Listen to your body

Good Advice !  Hope you are doing better!!!

im glad they found your problem i hope all is better now sucks getting older 

Wow Dick, could have gone so many different ways. Glad to hear you have found your way through!

First, very sorry about you wife passing, my condolences.
Regarding listening to my body, it keeps nagging me every day. Aches and pains have become normal. And, as my wife says, I'm too dumb to listen. Ah well, if it gets bad enough for me to recognize it, I'll go see the Dr.

Hope you're doing better, take care.

Excellent advice.  I will only add (for the benefit of others), next time just call 911 or at least call a friend or family member for a ride to the emergency room instead of driving yourself.  

I had a  situation last year , fortunately non-emergency, and I will add it here in case others experience similar symptoms.   It started with what I would call a muscle spasm in my left leg that lasted about a minute, followed by persistent numbness in the left foot.  This happened right after doing some major re-landscaping that probably strained my back a little so I assumed it was related.  I mentioned it to my doctor at my next visit a few week later and his initial thought was a pinched nerve caused by over-doing it.  I continued to have spasms about once a month and when I told the doctor at my annual physical, he referred me to a neurologist to figure out what was going on.  Long story short, they did not find any nerve related issues so next step was a brain MRI which revealed a benign brain tumor (meningioma) .  The tumor was pressing on the part of the brain responsible for right side motor function but had not invaded into it.  Come to find out that the spasms were actually small seizures.  Anyway, the tumor was removed 2 weeks ago without any complications and I am now released to resume or at least ramp up to  normal activity and driving (I guess I should give up MMA ;-).  

The moral of my story is: do not wait 6 months to check out what seems like a minor inconvenience.  In my case it was a benign tumor that is unlikely to reoccur but it could have been something more serious and instead I could be going through something where waiting could have cause it to be much worse to deal with, both for me and my family.  Even if you are as stubborn as I am, don't put your family through that.  

as men i think we all wanna believe whatever it is is nothing and will just go away. sometimes we can be wrong ? 
glad it turned out well for you my friend, just dont be stubborn again !

Yep  -  listen to your body and on days that end in a Y listen to your wife, she just might have something important to say

After practicing emergency field medicine for over 20 years, let me say this: Air goes in and out, blood goes round and round. That’s how we get oxygen and sugar into the muscles and brain, and CO2 and metabolic byproducts out. Anything that stops those processes will kill you in minutes. Anything that impedes those processes will still kill you…maybe just a little bit slower.

Dizziness, significant weakness, weakness to one side of your body, a massive sudden headache, blurred vision or slurred speech, shortness of breath without major exertion, and chest pain/heaviness/tightness are all signs that these processes are being impeded and should be addressed by an actual medical professional. Now. 

If it’s nothing, great! They will (most likely) refer you to a specialist just to be sure, because even ER docs can’t rule everything out….but you won’t be dead.

Unless you’ve got a degree and are in practice, YOU are not a medical professional…neither is the internet or your neighbor, friend, whatever. 

Screwing this up is a bad thing to do. In the best (better) case, you just die. In the worst case, you’re majorly effected for the rest of your life…which will be grossly shorter as a result. 

I’ve had the unfortunate experience of watching hundreds of people in our age group mess this up…and often end up seeing them again and again as their mistakes ruin what’s left of their not-long lives. 

If you’re going to be stubborn about this stuff, do yourself a favor and make sure your affairs are in order so at least your family doesn’t have to worry about that. 

If you think I’m being dramatic, ask your doctor if I’m wrong. 

Ryan - great insights. Dramatic is good.  Thank you for the view from the "other side."

For sure, if something "isn't right" get checked.  My example - I had broken my foot, and my calf started to really REALLY hurt. First tried to tell myself my leg was sore from the walking boot. But knew the pain was more than just muscle soreness so I had it checked...blood work first, then ultrasound...and had multiple clots (DVTs, deep vein thrombosis). Very scary time but was able to connect with an awesome doctor who worked with me to develop treatment plan.  

I think the problem with most people, is their brain is what they are listening to, and meanwhile their body, or at least the parts that aren't 100% are screaming their heads off. It's like the brain isn't attached, but I know from experience it's usually just mule headedness saying shaddup, you're fine. :-)

Glad you called your Doc, and hoping you heal quickly Dick.

Ryan said

" Unless you’ve got a degree and are in practice, YOU are not a medical professional…neither is the internet or your neighbor, friend, whatever." 

None of the "smart" Docs I know will treat themselves, mostly because of that brain/body disconnect I mentioned above. 

Last year I wanted to go to the VA hospital. I started driving,knew I wouldn't make it, and stopped at the local fire department.  Then it got weird, I spent a week in the hospital. Got a new hobby, visiting medical facilities.

I guess i was listening.

It's good to read that others have 'found' something strange going on and acted accordingly.  

Over the last 5 years, My 42 years of smoking started wanting payment, and I had a steady string of my body suddenly telling me I SAID, and me going oh, ok......

For all of them I was guilty as charged, didn't listen, didn't think, refused to believe it would bother me.

Now for the last 2 years I have been "healthy" well Diabetes is controlled, heart is patched up to a like new state, and doing better in most regards, my heart rate is stable, and no more dizzies all the time, or an irregular pulse. BUT, and a really big BUT. I have acquired skin cancer. Not just any skin cancer, but Merkle Cell Carcinoma. This is the stuff that killed Jimmy Buffett. Survival rate if you live 3 years with it is 50%, even after 3 years, 5 years, 10 years your odds for an additional 3 are 50%. Currently I have a baseball sized ditch in my left arm, from the first surgery. Now less than a year later, well it's back, and has been for 4 months, I have anther site on my left wrist, and surgery is next Tuesday. So my recurrence was fast, not a good sign. For this stuff my smoking wasn't a problem, just sun exposure, and for all of you older guys you will know when I say SPF has only meant something for the last 10 years or so. So most of us Boomers with it, didn't know there was something we should have been doing, but heck a tan was a sign of good health, vim, vigor, and all that stuff. Not of impending death.

I missed the call when my body was screaming protect me, on that one. Well nobody bats 1000. :-) 

For me the "strange" part did occur though, it was the huge wormlike growth growing out of my elbow site, that was a certain, uhhhhhh hey Doc, WTF is that????

I've always said getting old is cruel. Hang in there buddy!

I got a stern talking to last November when my doctor of 41yrs retired, saying I have to be proactive about looking after my health along with all the issues I have. 
Now I’ve been told twice in less than 6 months, thank you Dick!

well i guess we stubborn stupid men cant be told enough, huh crowie !!!! 🙄

Yep!
It took me nearly 3yrs of discomfort and attention to finally have an ingrown toenail attended to last week 

George  -  gheeeeeezoooow
It's a good thing we don't live closer to each other or we just take turns slapping the crap outta each other  -  I was told that eliminates a slight bit of stupidity   wish I could remember who that was  -