Here is Part 3 of Phil’s journey into the challenges of aging. For most of my life, most of my friends were older than I was. This, I felt, gave me a heads up on what was coming my way. At 67, I now have a few friends who are younger, but Phil is filling the role to leading the way!
It all started when I was walking on the factory floor during an audit around 2011. Suddenly the room began to move. It was spinning at about 60 rpm. I told the person who was escorting me that I needed to find an empty office and sit down, explaining that I was having a dizzy spell. Fortunately, we were close to some shop floor offices and I sat down in a conference room. The spell lasted about 15 minutes. I continued with the audit.
Fast forward about 3 years. I was conducting a three-day audit at a factory in Minnesota. The first day uneventful. I had dinner at a restaurant within walking distance of my hotel. After I had made some notes of the day’s activities, and watched some TV, I went to bed. When I awoke early the next morning, I felt like I was in the center of a carousel watching the horses spin around but no music and I had no break. Now I was concerned. I went back to bed to see if the dizziness would abate. After a half-hour it slowed down a bit so I could maneuver. I washed, got dressed and went down to the breakfast room. I ate something and drank a cup of coffee. The vertigo did not leave. I returned to my room to consider my next action.
I decided to see if I could drive. I hefted my backpack onto my shoulders and caught the elevator to the garage area all the while still experiencing dizziness. I managed to get to my car, store the backpack in the trunk, and back out of my parking space. I traveled about 100 yards down the ramp and decided this was a bad idea. My vision was blurred and the car felt like a boat on rippling water. There was a turnaround just in front of me, so I took it and returned to my old parking space. In the process, I managed to scrape some paint off the driver’s side fender of my rental car. (That cost me my deductible on my insurance policy.)
I returned to my room and contacted the client, explaining my circumstances. We settled on a plan that someone from their company would pick me up at 1:00 pm and I would resume the audit. By noon time, the effects had subsided to the degree that I was able to walk without holding on to something. I was still unsteady but moving. The client picked me up on schedule. The afternoon went without incident, but I stayed at the prescribed table and did what is called a “desk” audit. By evening all evidence of dizziness had disappeared. The next day went off without a hitch.
When I returned to Grand Rapids, I called my primary physician and explained what had happened. He immediately made an appointment with a neurologist. (It helped that we played golf once a week.) I met the neurologist who conducted a series of physical tests. There were no anomalies. She then scheduled a PET scan of my brain. They found nothing.
I have not experienced a similar incident since. But something caused it.
I celebrated my Ninetieth birthday in November 2023.
The Van Huffel First Cousins planned a family reunion for June of 2023 to be held at Geneva on the Lake in Ohio. The Tuesday before that weekend I was hurrying to complete some chores before I left on Thursday. On the way into the garage at my house there are two concrete steps, one about a 10-inch drop and the other about half that. The sill plate in the door opening is an aluminum plate that extends about ½ inch beyond the frame of the house. As I was going into the garage to get to my car, the left heel of my shoe caught on the sill plate. I lurched face forward past both steps and landed on the concrete floor of the garage. My left arm was lacerated in my attempt to shield my fall. My face looked I had just gone ten rounds with Muhammed Ali. It was bloody and puffed up like a cream-filled pastry. That event led to subsequent incidents that cause me now to use a cane and a mobile walker.
No further incidents. But winter was less forgiving. I persuaded my son, Paul, to get me a walker. He obliged with an aluminum tubular device with three “U” shaped tubes that folded flat. It was good for trekking down my driveway to get the mail. None of the four posts had wheels. When the snow melted, the walker became a hindrance. It was like the old joke, “hit the ball, drag George”, place the walker one pace forward and drag Phil. A remedy came to mind. If I put casters in each of the four posts, I could mobilize it. Off to the hardware store to obtain a wood dowel, from which I cut four shorter pieces, which would just fit inside the tubes, and four casters to fit into the dowels. It all worked.
Then I decided to get a cane because I was experiencing some minor vertigo. Off to Meijers to see what they had. I found an aluminum foldup cane with the brand name, “Hurrycane”. It was supposed to stand on its own, but the design was inadequate. So, I modified it by taking the 4” lid from a plastic jar of nuts turned upside down and forcing it into the base of the cane. Then I drilled and screwed it into the cane base to secure it. Problem solved.
I celebrated year 91 in 2024 with a weekend of parties with my son and daughter and grandchildren. On Monday morning while I was in my kitchen at the sink, I started to move back and lost my balance. This resulted in a gash on my left arm from a drawer pull. I landed on my spine. It was an excruciating pain. But the blood gushing from my arm was where my attention was directed. I arose with some difficulty and put my arm under the cold water faucet. The bleeding did not stop so I wrapped a towel around my arm and proceeded to get dressed. I subsequently drove myself to the nearest hospital emergency room. After some delays, they stitched the gash together with 8 stitches. I drove myself home and began to feel the pain from my spine. I spent the rest of the day lying on the bed.
I fell in my bedroom three more times, injuring my back each time and damaging a chair that is positioned beside the end of my bed. Now I am psychologically conditioned to take very small steps. I have developed the “Van Huffel shuffle” which I had observed in my older brother and my grandfather. I now wear an electronic button which brings to mind a TV ad from the past. “I have fallen, and I can’t get up”. The device works. Press the button and it calls 911. I now have two canes, one for the house and one for the car. I have also purchased a fancy walker with a seat, fabric storage box, big wheels, and breaks. I use it every day now to maneuver between rooms.
I employed a chiropractor to see if he could straighten my spine. In several months of procedures there was some improvement but two days after a session things would return to the way they were. I could feel the disks in my neck and spine slip back. So, I gave up on this solution. I am now trying a posture correcting prothesis which I can wear under my shirt. It forces my shoulders into an attention position and supports my back with a Velcro belt with vertical stays. Maybe I can walk upright again instead of bent over.
We’ll see.