Barnacles of Old Age

Figure 1: source

One of the downsides of getting old is that various "barnacles of old age" appear on ones skin. These are technically known as seborrheic keratoses (see Figure 1) and are described as follows:

A benign skin disorder due to excessive growth of the top layer of skin cells, usually found in persons over 30 years old. They may appear as just one growth or in clusters. They are most often brown but can differ in colour and range anywhere from light tan to black. They come in different sizes, anywhere from a fraction of an inch (or centimetre) to an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. 

The telltale feature of seborrheic keratoses is that they look like they have been pasted on the skin or just stuck on it. They may look like a dab of warm brown candle wax that dropped on the skin. Almost everybody eventually develops at least a few seborrheic keratoses since they tend to become more common and more numerous with age. They are sometimes referred to as "barnacles of old age."

Seborrheic keratoses are most often found on the chest or back but can be found on the scalp, face, or neck or almost anywhere on the body. When they first appear, the growths usually begin one at a time as small rough bumps. Eventually they thicken and develop a rough, warty surface. Although seborrheic keratoses may first appear in one spot and seem to spread to another, they are not catching. As people age they may simply develop a few more. These growths may be unsightly, especially if they begin to appear on the face. Source.

What works for me are body scrubs, especially the one shown in Figure 2, that when applied daily keep the growths in check, without entirely removing them.

Figure 2

I'm more than happy with the results but one must remember that not all body scrubs are equal. The ones that work for me have palpable grains of sand (I'm supposing) embedded in the paste and it is these grains that provide the abrasion that controls the growth of the "barnacles". It is a gentle process but applied on a daily basis it works just fine.

Hidden Hazards

Yesterday morning I tested out my mini-trampoline for about half an hour. I was basically just stepping up and down on it, and certainly not bouncing. The exercise seemed innocuous enough. However, I seem to have paid a price. Yesterday evening, I skipped my evening meal because my appetite was gone. During the night I felt somewhat nauseous and didn't even feel like breakfast this morning, although I did eat some toast later.

I think what happened was that the continuous up and down motion aggravated my thymoma. The motion of stepping up and down on the trampoline is quite different to that of walking. It would seem that my thymoma, probably an encapsulated cyst-like object located directly above my stomach, was bobbing about and pushing and pulling against things in a more extreme fashion than normal.

Despite my exercise routine being slow and sedate, it was enough to cause me serious concern. My reaction emphasises how fragile my body has become and how cautious I need to be when beginning any new exercises. My chest still feels sensitive and I have a general malaise.

Scandalous Scales and Chilly Winds

Scandalous Scales: it came as something of a shock to find that I weighed in at 74.3 kg, wearing T-shirt and shorts on the evening of Sunday, February 13th 2022. As I said in a previous post, it's probably best to weigh myself of a morning. I went to the bathroom, stripped-off and weighed myself again. This time I was 73.5 kg which is still disturbingly high. 

For the past week or more, my exercise routine has been disrupted but things have now returned to normal. Today I resumed my morning walk and tomorrow I plan to spend some time on the mini-trampoline as well as practising some shuffle moves, as outlined in my previous post titled The Septuagenarian Shuffle. I'm determined to get my weight back down to about 71 kg. At the moment, I'm heavier than I've been since heading to Australia in July of 2015. 

Chilly Winds: recently the family visited the mountains at the back of Jakarta and the temperature in the evening was around 13°C, drastically lower than the balmy temperatures in the lowlands from where I had just come. There was also a light drizzle and gusts of wind that added to my discomfort. We were staying in one of the chalets that were dotted around the resort and separate from the main building where we had just finished dining.

As we headed out into the freezing weather toward our accommodation, a particularly nasty gust of wind cut right through me and a wave of nausea swept over me. My legs almost buckled and I needed assistance to get to our accommodation. When I did arrive I was shaking uncontrollably and went straight to bed where my condition slowly stabilised. For me, this was an unprecedented and fairly shocking event.

I can't help feeling that the reaction was the result of my thymoma not responding well to the sudden drop in temperature that my body had experienced because of the wind blast. This then affected the surrounding organs and destabilised the mechanism that controls my body's core temperature. The lesson learned is that I need to wear proper clothing before exposing myself to cold temperatures, especially where a wind chill factor is involved.

I'm now back in the tropics at sea level and all is well. There's no doubt my thymoma has grown but, whether it's self-limiting or becomes more invasive, only time will tell. As I approach my 73rd birthday, I'm certainly not the man I once was. I'm diminished in many ways but I'm still breathing and ostensibly still healthy and active. However, I need to remain aware of my vulnerability and not impose unnecessary stress on my body.

The Septuagenarian Shuffle

A meaning of shuffle as a verb is to walk by dragging one's feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground. That's kind of what I've been lately as a form of exercise and, given that I'm almost 73 years of age, the term septuagenarian shuffle seems appropriate.

Why am I doing this? Well, sometimes the weather outside is too hot or it's raining and even if I do go for a walk, the environment through which I'm walking is none too salubrious. My alternative solution has been to put on my wireless earbuds and listen to music while shuffling about inside the house. The first tried it for 30 minutes and this morning I managed 45 minutes. 

Of course there's plenty of shuffle music out there that one can shuffle to but it's a little too energetic for someone of my age. I just listen to one of YouTube Music playlists and today I was listening to a playlist that I'd compiled in July of 2019, consisting mainly of fairly sedate songs.

It's not that I couldn't work my up to incorporating some shuffle moves, there are plenty of tutorials on how to master the moves. The following video tutorial has attracted over 16 million views since it was first put up in January of 2017.

The key point is that exercise needs to be simple and executable at any time or place. It shouldn't require specialised equipment. The shuffle is ideal in this regard. It's better when done to music but that's not absolutely necessary. Although I've started out with a slow shuffle of 30 to 45 minutes, there's no reason not to try faster movements that are the length of just a single song like the a-ha video above.

Here is a video of a 70 year old dancing with his granddaughter.

The story accompanying the video is as follows:

Shuffle dancing is becoming a very popular trend across China. The dance originally started in Australia back in the 1980s. Named “The Melbourne Shuffle”, the dance is becoming a modern type of square dance and is turning out to be a popular exercise/weight loss routine for many elderly and middle-age people in China.

Not only is this dance a brilliant form of exercise, but it’s also bringing people of different generations together. Videos have been popping up on social media platforms including TikTok (mainly a younger user base) sharing videos of themselves shuffle dancing with their parents and even grandparents – many of which have gone viral.

The story continues here.