Age-related risk aversion

[Robin]

As we age, what is it that increases our perceived risk? Are we really at risk of something age-related, or maybe something else that involves bad life habits catching up with us, like a stroke or heart attack? Do we gradually become weaker without realizing it, and hurt ourselves trying to do what we used to do? Are we simply more careful or for some other reason tend to become more risk-averse (though the risks themselves are the same)? And what is it that keeps us safe anyway?

My fear is an age related mishap. I'll be 66 by my next trip. I'm in good enough shape to be out there, but I have noticed the difference in my body the last year and the things I used to do without a second thought have become more of a task nowadays.

In spite of the warnings that my age is catching up on me, I will continue to solo trip. I feel that with my experience and my owning up to my aging issues I will be able to plan and carry out a safe trip.
The SPOT will be there just in case, and to give my family piece of mind.

 

[red langford]

Nanny state? That's not teacher talk. lol

 

[Guest]

Stay near well-traveled routes when you're out solo.

Rarely do I.

Yet.

 

[Guest]

What a great series of replies! They go deeper than I'd anticipated, and I'm really enjoying them. A little more info on me and my perspective, for whatever that may be worth.

I'm 64 and have some wear-and-tear issues along with the fallout from some injuries. Tinnitus plagues me (thanks to an artillery accident in 1974); how I would love to hear silence once again, but it'll never happen. My right shoulder is a Grade III separation (only one ligament intact out of the original three) thanks to an idiot who ran me off the road and off my motorcycle in 2008. Oh well ... it still works. Left shoulder has had minor arthritis or bursitis for at least that long. Learning good paddling technique (rotated forward stroke and the paddler's box) keeps the shoulders safe.

Last year I was hit with atrial fibrillation while breaking camp on Knife Lake. Two days, 18 miles, and 8 portages later I checked into the Grand Marais hospital and they cleared it up. When I got home, the ensuing stress test and echocardiogram revealed zero deposits anywhere near my heart, and the cardio condition of a 40-year-old athlete. I guess I'll keep riding my bike. (While I was dealing with a-fib, my 2-years-older brother was preparing for a quadruple bypass that saved his life.)

I'm careful, and that alleviates most risks. The key to that is mindfulness, having the discipline to focus on where I am and what I'm doing. That hasn't come easy and it breaks down sometimes. I talk to myself to slow my thinking down so I don't do something impulsive (thanks to partially-treated ADD). The two times I twisted my many-times-sprained left ankle in the BW were when I was distracted from watching my step. And I've learned a most important lesson about tripping and life in general: complacency kills. Any time I find myself thinking, "it'll be OK" the red flags start waving. That little thought is a cue that I haven't thought the thing through completely and am setting myself up for trouble. I wish I could say I've learned that lesson through observation, but the truth is it's come through difficulties, some of which were life-threatening.

The things I'm afraid of are spraining my right ankle, breaking a bone, and getting appendicitis. I have control over the first two and that's the best I can do. As for age-related risks, I don't know quite what to point to, which is why I raised the question in the first place.

Thanks again, folks. This is a neat way to get to know each other. What a great campfire conversation this would be!

 

[Guest]

You just bring plenty of Advil, Vodka and Geritol!

 

[Guest]

One other somewhat age-related phenomenon is atrial fibrillation. It hit me as I was breaking camp in the BW last May. Two day, 18 miles, and 8 portages later, the folks at the Grand Marais hospital took care of it. But like a friend who shows up every year or so, it visited me when I woke up this morning. Can't say I missed it, and I'll be going to the ER shortly to send it back to where it came from again. Oh well, I wasn't really going paddling today anyway.

 

[yellowcanoe]

One other somewhat age-related phenomenon is atrial fibrillation. It hit me as I was breaking camp in the BW last May. Two day, 18 miles, and 8 portages later, the folks at the Grand Marais hospital took care of it. But like a friend who shows up every year or so, it visited me when I woke up this morning. Can't say I missed it, and I'll be going to the ER shortly to send it back to where it came from again. Oh well, I wasn't really going paddling today anyway.

A fib isn't always age related though incidence rises with age . But neverthertheless its appearance makes for less than a jolly day. Wishing you the best and wishing you avoidance of cardioversion.

 

[Guest]

Back from the hospital and all is well.
Thanks, YC, I'll do my best to avoid cardioversion in the future. I just wish I knew how to do that.

 

[oldie moldy]

I know it's been mentioned before, but the book "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales is one I found interesting for the most part. There are parts where he gets a little too modern for my taste but over all it's useful.
Each chapter has a pivotal idea that he goes on to illustrate with various adventures folks have had. A lot of these ideas are ones most of us already knew but he does lift the idea up and make it very clear what's at work inside us to make it important.
I particularly liked the sections about recognizing when things have changed, value of humor and continuing to live for someone else.
I got my copy used from Amazon (cheap!) It was a good idea to buy it because when I got exasperated with some sections I could set it down and come back later and read for the meat of it.

Best Wishes, Rob

 

[daveo4]

Gavia,
Glad to hear you are OK. It's a b*tch when things sneak up on you like that. I had a false alarm last Sep that was scary but after 2 days in ICU, 2 more on the heart floor, and many tests that showed I was perfectly healthy (all at the bargain price of about $12K!), I was sent home with a prescription for some antacid.
Is there anything you can do out in the bush for this A fib problem?
Best,
Dave

 

[yellowcanoe]

Gavia,
Glad to hear you are OK. It's a b*tch when things sneak up on you like that. I had a false alarm last Sep that was scary but after 2 days in ICU, 2 more on the heart floor, and many tests that showed I was perfectly healthy (all at the bargain price of about $12K!), I was sent home with a prescription for some antacid.
Is there anything you can do out in the bush for this A fib problem?
Best,
Dave

for your morning reading.. maybe. I will not elaborate

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046006/

 

[PrairiePete]

That's when you find out who is REALLY your friend.
Pete

 

[snapper]

Wow! I've been in A-fib now for over 5 years and no one has ever suggested that for me (LOL). In all seriousness, I'm not sure there is much you can do about it should it come on while on a trip. Mine was discovered in a regular exam. There was one medication that got me off of it but that was only temporary (about 4 months total) and I had to be in the hospital overnight because the doctor said if the medicine didn't go well with my system I wouldn't have time to get there. Ever since then I've been on a daily regime of one 25mg Toprol and one 325 mg aspirin. So far, so good. I have continued to paddle, swim, hike, bike, etc. with no adverse effects. I can only hope for you that it goes as well because if it hadn't been for that routine exam, I'd have never known I was in danger for anything.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper

 

[Guest]

dave04, there is nothing you can do if a-fib (or a-flutter) hits you in the field, other than bear down. That's right, bear down. I have a friend who's a cardiac care nurse, and that's what she tells her a-fib patients. The reason has to do with the vagus nerve and its connection with the heart's electrical system. My first case of a-fib hit at a campsite in the BWCA. Two days, 20 miles, and 8 portages later, I got to the Grand Marais hospital where it was fixed.

Picking up my story where I left off ... So I got home from the hospital on Sunday with a properly beating heart. On Tues. morning a-fib (actually atrial flutter) kicked in again. Long story short, on Wed. afternoon I had a cardiac ablation, a procedure where a catheter is threaded through the femoral vein up into the heart. A little zapper creates a row of scar tissue that stops the runaway electrical signals and returns the heart to normal rhythm. I'm tired and there are a few puncture wounds in the crease of my groin, but my heart is doing a nice, normal 60 +/- bpm.

The doc wants to monitor me in month so I'll have to postpone my mid-May BWCA trip, but that's small potatoes compared to the other options.

 

[rpg51]

Of course the first action in trouble avoidance is to have the wisdom and the experience not to get into trouble.

This is so true and especially in canoeing. I believe that many many people who start out in canoeing understandably do not have a clue about many of the very serious risks must of which can be well controlled - but not if you don't perceive the risk. Two folks were pulled off Lake Champlain the other day - out canoeing in very cold water with no pfds.

 

[Shearwater]

Old is an attitude not an age.

Old is an attitude not an age.

For my 65th birthday and the 20th anniversary of my heart attack (MI), I went up north and canoed 730 km of fast moving rivers in 19 tripping days, mostly solo. Absolutely wonderful. It takes me longer on the portages thanks to a sky-diving accident that removed an ankle and part of a knee. So what! Portaging is all about the view anyway. Concussions have slowed down my reasoning processes somewhat, so I now spend a little more time sizing things up before doing. Sitting and thinking about what I'm about to do is good for the old brain anyway and a chance to see the world around me.

My main nod to getting older is using a hammock instead of crawling in and out of my miniature solo tent. I also spend a little more time scouting rapids and have learned to enjoy lining my canoe.

I intend on using a cart to get my sea kayak and canoes down to the shore-line when I'm too old to carry them.

And yes, for the benefit of my wife, I carry a SPOT, so I can send a "here I am and I'm fine" OK message. I also carry a PLB on the hopes that I can pull the pin at the end so that they can find my body and my family doesn't have to wait years before insurance and will settlements.

So it's all about attitude and not jumping into anything without some good forethought. Other than speed, nothing else should change much.

Isn't there a saying about rather than showing up at the Pearly Gates in a business suit and tie, I want to come racing in, all beat up, bruised and dirty, saying what a heck of a ride.

cheers Ted

 

[Guest]

Ted, I can't agree with you more. I particularly like your intended use of the SPOT device.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Of course I have become more risk averse as I've aged. I think that's a normal emotional and intellectual progression. However, it doesn't really affect my paddling much, almost all of which is solo and alone.

I no longer paddle class 4 whitewater or even hard 3. I still have most of the technical paddling skill but not the mental toughness. I also don't think I have the physical condition any more to swim in violent rapids. So, bye, bye, hard whitewater.

I now paddle closer to shore and am even more averse to long crossings.

Most of the extra care is on land, where I always took extra care anyway. Land -- with it's slopes, roots, rocks, mud, scree, and satanic slipperiness and stumble-ness -- is where I have always thought injuries are far, far more likely to happen on a canoe trip. I never liked carrying heavy loads long distances even when I was young and strong with heavy tandem canoes. I always was of the opinion that "portage" was a French word meaning "poor trip planning". I will now avoid portaging more than ever, given that I can now throw my lower back out with just a 30' carry from my van to the shore. Aside from that, when in the canoe I can still paddle all day without any aches or pains or stress. Thank god.

I have had a PLB for three years, which I also take on hikes and carry in my car. It just makes common sense to me. If you need it, the payoff is hugely positive. And vice versa.

I also now take a full size and heavy chair on my non-portage trips. No more sitting on logs infested with fire ants.

 

[Guest]

I will now avoid portaging more than ever, given that I can now throw my lower back out with just a 30' carry from my van to the shore.

Have you ever analyzed exactly what happens when you throw your back out? It can happen several different ways, and some of them are easily avoided.

I wrenched my lower back at the end of the first portage - before getting the boat wet! - on my last BW trip (last Sept.). I failed to "set" my back before lifting my main pack. My lower back rounded over and then I lifted. It hurt for the rest of the trip. What I should have done was to set the natural curve in my lower back, clench my back muscles to hold that curve, bend forward at the hips, drop down a bit through my knees, grab the pack, shift my weight back, and only then lift.

I might be more likely to do it right on my spring trips, having spent the winter using the same back-saving technique while shoveling snow.