money. Go to the hospital social services dept and ask for help and assistance. The have counselors there with magic up their sleeve. You will get your tests and bagsful of medications.

Feed that freakin' spleen to the gulls!

Do it for your fellow Nomads amigo!

DENNIS - 1-11-2014 at 12:15 PM

Jorge mi amigo...... SALSIPUEDES. You owe it to yourself.

TMW - 1-11-2014 at 12:17 PM

Osprey I hope you feel better. With age there seems to be a whole new set of medical problems to experience. Did I tell you my left shoulder quit hurting and now my right shoulder started hurting, the heat pad does help.

vandenberg - 1-11-2014 at 12:42 PM

Jorge,
nothing wrong that an extra dose of Oso won't cure, believe me. Even your elbows if you soak them
Don't consume too many, just use a larger glass.

wessongroup - 1-11-2014 at 01:17 PM

You ALL take care of yourself's ... well, if you want to

Wiley

[Edited on 1-11-2014 by wessongroup]

desertcpl - 1-11-2014 at 01:21 PM

tough spot to be in

so I will wish you a full recovery, get well soon

I do understand about not having insurance

I went for over 10 years with out being able to get insurance here in the USA,,, I was repeatedly denied insurance as I as on a low dose of blood pressure meds
thank god for Medicare, when I reached 65
I had a lot of catching up to do,, guess you call it deferred maintence
I hopefully will get caught up some day
3 stints, laser on prostate that I suffered for years with
and various other problems, that has keep me close to home for a number of yrs now,,

you say that you cant afford to go to the VA, surely there must be options for you
I sat here for several years unable to get help

I am sure some help is available not only here on Nomads but also NOB

bajajudy - 1-11-2014 at 02:25 PM

Osprey
WOW
Just what we need...seriously!
THE ACHES AND PAINS FORUM

I have had this pain in my shoulder for over a month....blah, blah, blah.

Everyone stay well out there!

pauldavidmena - 1-11-2014 at 03:10 PM

Osprey - I'm new around here, but I hope you feel better soon. In a week's time I will be staying at a casita in San Pedrito with your name on it. :cool:

vandenberg - 1-11-2014 at 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajajudy
Osprey
WOW
Just what we need...seriously!
THE ACHES AND PAINS FORUM

I have had this pain in my shoulder for over a month....blah, blah, blah.

Everyone stay well out there!

Could call it "THE MOAN AND GROAN" forum.

I can fill a couple of pages. :saint:

bledito - 1-11-2014 at 03:19 PM

We're all going to get there. New aches and pains, which one will it be that takes us out. At 77 I hope I can still get to the bano and be able to crap. That is if I get to 77. I know a whole lot that didn't make 55.

This is Such a Valuable Discussion

Gypsy Jan - 1-11-2014 at 03:24 PM

Last month, our friend of many years told us he was thinking of selling his house in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and moving to Las Vegas, where his wife has family and he would be closer to medical assistance.

He was very distressed about the idea of leaving his beloved home, but he said his medical insurance was now costing about $4,000 a year and it keeps going up for him.

rts551 - 1-11-2014 at 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DavidE
OSPREY you get your butt to the USA ASAP! Por Favor

Isn't free medical care great.

DavidE - 1-11-2014 at 03:56 PM

Yeah, especially when a person pays 330,000 dollars in taxes to get free care. Or maybe you don't remember the days of 92.4% income tax on incomes greater than 60K?

1981. Gross income 84,000 dollars, net income 16,000 after all deductions. Oh yeah it was all sure as hell free. The only thing that saved my butt was a corporate expense account. Today's "WHINERS" earn 100,000 and scream epithets when they have to pay 10,000 dollars. Doesn't matter if their elders paid TEN TIMES then what they do in tax now.

It's all the ME ME ME GIMME generation. GO FOR IT

rts551 - 1-11-2014 at 04:38 PM

David

I was earning an income well before 1981 and never have seen an income tax rate of 92% in our country. ANd where did you ever get enough deductions to go from $84,000 to $16,000. Thats some creative accounting there.

Quote:

Originally posted by DavidE
Yeah, especially when a person pays 330,000 dollars in taxes to get free care. Or maybe you don't remember the days of 92.4% income tax on incomes greater than 60K?

1981. Gross income 84,000 dollars, net income 16,000 after all deductions. Oh yeah it was all sure as hell free. The only thing that saved my butt was a corporate expense account. Today's "WHINERS" earn 100,000 and scream epithets when they have to pay 10,000 dollars. Doesn't matter if their elders paid TEN TIMES then what they do in tax now.

It's all the ME ME ME GIMME generation. GO FOR IT

rts551 - 1-11-2014 at 04:40 PM

Quote:

Do you really think that it was your tax dollars that earned you free care?

MMc - 1-11-2014 at 05:02 PM

Osprey, I do hope this is another bit of fiction. If it is not, live your life your way.
We all get a answer to the big question one day.

Osprey - 1-11-2014 at 05:34 PM

Much of my medicine is OITs, Old Indian Tricks >> guaco vine for bites of all kinds and skin problems and rashes, plumeria sap to stop bleeding, moringa seeds for blood pressure, lomboy for skin cancer. It's all free, either from the desert, my neighbors or my garden.

I've carried around the big ugly spleen for many years so I'm used to it. I'm just careful not jump off roofs or ride dirt bikes fast because it's so heavy it could tear loose, bleed and I'm about 70 minutes from San Jose for help and about twice that to La Paz. I wouldn't know about the sepsis till I was close to bye bye so it wouldn't really be a bad way to go.

I've lived 77 years longer than a stillborn child >> that's my only and best point of view about the whole thing. Thanks for your concern. I wasn't lookin' for solace, just a few chuckles.

vandenberg - 1-11-2014 at 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
I wasn't lookin' for solace, just a few chuckles.

How come I knew that. :?:

Udo - 1-11-2014 at 05:54 PM

Your maladies, George, are just related to maturity. As to myself, I got hit with a cold bug that has been going around BA for a few weeks. I still have a little of it left, but I'm getting stronger every day.
It's just my first cold in over 14 years...I am very careful when I know someone else has one. The key here is when I know. I did not know about the bug going around town until about a week after I got it. My vitamin supplement is quite a regiment...and I left it all home this trip!

Osprey - 1-11-2014 at 06:01 PM

I'm supposed to be the wordsmith but I wouldn't hook me up any way, any how with the concept of Maturity. Ask anyone around these parts. I'll forgive you Udo cause I know you mean that my infirmities are old.

Osprey - 1-11-2014 at 06:06 PM

Might be a good time to reprise my little piece on Getting Old.

Olding

Through The Learning Channel, Discovery and National Geographic I stay in touch with the world. So much to see and be amazed by. Recently I learned that early man had very short life spans -- Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal both about 40 years on average. I’ve known for a while the sad statistics of the short life expectancy of people in countries like Niger (29) or Uganda (33) and others ravaged by drought, disease, war.

I live in Mexico. Life expectancy here, for a man, is 68.42. I turned 73 years old in October. I’ve already beat the curve for a lot of countries. Now that I have, I begin to feel another kind of sympathy for those who die young, before their time --- whatever the hell that means.

When I was a young man, I did youthful, energetic things. Now I can wallow in the sloth of old age, do all the things old people are famous for. I shall always consider myself lucky to have lived long enough to reach this age, live in this way.

Those unlucky souls who died while still very young, who were simply worn out, worn down by the conditions under which they lived and labored could only have their youth to remember. I give them no dishonor when I speculate that a man of 35 years, living in a country where his life expectancy is age 40, does not consider himself old by my standards. He will die before he can look old, feel old, be old. That’s the sad part.

He will never feel the pleasure of the complaint. His ills and ailments will never become his welcome bedmates, his friends and constant companions. This man can never know the satisfaction of being the victim of time, the joy of grousing about how ageing gnaws away at the body and the mind.

It is not possible for a young man to fully appreciate the satisfaction in scolding, chiding, advising a 50 year old son or daughter -- a special kind of fulfillment found in sharing one’s hard-won wisdom with the foolish, wrong-headed youngster. One of life’s precious secrets, learned at the age of 25 is no more than a fuzzy footnote to the sum and substance that man would take to the grave if he died a mere 15 years later.

The same secret, about women, politics, the human condition, carried about, polished, cleaned, tuned for 60 years, takes on the importance, the majesty of The Rosetta Stone, Hammurabi’s book of laws.

What of serious dialectic, discussion, argument? The young-old man has only children to talk with, to lecture to. A man of 80 or more years can and will argue with anyone who has ears, vocal chords, a tongue and soft palate, lips. His most eloquent pronouncements are soliloquies -- what we sometimes hear as mutterings, gibberish, are actually arguments won and lost with the master of the argument, the old man himself.

I’m coming of age myself. Last year I took some visitors, friends and family from the states, fishing in my little boat. We saw some marlin that wouldn’t bite, caught two small tuna. Rays were jumping everywhere. One of the youngsters asked me why the manta rays jumped. I said “because they can.”

Later that day my grandson Greg said “Grampa, why don’t we all go down to the beach, go for a swim?”

I said. “Because I don’t have to. Because I don’t want to.”

A statement not so much of prerogative but, considered against the millions who can never make such a gruff and gritty rejoinder, an obligatory declaration.

He probably mis-read my grin. He doesn’t know what it means when I rub my big belly with both hands, grin that way, open another beer. He‘s lousy at current events, geography. He doesn‘t know about the young-old people in Gambia, Ethiopia.

He’s 11 years old, lives in San Diego. Tomorrow he and I are going for a ride on the beach in my dunebuggie, sit and fish awhile. By the time we get back to the house he’ll know just how lucky he was to be born in a place where they let you live as long as you want.

Osprey

captkw - 1-11-2014 at 06:20 PM

Best wishes to you !!...your writing is poetic and done with a distinc touch...the Fish B

Kgryfon - 1-11-2014 at 07:55 PM

Hope you are feeling better soon...even if this was just for the chuckles...

EnsenadaDr - 1-11-2014 at 08:01 PM

Osprey the key to all this is to do what you are doing. Enjoy your life, and be close to those who care. I for one do care if you are hurting and no one seems to know. Shout out anytime to voice your fears, concerns and yes, even maladies. We all want to know someone is listening and someone cares about us. That never gets old, and no, it's not silly either. Even when you are "mature" :bounce:

Iflyfish - 1-13-2014 at 01:19 PM

Love your piece on getting old, wish mine had not done so.

Salud Amigo!

Iflyfishconmiantiguamigos

No! I Hope To Hll It Is YOUR Tax Dollars!

DavidE - 1-13-2014 at 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rts551

Quote:

Do you really think that it was your tax dollars that earned you free care?

Between Federal Tax FICA, SSI, and California's tax it amounted to above 92%. Of course you may want to argue with the information excerpt below which is part of the Congressional Record...

Following World War II tax increases, top marginal individual tax rates stayed near or above 90%, and the effective tax rate at 70% for the highest incomes (few paid the top rate), until 1964 when the top marginal tax rate was lowered to 70%. Kennedy explicitly called for a top rate of 65 percent, but added that it should be set at 70 percent if certain deductions weren't phased out at the top of the income scale.[24][25][26] The top marginal tax rate was lowered to 50% in 1982 and eventually to 28% in 1988. It slowly increased to 39.6% in 2000, then was reduced to 35% for the period 2003 through 2012.[23] Corporate tax rates were lowered from 48% to 46% in 1981 (PL 97-34), then to 34% in 1986 (PL 99-514), and increased to 35% in 1993.

Timothy Noah, senior editor of the New Republic, argues that while Ronald Reagan made massive reductions in the nominal marginal income tax rates with his Tax Reform Act of 1986, this reform did not make a similarly massive reduction in the effective tax rate on the higher marginal incomes.

David K - 1-13-2014 at 02:17 PM

You see Dah-veed, in their world, people who work hard, or smart and create wealth, jobs, and products people want or need are somehow 'guilty' and owe everyone what they have created, beyond any reasonable fair tax.

What they don't get is that business does not pay these excessive extra taxes... their customers do, in increased costs beyond the true value of the product. So, the consumer suffers, or the 'evil' corporation goes out of business... UNLESS they donated heavily to 'a' political party, in which case the government bails them out! BUT... that money is OURS too... and it is becoming valueless by the reckless spending.

DanO - 1-13-2014 at 03:05 PM

George, I don't know about all this grumpiness increasing as one ages business, but I understand that as we age, men get dumber while women get smarter. At least that's what my wife tells me.

DavidE - 1-13-2014 at 03:41 PM

I like the part about he who has the biggest gun eats best. Wanna drive? Pay me twenny bucks a gallon for gas. Hey Sukka what'ya mean you want ten dollars for a head of lettuce and forty bucks for a loafa bread? That six hundred dollar tire that Coozie ripped me off for don't fit. Don't be pointin' that scattergun at me, ain't my fault this new economy crap. Man's gotta eat.

Speckkylashun, works like a charm

Marc - 1-13-2014 at 07:01 PM

At 73 my formula; Old Whiskey & Young Women
The whiskey

The Woman (and she's a nurse)

Pescador - 1-14-2014 at 01:40 PM

I am not as old as Osprey so I won't give this topic much thought for a long time but for the most part he is pretty happy living like one of the locals and using the available services in his small community. Many people are not so comfortable and run north of the border at the slightest sniffle. It is a good thing to have some of those discussions and a lot depends on the individual and perhaps family members when those decisions arise.

My wife developed Lung cancer and we returned to the states and sought out the best of the best for treatment and we spent two years going almost daily to appointments and consultations with serious surgical and radiation treatments thrown in for good measure. Our lives became enbroiled in treatment and it was the topic of conversation for a very long two year period. The end result was that the cancer won and we spent a lot of money and time doing whatever we could do.

I had a good friend in our area who moved down here many years ago and he married a local woman and settled in. About the same time that we were fighting our medical battle he was diagnosed with a form of cancer and he went north for initial treatments where they thought they had caught things early enough for a successful prognosis. When the cancer flared up in another part of his body, he instructed the doctors to prescribe him some pain medication and he returned to Mexico. He spent his afternoons doing all the things he loved doing. We had very frequent poker games and morning discussions but usually by afternoon ,he would be pretty tired and rested. He spent a lot of time with family and friends and took the time for closure and instructions of what to do when his eventual demise came. He did not suffer a lot and seemed chipper right up until the very end.

I am not projecting or suggesting anything here at all, except that I was able to witness two entirely different methods of medical interaction. It is entirely up to the reader to decide which might be the most suitable for themselves.

Osprey - 1-14-2014 at 02:01 PM

Thanks for showing both sides of a slippery coin Jim. Whatever people might make of it my wife informed me yesterday that she put together the age of our two dogs: Tino is 11 and Fea is 14 (77 and 92 if you want to count the other way).

Then, when I consider our ages, the house, built in 1933 and all our old stuff, the whole package seems to be coming to an end all at the same time. Pretty good timing compared to the other way >> watching all those things slip away one after the other.

I was coming to a point where I thought the dogs might outlive me and would suffer for it so some years ago I began to deep fry all their food.

[Edited on 1-14-2014 by Osprey]

vandenberg - 1-14-2014 at 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey

I was coming to a point where I thought the dogs might outlive me and would suffer for it so some years ago I began to deep fry all their food.

From one old codger to another, I just love your sense of humor. :biggrin:

DavidE - 1-14-2014 at 03:00 PM

Lucky railing...

Mulegena - 1-14-2014 at 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandenberg

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey

I was coming to a point where I thought the dogs might outlive me and would suffer for it so some years ago I began to deep fry all their food.

From one old codger to another, I just love your sense of humor. :biggrin:

Just like you put Prozac in the hummingbird feeder water, eh Osprey? Such a rascally devil you are!

Skipjack Joe - 1-14-2014 at 03:33 PM

Men get grumpier as they age because the effort to keep it under control just becomes too great.

Women have the same issue with flatulence. It starts in their 80's. Now and again one escapes and there is great embarassment followed by repeated apologies. But by their 90's it just happens and nobody even cares to apologize. The great life-long battle is finally over.

DanO - 1-14-2014 at 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
Men get grumpier as they age because the effort to keep it under control just becomes too great.

Women have the same issue with flatulence. It starts in their 80's. Now and again one escapes and there is great embarassment followed by repeated apologies. But by their 90's it just happens and nobody even cares to apologize. The great life-long battle is finally over.

I'm sorry, but I've been informed (again, oddly enough by my wife) that women do not fart. Ever. And that anyone who accuses them of doing so is a liar.

Mexitron - 1-14-2014 at 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
Thanks for showing both sides of a slippery coin Jim. Whatever people might make of it my wife informed me yesterday that she put together the age of our two dogs: Tino is 11 and Fea is 14 (77 and 92 if you want to count the other way).

Then, when I consider our ages, the house, built in 1933 and all our old stuff, the whole package seems to be coming to an end all at the same time. Pretty good timing compared to the other way >> watching all those things slip away one after the other.

I was coming to a point where I thought the dogs might outlive me and would suffer for it so some years ago I began to deep fry all their food.

[Edited on 1-14-2014 by Osprey]

LOL!!!

Osprey - 1-14-2014 at 04:41 PM

I got to be this ripe old age partly because I eat a proper diet. I do experiment now and then when my wife is in the states.

Here's one of my experiments that's become a favorite. I call it Redneck Calamari.

redneck calamari.jpg - 24kB

MMc - 1-14-2014 at 05:41 PM

Do the dogs like too, You are to good!!!

Pescador - 1-14-2014 at 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
I got to be this ripe old age partly because I eat a proper diet. I do experiment now and then when my wife is in the states.

Here's one of my experiments that's become a favorite. I call it Redneck Calamari.

As Larry the Cable Guy would say, "Now that is funny and I don't care who you are".

bajadogs - 1-14-2014 at 11:02 PM

Osprey,
There is no doubt John Steinbeck left something on the shore for you to pick up.

Keep it up as long as you can señor. I consider your writings a gift.

Peace, health, and happiness to you Jorge.
Mark