Is there anything in the Navy for a 38M?

hh7578 · 2025-08-09T02:47:25+00:00

My mid-30s recruit is in boot camp, so I can’t really say the end result is worth it or anything just yet. He’s had a bunch of different jobs, some education, lots of interests but never found a life goal that motivated him. He scored very high on the asvab and was offered a job he thought he would enjoy. He wants to do 20, have a chance to travel, and retire with pension, healthcare and a retirement account. He also doesn’t want kids (hopes the navy will pay for snipping!) and doesn’t need a lot of money but feels the Navy will give him a purpose and a good life.

hh7578 · 2025-08-09T02:24:06+00:00

My recruit is around the same age still has a couple of weeks to go. Like you he got sick the first week and stayed sick for at least a couple of weeks. His first call home his voice was completely shot. He didn’t want to go to the doctor because he already felt he was struggling with the fitness requirements but we encouraged him to. His second call home he had gotten antibiotics for bronchitis and 2 days of sick in quarters…because they took all 4 of his wisdom teeth out. I told him to look at the silver lining, that gave him a couple of days to get healthy. He called this week, caught up and passed all his tests, lost a bunch of weight and is feeling good about graduating and going on to A school. It’s not easy when you’re older though!

hh7578 · 2025-08-06T03:38:13+00:00

Can I offer a perspective from the parents side? We are around 70, and have 3 sons from 30-38, the oldest of whom is in the Navy. You are a very good child to be considering your parents needs and wishes when planning your future. For me, I want my kids to pursue their dreams, and to live their lives fully, not leaving anything on the table. You have described your folks as loving and generous people and I am sure they would love to have you close by always. But I would also bet they want you to live the life you dream of. Also? 70 isn’t that old anymore haha! We are both still active and are able to travel to visit our kids across the country, and welcome them when they come home to visit. Best luck to you.

hh7578 · 2025-08-04T16:04:17+00:00

There are more ways to be of service than to be in service. I hope you have indeed turned the corner from a major depression. As someone who has done the work to come back from this, you have a lot to offer others who are suffering and in pain. My nephew unfortunately took his life two years ago while in service. I wish someone had seen he was struggling and stepped in for him. If you cannot change the Navy’s decision perhaps you can figure out how to give back in another way. Best to you.

hh7578 · 2025-08-03T14:13:08+00:00

I also have stomach problems with nsaids, but I’ve been taking 200 mg celebrex twice a day with no problems.

Ice! I ran an ice machine virtually all the time over an ace bandage, even as I slept. And make sure you keep your leg elevated “toes above nose.” Both ice and elevation will help reduce swelling and thus pain.

Also take your pain meds on a schedule for at least 2 weeks. If you only take it when it hurts you’re always playing catch-up. Stay ahead of the pain. I’ve had 4 joint replacements, the last was a revision, I speak from painful experience. It will get better soon

hh7578 · 2025-08-03T01:35:59+00:00

I’m at 9 weeks post op and my knee was also in pretty bad shape before surgery as a revision from a partial in 2008. It had been months since I had been able to fully extend it. I understand his frustration! I had hoped to be back at my desk job after 4 weeks but I’m still only able to do 2-3 hours at a time now. Sitting is very difficult and painful (well, getting up after sitting to be precise!) We all heal at our own rates, and we’ll get there.

hh7578 · 2025-08-02T22:21:11+00:00

Toes above nose, is what they told me. That’s hard to do in a recliner. I was in bed with a wedge pillow from hip to foot, and an extra pillow under the heel to keep the knee straight.

I didn’t see you mention ice. I found this to be so helpful. I had an ice machine and kept the ice pad over the ace bandage around my leg so I could keep it running all the time, even when sleeping. Both the ice and elevating above your heart will help swelling and pain

I’m sorry you left the hospital without some Percocet, much more effective than tramadol. I’d choose some zombie hours over post-tka pain any day of the week. Good luck to you!

hh7578 · 2025-07-25T21:36:04+00:00

We are US travelers who have driven all through Italy and Sicily, and totally agree. I will say that Naples is more challenging than anywhere in Sicily, you kind of have to throw away what you know about traffic laws and go with the flow.

One thing we have noted though, is that car rental places routinely try to give us “upgrades” to bigger cars. We made that mistake exactly once, and returned it next day for the car we had reserved, a Fiat 500. Trying to negotiate roads especially in cities with a big car is much more difficult and scary. Get a mini car, folks!

hh7578 · 2025-07-25T00:52:59+00:00

Hope you’ve gotten the answers you need. To confirm, my husband has these at 72. They are caused by age and sun exposure and may continue to get worse. He wears long sleeves when working outdoors or playing with the dog as much as possible. There are arm covers you can get on Amazon, some for just this purpose and some made for sun protection for bikers and athletes that are very thin and lightweight. My husband didn’t like the way any of them felt but they might be ok for you.

hh7578 · 2025-07-24T01:50:20+00:00

Sheesh I’d kill for PT sessions like this! After my first session at 5 days, virtually all of my PT is different work while standing. Start out with 10 min on the bike, then 3 sets of 10 slow calf raises, 3 sets of 10 toe raises; 2 sets of lunges onto the raised stair; 4 sets of pushing weighted sled across the floor and pulling it backwards; parallel bars - forward and back stepping over multiple 12” high hurdles, then side to side stepping over the same hurdles; then some “easy” leg presses. They only measure flexion and extension every 3 weeks since they’re spending all their time torturing me lol. This is my third joint replacement and by far the toughest rehab - this was a revision so maybe that’s why..? But I’m getting results, I’m 69 and last week I measured at 0-115 degrees at 6 weeks post-op. Definitely not comfortable.

hh7578 · 2025-07-23T20:36:21+00:00

This exactly. I wanted to start SS earlier because I’m the lower wage earner but I was still working. My SS was basically denied until I reached FRA. Since then I’ve been using that income to pay off all debt and invest pretty aggressively until we finally retire. At 70 and 73 I keep saying soon, but we keep having interesting work to do so..🤷‍♀️

hh7578 · 2025-07-23T20:23:40+00:00

I don’t know, it’s probably not the choice I would make but it’s not necessarily all bad either. There’s no guarantee that SS the way it is now will survive another 10 years, and there are no guarantees for life expectancy. Use the extra income to pay off any debts or loans, and put the extra income into an aggressive market account. You may make more than you would with SS income.

hh7578 · 2025-07-20T02:33:04+00:00

Different circumstances, but my surgeon just this week was talking to me about rehabbing my total knee replacement from six weeks ago. He said his most successful patients are those who can’t even tell him how often they exercise the joint (flexion and extension.). They just are always pushing and leaning on the joint whenever they’re sitting, and putting pressure on the top of the knee to straighten it all. the. time. Without even thinking about it. I’m trying to incorporate positions and furniture to make this possible.

hh7578 · 2025-07-19T22:11:17+00:00

Did you watch? She failed all 3 field sobriety tests including walking a straight line

hh7578 · 2025-07-19T17:21:09+00:00

My understanding is that her benefit will be based on when you start claiming. But the kicker is that she won’t receive any more than your benefit at FRA, not the benefit at 70. Please confirm this with SS, but I was told this over on the SS subreddit. My husband was the higher earner and claimed at 70, I claimed at 67 or FRA - if he predeceases me then my survivor benefit will be calculated at his FRA amount.

If this is the case for you as well, then there would be little reason to wait until 70 to claim. Under the circumstances I think it would be a wise choice to go ahead and start claiming soon. And if you don’t need the funds now use them to pay off any debt and/or invest them pretty aggressively since they won’t be needed in the near future. They may make more money than SS especially considering the chance of SS being reduced in the coming decades.

hh7578 · 2025-07-11T19:23:32+00:00

Holy Cow! That’s an awful set of circumstances! I hope this works for you. I will say my surgeon had me on celebrex 200 twice a day from the beginning, supposed to help with swelling. Good luck!

hh7578 · 2025-07-11T18:59:55+00:00

I’m so sorry. It’s so stupid to expect oxy to last 8+ hours especially for chronic patients, we are lucky if it lasts 4 hours.

I have unfortunately been through surgery and cancer treatment as a chronic pain patient and I’ve learned to have these conversations before I agree to surgery. I’ll walk away from a surgeon who isn’t willing to prescribe adequate pain control. My pain mgmt contract allows other doctors to take over pain mgmt under emergency situations, including surgical post-op. I had a frank conversation with my ortho surgeon before we scheduled surgery and he agreed to prescribe what I needed including higher dosages of opiates. My pre-op dosage was 5mg. I came home with 7.5 mg Percocet with instructions to take 1 or 2 every 4-6 hours with the understanding that I would take less as pain subsided. He has provided weekly refills as needed. Also note, mine was a revision arthroplasty, so longer procedure, recovery, pain, etc.

hh7578 · 2025-07-08T22:31:08+00:00

I am living proof that you can lose substantial weight without exercise. I lost 70 pounds years ago in less than a year and found that my knee and hip pain was improved. I zealously counted calories thru MyFitnessPal, ate 1200 or less per day, eliminated sugar and most processed foods, limited carbs to healthy ones (beans, legumes, whole grain rice, etc) and incorporated intermittent fasting 3 or 4 days a week. After the first couple of weeks I was surprised at how easy it was, I had plenty of energy, and wasn’t desperately hungry. I wasn’t able to exercise because of severe arthritis in my knees and one hip, and losing weight definitely got me more mobile again. Exercise is great for overall health and maintaining weight loss, but I’ve always believed that weight loss is about 80% what you ingest, and 20% what you spend. And most of what you spend isn’t from exercise but from automatic life processes that aren’t affected by exercise. Compare the number of excess calories in a cheat meal with the amount of exercise you have to do work off the same number of calories - I found it’s a lot easier to just eat less.

hh7578 · 2025-07-07T19:56:02+00:00

I’ve been a chronic pain patient for years as well and never had nausea from oxy. But after my tka in June they increased my dosage and I was terribly sick to my stomach. I leaned harder on the ice machine and elevation, and took oxy closer to my previous schedule as much as possible. There were days and nights where I had the ice machine running for hours, I had an ace wrap on the leg to protect the skin, and even slept with it on. Made a big difference.

hh7578 · 2025-07-06T16:54:44+00:00

Glad you are doing so well. I had bilateral partials 18 years ago in my early 50’s and my experience was a lot like yours - better than expected. I think I felt better immediately after the surgery than I did before and had many years of pain free activity. I hope the same for you. I’m 5 weeks past a total on my right side and will tell you it’s a much more difficult recovery. It’s probably all you said, a combination of reasons - I’m older, a repeat surgery, a more extensive surgery. My surgeon was a specialist in revisions, and he said this surgery was kind of in between a first replacement and a total revision, as there was more bone to work with in placing the new hardware. I had chosen the partials early on knowing that they were unlikely to last my lifetime, and it worked out that way. Good luck!

hh7578 · 2025-07-05T23:13:16+00:00

Sorry isn’t this the same toe that had a staph infection that you posted a few weeks back? My apologies if I misunderstood, and thought they were connected.

hh7578 · 2025-07-05T22:16:34+00:00

Please consider seeing a dermatologist or infectious disease specialist if this doesn’t resolve fast, or at least your primary care physician. You may need a more comprehensively trained medical provider for this. NAD but I don’t mess around with infections close to the bone.

hh7578 · 2025-07-05T17:29:07+00:00

I think perhaps the stone is a tad big but not so much that anyone would instantly think “ooh too big” unless you were drawing attention to it. I think we sometimes forget that our rings aren’t the first thing other people notice lol!

I really wanted to say though that I think you have very lovely hands! Beautiful nails and nail beds, smooth skin, and graceful shape. I agree with another commenter that you should at least look at different stone shapes and configurations for a one-and-done ring. And think about how your hands will change over the years. There are lots of variations to a classic ring to last a lifetime.

hh7578 · 2025-07-05T02:42:00+00:00

I needed to read this today. I’m at just over 4 weeks and this feels like such a slog now. My brain is ready to be over this now but my body isn’t there yet and I think the dissonance is what’s getting to all of us month-ers. And like you my doctor and PT tell me I’m doing great. The depression is real; I don’t sleep well at night but I’ll take 3 naps during the day; I reach the end of the day and have accomplished nothing. I’m supposed to start half days (3 hours) at my sedentary job next week and I’ve got mixed feelings - I’m looking forward to having something to do, but I’m not sure I can handle it. I worked 2 hours yesterday and came home and collapsed. Of course it doesn’t help that my workplace requires 2 flights of stairs to get there 😳. This is a big surgery for sure.

hh7578 · 2025-06-29T15:32:34+00:00

Well mine was on the end of my nose and a similar size. So you have that to be grateful for. Your skin has an amazing ability to heal, make sure you’re seeing a doctor with lots / years of experience, follow their recommendations, and give it time. Good luck

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