Ever since my 76th birthday in February, my body has been falling apart orthopedically — hip, knee, and shoulder. Most of my body’s systems are fine, but my skeleton, not so much.
The MRI on my right hip showed a number of issues, including arthritis. My orthopedist has convinced me that I need a new hip. “It’s a surgery that most people recover from in a few days,” he told me. “Nothing to worry about.”
While I’m getting a second opinion, I suspect I’ll eventually end up with a hip replacement. Before I scheduled the surgery, Bonnie and I had a long-planned Seven Stars trip to Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina, followed by a flight to Greece for two consecutive weeks on a cruise ship out of Athens. When we’re in Cherokee, we can fly to Europe out of Atlanta — which makes for a much shorter trip than flying to Europe out of Las Vegas.
Walking with a walker is acceptable, so I figured I’d deal with the walker while away from home and get the hip fixed once I’m back. It didn’t work out that way.
Harrah’s Cherokee is a rather large casino, and our hotel room was almost a half-mile from high limit slots, which is where I play their $5 Deuces Wild game. There is a newer hotel tower closer to the casino, and we certainly could have gotten a room there, but the fitness center is in the old tower and (before I knew my bones were going to be hurting) I figured I’d spend three or four days a week working out. Plus, the best place for breakfast (Selu Garden Café) is in one of the older towers.
The first couple days, I was walking with my walker at a reasonable pace, but the pain kept increasing. By the third day, I was hurting too much to be walking. We considered renting a scooter at $60 a day (that goes against the grain for someone trying to gamble with an advantage), but they also had a few complimentary regular wheelchairs.
Bonnie volunteered to push me in the conventional wheelchair. We tried that, but she’s 80 years old, weighs 100 pounds, and there are some uphill carpeted pathways between the hotel and casino. After one such session, I recognized that this wasn’t a good solution. While she would have kept going until she dropped, I made the executive decision that we could afford $60 a day for a short period of time. When she mentioned my hip pain to our host, he said he’d comp the scooter. Now it became a no-brainer.
People are graciously holding doors open for me, and getting out of my way as I drive through the casino. Whether it’s being polite or trying to protect themselves from this crazy old man and his scooter, I’m not sure.
In addition to video poker, I also check out slots — of which there are a lot in Cherokee. Having a scooter is a plus.
Bonnie has some foot issues as well. While nowhere near as severe as mine, long walks cause her a bit of a problem sometimes. So, we share the scooter. We sit side by side, both with half a butt-cheek off the edge, and she drapes her arm around my neck in order to hang on. She’s usually smiling, but regularly pleads with me, “Not too fast on corners!”
As we go along, many people smile at the sight and comment with a, “Now that’s the way to do it!” or something similar. When they do, we both smile and I honk the horn of the scooter. Bonnie and I would make side bets on how many people would speak to us on our trip from our room to our machine.
I should be able to make it through the rest of our Cherokee trip using the scooter. But we’ll leave the scooter behind as we fly to Europe. How well the walker works then is to be determined.
It could easily turn out that we decide to stay on the ship and not explore the port cities. Which is understandable, but saddening. Exploring several Greek Isles, along with Jerusalem and Haifa, were on our bucket list. Missing them due to being unable to walk well will be a major disappointment. If the surgery goes well, maybe we can reschedule next year.
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Well, huddling and crunching up to upright video poker machines half of your life, as your main profession, will eventually take a toll. Smartest guy in the world should have probably planned on that.
You will feel so much better after the hip replacement. So maybe get that done first and then go on the cruise.
Jerry – Was this comment-” Smartest guy in the world should have probably planned on that.” really called for?
Hope things go well. If you are on the itinerary I think you’re on … People often forget that the old city was built on a mountainous terrain. Jerusalem is nearly all incline. There are steps up and down throughout every quarter. You can’t go far on a walker, much less scooter. / There are a lot of waits in line, not just the normal for a cruise, but also to go through Israel passport control, board the tenders. Take it easy.
Well I’m in your age group and scheduled for hip replacement Oct. 6th. I blame it on 50 years of Chicago damp weather, bowling and 20 years sitting playing poker in LV. Currently using a cane. Nothing really helps the pain. Good luck on that cruise. I don’t think my hip would make it.
Did you schedule your trip through a travel agency that caters to seniors with mobility challenges? If you didn’t, call some anyway, tell them where you wish to travel and what is feasible with scooter, walker, etc., hear what they have to say, even if you stay with the trip you booked. Church groups plan these holy land trips all the time and know about those things. Do some digging, no pun intended.
And, though probably not an AP move either, do not fail to purchase trip insurance that covers hospitalization/medical care outside the US (yikes) and medical transporting. Hope you won’t need it, but better to have it.
And get your doctor to prescribe some scopolamine patches to prevent motion sickness during those short trip bus/jitney vehicles, if you are at all prone to that. They can be pretty swervy and bouncy. My dad and step mom took a similar trip while in their 70s. Several side trips. Dad was always significantly prone to motion sickness. The patches worked great, except for the day he forgot his. Had a pretty miserable outing that day.
All the best to you and Bonnie.
Jerry was a little mean there, but this column came the very week after Bob boasted that he would rather take advantage of an edge rather than get sleep.
“ Some of the doctors I’ve read say a regular sleep schedule is an important part of good health. It’s possible they’re correct. It’s possible that’s just something they do, and they think it’s part of the secret to good health. I’m not sure. But I’m willing to sacrifice that particular technique. The alternative is simply too valuable to pass up.”
Of course, who knows whether too many days being up from midnight to 5 am caused arthritis and walking issues or not for any individual. But the evidence has shown that as you age the cognitive impact of late nights becomes more impactful, and possibly physical impact as well.
I am sure I am like so many of us here, seeking any kind of sliver of help or clue to maintain our advantage over the house. Well, let us return the favor for a change. A scooter need not be an advantage play in your unfortunate situation. It’s the only play! Though, as a devout follower of your teachings for decades now, I find it the least bit surprising that you found a way to reduce the cost of the scooter by 50%.
Bob, sorry to hear about your hip issues. As someone who has had both hips and both knees replaced (I’m bionic! 😄), my advice is the sooner the better.
Knees are hard but hips are easy! I was able to resume all of my activities in under 6 weeks. Of course, you have to put in the work with therapy, but it’s totally worth it. You will wonder why you waited so long!
Best of luck with your trip. I remember my days attending conferences- and my very first WSOP – using a scooter. It was definitely challenging but, as they say, it beat the alternative, which would have been missing all the foo things.
Bob, I don’t think that you should embark on a long foreign trip when you are physically compromised like you are. I might only “permit” you to take a trip to someplace that’s flat, and that’s not the case here, but I’m still leaning toward saying to just wait until after the hip replacement and your feeling fine and being able to walk normally and painlessly again. If you go while you are compromised, you won’t enjoy it as much, and you might even be hating it a bit. I think “Don’t push it” is wise advice to follow.
Bob, a scooter won’t work very well for Jerusalem, but maybe some of the other cities should have them to rent if necessary. Have a great trip anyway, and make the best of it. Bon Voyage!
While you maybe home and reasonably mobile within a few days of your hip replacement, it will be much longer before you can be considered “recovered”. More like several weeks before you can function normally and 3 months before you’re fully healed. This was for me, still very athletic and in my 50s when my hip was replaced after breaking it playing hockey.
Still, you will be much better off in the long run. Be diligent with your physio! I wish you well.
I love seeing the attractive young women in Vegas in cocktail dresses and high heels on scooters. You can’t do a night in Vegas in high heels. So they rent scooters, ride to a casino, put on the heels and have a good time. When they are ready to go to another casino, they go to their scooters, take the heels off and ride. They get to the next casino, put the heels on and have more fun. You see this all the time on the Strip and everybody loves it.
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Sangria
Best of luck on your trip! I hope you can do at least 75% of the things you want to do, and that you get back there to do the rest after a successful hip replacement.
If you buy a mobility scooter for Las Vegas don’t buy one that weighs more than 60 pounds if you want to easily move it in and out of a vehicle.
Don’t buy a mobility scooter that weighs more than 60 pounds if you want to easily move it in and out of a vehicle