Poor Me Stories

If you do not like poor me stories skip this one.

Just the other day a doctor at the VA mentioned my ills were not sufficient enough to keep me from working, after all I had been walking, riding a bicycle and functioning rather well compared to others who are really disabled, just love folks who think because your ills can not be seen or come in unseen bouts, you are not really ill.

Have a 60% disability from the Army for all my body ills developed over my years of service.
Apparently folks need to know that my ills may not always show to others, but if they had to live with me or work with me the last two years of my work life, folks would realize my body has problems which are getting worse day by day.

Today was a good day and a bad day, I was sick to my stomach last night, horrible congestion this morning, terrible coughing spasms to the point I was not sure what was going to happen next. Just as always, as soon as the ills came on me, the ills left me and I was functional once again.

Cleaned myself up and went for a bike ride, skipped the walk this morning, had a great ride and felt better. The heart and general practitioner doctors have told me to stay as active as I can for as long as I can to help keep my body functioning properly.

Since about 2005 I have had some real rough times with congestion and body pain but have managed to keep those ills somewhat under control. The Army told me on my retirement in the early 1990s my problem was irritable bowel syndrome and angina, in the mid 2000's the Army mentioned heart problems, Agent Orange and precancerous skin problems on my scalp, neck, face and back. All of these physical ills have caused me to have weight gains and losses, bloating, and just plain down right horrible feelings in my chest, throat, and sinus areas. There are days I am fine and function like anyone else, then there are days I can not get out of bed or spend my time coughing so badly I have no voice or energy when the cough subsides.

Retirement in 2010 was not what I wanted to do, there were days I could not function, not fun realizing your body will not let you go to work on a regular basis, and my employer was not happy my ills were keeping me from doing what everyone else was doing, everyone else was also not happy I was not doing what they were doing, it was time to retire and relax and put my self back together again,Unfortunately the last two years have not been all fun, retirement has been fun and I have done lots of fun things but the ills have not gotten any better and at times my ills are worse.

Use to laugh about my parents and grand parents always talking about their ills, it was almost like they had nothing else to talk about, now I know they did not have anything else more important to talk about than their health which was failing right before their eyes.

We all need to remember we are not as healthy as we use to be and no amount of pills,exercise or changes in the way we eat and live are going to change that we are getting older and our bodies are changing and not always for the better. Some may look great but not be great and some of us just deal with the way we look the best we can...smiles and frowns.

These comments were brought on by those who think because I can walk, talk, ride a bicycle and look healthy some of the time, that I am ok and that my ills are not as bad as I say because of my ability to function normally much of the time.

Hate being negative but at times we have to let folks know we are not always FINE. Most of our working life we told everyone we were FINE so we could keep our jobs and we looked the other way when our bodies were trying to tell us we were not FINE, then the ills catch up to some of us and life changes and we can no longer deal with life the way we did all those previous years.
For me this is just a new chapter in life and will deal with the ills the best I can, how about y'all?

Doctor visit this morning at 8:30 AM to see if I am still ill, well guess what, I am still ill, well ill if you count I have IBS and all that goes with that ill such as stomach pain, bloating, fluid build up, weight gain, coughing, heavy congestion, Pre-skin Cancer and all that goes with that ill such as horrible pain in the facial area, neck, and back, along with having to have the cancerous areas removed every six months, surgery to remove some areas, and being sick after each treatment, Heart problems in the form of coronary artery disease and all that goes with that ill, horrible congestion each and every morning and all that goes with having too much fluid in you that has no place to go but up and out and if you are not dealing with it, you are in big trouble, so yes, other than those few thing, I am doing just fine these days. Got home from doctors appointment and found more Social Security questions on my ills already answered, answered the questions again, and sent those answers back to Social Security.

 

My body is worn out from years of walking, speed walking, running, physical exercise in the gym, playing football in school, running track in school, Army training for 21 years, and all that self training from age 9 till age 59 when all my ills started to get worse. For a time I did not do much because I just did not feel like it, the GP and the HD told me I was going to have to walk, swim, and anything else I could do to improve my breathing, so walking and triking were in. I swam for awhile, then walked for awhile, now I am walking and triking with some swiming, there are days I feel great, there are days I do not get out of bed, there are days I walk or trike out to turn around and walk and trike back after a block, many days I feel great while I am out, so I am working on this exercise to improve my breathing and well being...smiles and frowns...after all the alternative is death or being bed ridden...not for me