This is a thread for ILXORS IN THEIR 50's

Our cohort is few, but mighty.

abbott being a sexy cold war scientist

OH MY GOD WHY WAS I NEVER THAT

I remember Howdy Doody.

and i thought i was old for remembering leaded gasoline!

madonna, michael jackson, prince and ME -- i am now 50 and 1/2.

sept 1968 was like the gayest time to enter high school

everyone cool in those days were entering college

there is truth lurking here -- people in our sub-generation have a complicated relationship w/our older sibs, the 60s baby boomers. this usage of "gay" is uhm, anachronisitic, or something. (I entered HS in 72 FWIW.)

anachronistic! edgy, you mean!!1!

so is bimble part of this exclusive club?

I didn't expect to get shoulder and back hair this late in the game.

ha was wondering what you meant in the 40s thread

what's up y'all

had a cardiologist call me at 7am to cancel my appointment (snow)

this morning the dentist said that my teeth with metal fillings will all eventually need crowns; seems legit, the youngest of those fillings is 40+ years old

i went to the dentist for lots of work this past year, first time since forever, and it was all space aged nano whatever shit and i think the dentist and his assistant were legit smirking at my one old iron ore filling from when i was a teenager, fifty years ago, in an eastern bloc nation

oh hi, I'm 54 now

peeing takes a long time

backache is a thing

(knocks on wood)

As hinted above, I have a cardiologist now! My primary doctor, who has pretty amazing raw skills -- like hearing -- apparently, thought he heard a murmur in my heartbeat last month. GREAT!

It turns out I have an "unconcerning" prolapse which is a "2" (not a 3 or a 4), so it just has to be checked every year from now on.

Aging is a motherfucker.

all the best morbs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murmur_(album)#/media/File:R.E.M._-_Murmur.jpg

i am two years older than william hartnell in this picture :D

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1920x1080/p01hg14p.jpg

(obviously i have regenerated several times: also did not grow up in poverty etc)

He got paid five times more per ep than Anneke Wills was, to make up for the poverty stricken childhood!

what a feelin'

mainly feeling it in my lower back today

Rapidly approaching Sammy Hagar milestone.

Minutemen?

Can you hear me, Dr. Mu

Imagine my surprise

Just realized that the “ordinary guy” in Pavement’s “Stereo” is maybe a reference to “Dr. Wu.” I still got it!

Oh wait

I just went through all the tests you are supposed to do when you get to 50, only 7 years late.

Anyway, all passed 100%, so hey!

I guess that lower back pain is gonna go in the "what do you expect at yr age?" cart.

Thanks for reminding me. I just did the same with one test, the biggest of all, remaining to be done in the next few months. If the news is bad I will speed post my remaining backlog of screennames.

I was Big C diagnosed about five months after turning 50, so maybe i didn't get the other tests.

(i'm mostly OK now, just medicated)

He got paid five times more per ep than Anneke Wills was, to make up for the poverty stricken childhood!

― calzino

for two months and then he got sacked. quintessential "being in your '50s" experience tbh

Definitely another bummer about being in your 50s. If you lose your job, you can't necessarily bounce back. You might never have a salaried position again.

Definitely another bummer about being in your 50s. If you lose your job, you can't necessarily bounce back. You might never have a salaried position again.

HI DERE. Raise your hand if you have been rendered depressed, rudderless, and without direction because you've structured your life around a eight-hour, salaryman working schedule for so long that when you were inevitably disrupted out of your career you've become addicted to the anxiety and panic of not being able to focus. oops TMI

raises hand

in my case it took several years to work through the trauma of being ejected and to figure out other ways to live ... I won't trivialize the difficulties involved, but now the only thing I miss from my salaryman days is the income

i need the med coverage

As mentioned on the other thread, in January I was made redundant 7 days before I hit 50.
my skills are probably no longer in demand (manual software tester) due to an increased focus on automated testing, and to be honest, I think I have had enough of software/corporate culture.
The last few months I have been a stay at home dad, and will probably remain so while mk2 goes through his teenage trials and tribulations (3 more years).
The very idea of being the Office New Boy at the age of 50 fills me with dread, and I know it would bring on a lot of stress and anxiety.
I am in a 'fortunate' position in that due to life insurance, I have no mortgage and get a small occupational pension from BH so will not be made homeless or starve, but coming to terms with a very different financial outlook is still the big stumbling block.
That and daytime TV.
Thank goodness for 'Walter Presents .. '.

In other news : re lower back pain.
Having sat on my arse in an office for 30 years the last 2 years were very problematic re my back.
My solution : swimming.
I have started swimming 4 times a week (roughly 1km each time), and the change has been very noticeable.

Slightly overlapping with what I said on the Forties thread, but I was made redundant at 51, also due to having skills which are no longer in demand. My partner has always earned a lot more than me, so we were OK - but then he was made redundant last year, at 58. Thankfully his skills are still in demand, but he refuses to re-dose himself with the poison of corporate culture - so it's taking a while to sort things out, and we are having to be careful with money, for the first time since our twenties.

I cover my monthly outgoings with DJ-ing (a weekly gig and a monthly gig) and Discogs selling (I inherited a rare and valuable collection, and am being ruthless with my own). We also have a lodger, for the first time in nearly thirty years - a good friend, also in his fifties, going through a divorce and coming to terms with being on the gay side of bi. He hates his job and wants to change back to his old career, but it would involve a precarious salary drop, at least to begin with, which isn't great timing when you're getting divorced.

Despite this difficulties, my net life satisfaction level is still hugely in credit. I feel busy, fulfilled, and grateful for all I've got. But I can't deny the presence of a persistent low-level background hum, which says "You are uniquely unemployable. Everyone else can get jobs, but you haven't got what it takes." It's bullshit, but it's there.

Fuck those cry baby under 50s in that other thread. Here's to getting Saga Holiday ads and people ringing me to ask if I want to cash in my pension and/or release some equity from my home and to being told I can't increase my life insurance because YOU R 2 OLD.

Also I just put up a desk, not too shabby eh? I'll be paying for it tomorrow mind.

it doesn't start getting real until you can't remember your 40s

xp Incidentally my pension is not worth the paper it's printed on so who's laughing now Mr Random Cold Caller?

it gets really real when your pathetic gig income and Obamacare fast-track you to bankruptcy

what a feelin'

― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Monday, July 2, 2018 8:55 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

Right in my knees.

oh hi, I'm 54 now
peeing takes a long time

― WilliamC, Thursday, January 4, 2018 12:24 PM

Seven weeks shy of 56, but I found the secret: constant impotent rage keeps me young.

momus is almost 50

He’ll be 60 in February.

Fuck those cry baby under 50s in that other thread.

They're just coming to grips with their ultimate mortality, poor dears. Be kind to them.

I’m 55 and having a pretty good time.

I seem to have rediscovered my mojo this year: got serious about my job, holidayed in Japan, rekindled my interests in art and photography, good clothes (lost 40lb weight which helped), and the joy of short breaks by Eurostar.

Best to take that as recommendation rather than dismissal

as if you need another reason (I did mine last year)

Taking advantage of a unique public health policy in the UK, a new study has found that receiving the shingles vaccine reduces dementia risk by 20%. The findings bolster a growing body of research linking the vaccine to lower numbers of dementia cases...

So I'm 'mid 50s' and have never had a colonoscopy... I see that some people start in their mid-40s

So I got the courage up and reached out to my HMO primary physician.. I asked if the home tests ('poop on the paper') are sufficient, or if I should go in for my closeup... here's what he responded:

Hi Andy the Grasshopper,

At 55, it is recommended to begin regular colorectal cancer screening. A colonoscopy is the most comprehensive method, allowing for direct visualization and removal of polyps. However, stool-based tests, such as the fecal immunochemical test (FIT), are also effective for detecting early signs of colorectal cancer. These tests are less invasive and can be done at home. If the FIT results are abnormal, a follow-up colonoscopy would be necessary. Sometimes a colonoscopy would be indicated with patients who have a more family history of colon cancer as well. Please do let me know if there's any history of this.

I've done the home test every year for awhile, and always got back a 'normal' result.. What do you guys think? Should I push for the real deal, or let it ride?

I have a family history so I get the knockout jelly-finger. My cousin is a butt-doctor and according to him a colonoscopy can detect precancerous things that won't show up on a poo test. If you have any reason to suspect that your chances of cancer are higher than average I would go all in. Family history? Drinker/smoker? They can also tell you if you have any noncancerous butt issues.

I am not yet 50, so take that with a grain of salt.

Here's where I stand/sit. When I turned 47 my primary care told me that they've started to recommend earlier screenings, because iirc treatment for colon cancer is relatively successful if caught early. (Fwiw around the same time I had a friend treated for colon cancer, though she was in her '50s.) Anyway, you get the option of poop in a box or the full deal. I went with the poop in the box, which is easy. But (heh) the previous year, my wife went with the colonoscopy, and while they didn't find anything cancerous or anything, they did find a couple of polyps, which can become problematic, so they got rid of them. Subsequently I read that, per Cow_Art, the poop in the box test is only relatively accurate when it comes to detecting anything, and if detected, you have to get a colonoscopy anyway, and insurance often categories and charges for them differently, prevention vs treatment. Also, the poop in the box is recommended every three years, but colonoscopy only every 10. So it's now been three years and I am now 50, and I got a reminder about the poop in the box, but this time I am going full colonoscopy. I figure, if I'm going to do it, I'm going all-in (so to speak), for peace of mind.

Downside is I couldn't get an appointment before September. I'm also getting an upper endoscopy, because I have low iron, for some reason.

I've had scopes every 5 years since my early 40s, recommended because of some family history. The prep is no great joy, but it's OK. I dunno, my out of pocket cost for them is fairly low, if it cost me a lot more it would be more debatable. But there is some reassurance there. I think somewhere up in this thread (or maybe another?) there's discussion of propofol for the procedure. It's the only kind of anesthesia I've ever had, it's kinda wild. Doubly so to wake up from a nap with this guy in a white coat showing photos from the scan.

Here's something I came across on some medical thread that made me go colonoscopy over cologuard:

From the manufacturer, the cologuard had a 92% sensitivity, which in patient impact terms means that nearly one in ten patients WITH CANCER will have a NEGATIVE result, leading them to put off further screening for at least three years. There also a 10-13% false positive rate, which concerns me less as that will lead to a followup with the gold standard examination.

This is compared to colonoscopy which has about a 95% sensitivity for cancer, which means 1 in 20 patients with cancer will have a negative result. This is usually due to operator error, unfortunately. However, this is nearly a 50% reduction in false negatives for cancer, which is meaningful.

Further, consider the declining CRC rate. This is almost certainly due to early polypectomy eliminating benign polyps which could undergo transformation to malignancy over time. Stool based tests do nothing to eliminate these polyps early and thus serve no role in prevention, only in detection. Also, when you back away from looking at only malignancy and consider these premalignant lesions, Cologuard has only a 62% sensitivity for polyps with high grade dysplasia, which are at high risk for malignant transformation, and a 42% sensitivity for all polyps. Colonoscopy sensitivity for polyps is over 90%.

Yes, the negative predictive value is very high, but that is because it is a screening test and we are testing many many MANY people who don’t have the disease. For a catastrophic illness like colon cancer, the sensitivity is far more important, and I’m unimpressed by Cologuard. Yes, the best test is the one a patient will actually do, but we should be careful as physicians to properly counsel our patients as to the actual sensitivities and risk reduction aspects of their options.

The person followed up when asked about Cologuard's pretty high NPV (negative predictive value):

What I’m saying is that NPV is a great number for them to sell the test, but doesn’t tell the real story. This is a screening test. NPV is the likelihood that a negative will be a true negative in ALL PATIENTS SCREENED. The problem is that we test an enormous number of patients without disease, so OF COURSE there will be a high rate of true negatives. A 99% NPV can mean that I tested 100 people and all tested negative. 99 were true negatives, 1 was a false negative. That hypothetical test would have 0% sensitivity despite a 99% NPV.

Cologuard’s 99.94% NPV and 92% sensitivity means that in the total population if I test 10,000 people there will be 9994 true negatives. However, if I test 10,000 people WITH CANCER there will be 800 false negatives.

All that ignores the very poor sensitivity for adenomas and the loss of risk reduction through polypectomy.

I would argue that what patients care about is “if I have something, will this test find it?” The answer to that question is that if you have a premalignant polyp, the test will miss 3 out of every 10. If you have an existing cancer, the test will miss almost 1 out of every 10. That is the number that an individual patient cares about, in my opinion. NPV and PPV would be great if you were going to go straight to treatment or ‘make the diagnosis’ based on the test result. However, Cologuard is really a ‘rule out’ test as what you are trying to do in practice is rule out the patients who don’t need colonoscopies. For that purpose the sensitivity is not high enough. In my opinion.

I am deemed to be at high risk for cancer (immunosuppression messing with cancer defenses) and had some "precancerous" polyps a few years ago, so the medical profession has had a couple good looks up in my undercarriage.

Agree that the anaesthesia aspect is really very pleasant. I find myself wishing there were more experiences like that in life. Get ready Get ready Get- oh wait, you're done? Um, okay. Bye.

that is weird. last colonoscopy i had was like the best sleep ever. today i am wired up with the 24hr blood pressure machine. i have popped my back somehow and am struggling to get in and out of seats

The place that I go for colonoscopies is kind of amazing — big sleek office park building that is basically a colonoscopy factory. You get moved through it with dazzling efficiency from one room to the next, just this constant churn. Everybody is super nice and good about answering questions, so I don’t just feel like another slab of meat moving through. But I can’t imagine how many they do in a day. (Or how much money they bring in.)

xp Sorry about your back!

But I can’t imagine how many they do in a day. (Or how much money they bring in.)

Can't speak to your colonoscopy factory, but the fact that the soonest I could get mine (at a hospital) was end of August/beginning of September shows that they must have plenty lined up!

just this constant churn

lol

Re-reading that note from my primary physician (above), it sure looks cut & past if not AI generated.. and has a gatekeeper vibe (the home test is cheap for the HMO, colonoscopy is expensive)... I don't think I have any family history, but I just thought it was expected that everyone gets one, he kinda paints it as an option

in the UK, everyone from 54-74 gets a screening kit in the mail every two years. for free obv.

i don't believe colonscopies are offered unless something comes up in those, or if you're in a high-risk group