I Miss Fishing

With
~ Bad Back
~ Bad Allergies and Asthma
~ and Arthritis

Had to get rid of bass boat and truck because I was not able to handle the rig anymore.

My long lived childhood love ~~ gone. Just unable to do it physically.

I feel your pain. I had to give up my boat last year for the same reason. But I did not quit. All last year until it got too cold I went to the fishing pier at Joe Pool every Wednesday. You can do the same to some pier near you. You may have to change species, but at least you can fish.

Where are you located?

Rather than give up maybe you should focus on getting healthy. When I sold my company in 2010, I was a physical basket case. The stress and poor diet had wrecked my health. Within two months after the sale my back went out. This had been coming for year, as I was in constant back pain and didn't sleep well. It was all I could do to get off the floor. To go see the doctor after I ruptured my disk took two Hydrocodone just to walk and even then I could not sit in the chair. I knelt on the floor in agony. As amazing as this seems, there were people in worse shape at the Texas Back Institute. My agony was mid level for the waiting room.

This led to me having to undergo a procedure where they injected a steriod right into the nerve of my back. For me this worked, but I wanted to know why and make sure this would not happen again. My aunt had gone through a similar problem and had discovered that her Mercury fillings were poisoning her. Once she had them removed, her back issues cleared up. So, I did a hair analysis to see what kind of heavy metal I might have in my system. Didn't have excessive mercury but my Arsenic was at the level that begins to cause death. Lead and Tin were also high as well. Not sure what caused it but I went through chelation therapy and got rid of it.

After this, I used all this spare time to read up on things that might effect my health. I got away from sugar and high fructose corn syrup an began to eat just organic food. I began to grow a lot of my veggies in the back yard and at the lake house and eat the fish I caught rather than fast food like in the past. The result was my doctor freaked out and thought I was sick with something when I weighed 166 LB instead of the 195 that I weighed the year before when I went in for a Physical. He found nothing wrong with me. I also threw away and quit taking the Nexium I had been taking for 10 years due to acid reflux. My wife found a book called "Great Taste, No pain" that fixed this issue.

http://www.greattastenopain.com/great.asp

I also used to have trouble sleeping all night and that is gone now. Getting rid of the stress and being in a pain free body is a blessing from God. I am able to fish and even fish rivers and streams wade fishing but I always carry pain pills with me just in case. I remember when my back went out and how difficult and painful it was to roll over and move. I still have the allergies to Cedar Pollen so I do not have a clue how to rid myself of that. I'm trying some local Honey, but bees don't make Honey in February when Cedar Pollen is at it's worst. Might be something we have to live with.

Good luck to you. I hope this helps and I will pray and encourage others to pray as well that you get your health back and can continue to enjoy the outdoors.

I feel your pain, my shoulders are worn out. Doctors say I need new joints. Feel like they're dislocating if I reach too far, or make a false move. Recovery time of 6 mon. to a year doesn't fit my schedule. I can work, and fish now, but I'm afraid after the operation, I won't be able to. Going to put it off as long as I can stand it.

Why not try a smaller easier to handle rig with a seat on the deck? Not to get into my sob story but I barely have a healthy disk in my back and neck, elbow is trashed and left leg is bunk but I still get at it 2-3 times a week. Yes I have bad days where I can barely hold the rod but that aint gonna stop me. I fish with a lot of other wounded vets, we like to complain a lot but we still get out there!

I'm with PKFish on the don't give up mindset, do your best to improve your condition and work through it with diet, physical therapy, medicine etc. Giving up what I love simply isn't an option!

Guys, most of us finally get to the point we cannot handle a boat and trailer. Lifes not fair, but it is life.

I'm going on 80 and cannot launch and recover a heavy boat. So, I bought a pontoon boat and keep it in a boat house with winch. Now, to fish, I just let it down with a switch, hop in, and go. When I come in, I raise it with a switch, get out and go home. Perhaps not what I would prefer, but it works. Most marinas have slips with he winches.

I still enjoy fishing and plan on enjoying it as long as It's at all possible. Then, I guess I'll just quietly check out.

My plan is when I get too old to launch I'm getting a young fishing partner who cannot afford a boat.

I am somewhat in the same boat---COPD, Afib, Degenerative Disc disease, arthritis, diabetes, neuropathy in feet and hands
make it impossible for me to handle a boat and trailer. I fish from the bank when possible but 2 or 3 hours and I'm ready
to quit. I bought a belly boat last year and got to use it once. Very relaxing, stressless, way to fish, but only on
almost windless days.
Good luck to you. Find a comfortable chair to sit in and an easy access place to fish. It is a come down from being
on the water but at least you can still have a semblance of fishing.

Great story PK. Very inspirational. I myself as many of you folks know, was diagnosed in early september with stage 4, grade 3 male breast cancer. The cancer had spread into the surrounding lymph nodes, my lower spine, skull, shoulder, left upper femur, hip and lungs. The primary tumor was quite large. The cancer in my spine caused me to have 4 compression fractures of my vertebrae, with 1 at 50%. The pain got so bad that I lost the ability to walk and could not even just sit up in a chair. I kept my spirits up best I could and had lots of people praying for me. The Lord blessed me with some great doctors over at Texas Oncology of Plano. Long story short I finished my 12 week run of chemo a month or so ago and the petscan now shows no visible evidence of cancer. My immediate bucket list item was to catch a fish. Although still wheelchair bound I went up to my Uncle's place a few weeks ago and visited. I was in my car and he didn't want to get his nice truck muddy so he pulled me down to his fishing pond in a trailer using his tractor. I caught a little LMB on my second cast. Man that was probably the best feeling I ever had catching a fish, because at one point during all this I didn't know if I'd ever fish again. It was cold as the devil that morning so after just a few minutes I said I'm done and we headed back to the house. Boy I was beaming the rest of that day....just to have caught a little old fishy.

Like PK said, don't give up. I would assume your asthma is triggered by your allergies Have they done test to determine what you are allergic to. Maybe allowing you to avoid the triggers? (I ask as I am a Registered Respiratory Therapist by trade.) My lower spine, hip and upper left leg are damaged by the cancer causing some great pain at times still, but it is slowly improving and I can walk again with walker some, and short distances with a cane or unassisted. I'm trying to walk a little more every day. My goal is to do some wade fishing with my Uncle down at Rockport this summer or fall.

That's one heck of a story Dave

I am a 76 YO Vietnam vet 100% disabled from exposure to "Agent Orange". I have leukemia, but in remission. I had a pretty rough time a few years ago, went through "chemo" & now looking forward to getting in some fishing this spring. As the man says " ya gotta hang in there". Your fishing style may have to change, but usually there is a way. (I sold my bass boat & now have a 10' Jon with a 3 horse kicker) so easy to launch & practically no maintenance. A while back, I saw an older guy with one leg throwing a castnet...nothing was going to stop him from going fishing. That says it all...

Where are you located Dan_n_Texas?

Now I feel like a punk for complaining about my shoulders.

Burleson, TX

I have done the same, but I also caught Candida was over taking me. Changed diet and symptoms are gone. If life is not working, change bait 100 percent.

My first fish after being diagnosed with cancer back in September. Catching this little guy meant as much to me as the biggest and best I ever caught.

Ain't nothing punk about a bum shoulder. I've experienced it several times in my life and it's just awful. And there's not much you can do about it but suffer through a long healing process.

Very inspirational. Thank you to everyone for sharing. I needed to see this. I am blessed.

And now another notch out of the "being able to fish" situation.
Just finished a third week-long session in the hospital with respiratory problems in six months.
Now permanently on oxygen. Carrying a tank around is going to be interesting.

Ugh.

But....God is still good.

Fishing is far from everything...but it does represent something of who we are when we have a love or passion for it. Likewise, how we go through adversity says a lot about who we are as a person. Accept nothing negative, keep striving to live life at its fullest for where you are at in this season. This life is simply a "blip on the radar screen" compared to our eternal life in Christ!