How I Decided to Retire
How I Decided to Retire
I promised you that I would tell you how it was that at the young age of 70 I suddenly decided to retire from my job as tech writer, the work I have been doing since 1991. As everyone knows April 4th this year (2017) was Tomb Sweeping Day—well maybe not everyone knows—but anyway we had a four-day weekend, and since I had no obligations to do any actual tomb sweeping, I stayed home to work on a project.
I had decided to motorize a 4-foot camera track that I had made a few years earlier. I had bought a nice little geared DC motor and I had a power supply left over from a dead laptop computer with just the right specs. I had also bought a heavy duty pot to use as a speed control. And 10 feet of black plastic mini chain to use as a drive chain–each link is 3/4" long. So when the 4-day weekend rolled around I was all set.
Got up early on day 1 and got to work. There were lots of interesting problems to solve. I needed two chain sprockets and decided to make them by turning wooden disks, coating the rims with epoxy putty, and pulling the oiled chain into the putty.
I needed to weld up one bracket for the motor and another for the idler sprocket. I do all my welding in the bathroom now, ever since I ruined two floor tiles in the bedroom and burned a hole in the bed (not on my side). This time the welding went better than usual; I think I got lucky on the penetration setting.
I extended the plywood end panels for the track, and ran wiring for the auto kill switches that keep the motor from driving the dolly into the end panel. I cut a couple aluminum plates to serve as tripod mounts, and tapped a 1/4 x 20 hole in each to take a tripod screw. Then I screwed the plates to the end panels.
The lathe and mini mill are on the bedroom porch, some tools are in the studio, and the vise and welding bench are in the bathroom. So I did a lot of fast walking from one place to another. Oh yeah, I have quite a few tools in the living room too.
I used plenty of Lipton's tea to keep me going. And chocolate. Chocolate gives me pep. The project was a ton of fun. I started early and worked late for all four days; it was coming along nicely but still was not quite finished.
But when I woke up for work on Wednesday April 5th, I had a nasty surprise. After mistreating my 70-year-old body for four days, I suddenly had marked arrhythmia; my heart was missing every third beat. This was very strange. I could feel it before I got out of bed. Other symptoms: I felt like a cat was sitting on my chest. I felt a bit lightheaded. And I was aware of the skipping beats, and occasional big double beats. I'd never had anything like this. I promptly took a week off work. There was also a funny little cough.
I went straight to a Chinese medicine doctor (notice that I can't say a Chinese doctor, because they are all Chinese). She took my pulses and prescribed some Chinese herbal medicine. The next day I went to a Western medicine doctor (he was Chinese too), and he ordered an ECG and prescribed Western medicine. I took a picture of the ECG graph; that was April 8th.
I went online and did some research, about arrhythmia, about the Western medicine I'd been prescribed, about ECGs. I checked in the medical stores, the ones near hospitals, that sell wheel chairs, TENS units, etc. But none had ECG units. But through eBay, for US$90.99, I ordered a small ECG unit, a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes, from China. It works great. And recently I happened to find and download a textbook: ECG Interpretation Made Incredibly Easy, 5th edition. It's a 386-page training text for healthcare workers. Lots of interesting info, practically presented.
I quit tea and chocolate cold turkey. I took my Chinese meds, but not the Western meds. My research had turned up several interesting facts about the Western prescription for propafenone. The Western doc had originally prescribed seven days' worth. When I went back he asked about results. I explained that the symptoms were somewhat better, and since I was already on Chinese anti-arrhythmia medication, I didn't want to mix the two. Not sure what he was thinking, but he prescribed another month's worth of propafenone, which I picked up on my way out of the clinic.
I had also been taking polyethylene glycol 3350, a modern laxative. My research turned up the fact that PEG 3350 may also be implicated in arrhythmia. I checked the bottle. It said not to take it for more than six days in a row. I had been taking it for eighteen months. Is that more than six days? Yes it is. I stopped the PEG 3350.
Some of the side effects listed for propafenone include: increased arrhythmia (gotta love the logic of that!), dizziness, constipation, metallic taste, and last, but most, death. Now I know that a lot of people take whatever a doctor prescribes without thinking about it, or worrying about side effects. Their faith in the doctors is beautiful, or you might say that their innocence is beautiful. But that's how we lose several hundred thousand people per year in the US alone, to adverse drug reactions. Some people would say that losing just one was too many. One thousand, that is. Anyway, I don't want to become a statistic. At least not that kind of statistic. So the propafenone is still safely in its blister packs.
Of course there is no guarantee that if I took it, I would experience any of the side effects. Or that it would help with the arrhythmia either, for that matter. I did see, in more than one place, that propafenone is recommended only for cases where the arrhythmia is so severe as to be life threating. And from what the two docs told me, mine is not (at least not yet) that bad. Of course maybe if I took the propafenone, it would be. In which case, the prescription would be indicated.
As I said before, I am not sure what the prescribing doctor was thinking. He did mention, more than once, that he was the best cardiologist in Taiwan. Lisa was there, and can vouch for it. If he really is the best, we should worry. If he merely thinks he's the best, then it is not so serious.
I took the Chinese herbals for a bit over a month. The symptoms subsided somewhat. And I had just finished the last dose by the end of May, when Lisa and I did a cleansing routine that we had been planning since before my heart kicked up. We did colonics, then one day of lemon juice with salt (a lot of salt), then two days of nothing but apples (delicious apples), followed by a couple tablespoons of olive oil. The cleansing made a dramatic improvement. After that, my heart was beating quite regularly. So maybe I was just full of shit. If you had told me I was full of shit, I probably would have resented it. But getting the shit out really did help. Can't deny that.
In the month following the cleansing, June, I gradually ramped up the tea and chocolate again, but limiting myself to one teabag and one chocolate bar per day. I also increased my sugar intake. I've always had a sweet tooth. So for the past day or two the arrhythmia is back, though not quite as bad as it was at first onset. Today I did not have any tea or chocolate, or sugar, except for that slice of cake for dessert tonight. We'll see how I do tomorrow.
Previous to my announced retirement, I had said that my plan was to work, work, work, until I die. No retirement plans. But this whole arrhythmia thing made me rethink. I never really believed in getting old, but if my time actually is limited, and my physical capacity diminishing, which it is, I want to make some changes. I've enjoyed the tech writing, and shooting and editing the corporate videos, but I want to move on.
So it was the heart scare that prompted me to retire. I told the company that I'd work through the end of July, then kiss off. Lisa pointed out that if I worked through the end of August, I could pick up my half-year bonus, which should be worth around US$2000. So I told the company, end of August. Fine, they said. I've now got two months to go.
I don't know how many people have asked me what I am planning to do after retirement. "I plan to make a plan," I say. It's true. I always planned my vacations carefully, especially if they involved travel, but for this endless vacation I don't have much of a plan. I hope to write. Do some music. Maybe we can move to a better place. Bigger but cheaper is easy to find if you go farther out of the city. Lisa wants to continue to work though, so we can't go too far out.
As far as the money situation goes, I should continue to get about US$600 per month from US Social Security. And I should get around US$400 per month from the Taiwan LaoBao retirement program. If I understood the lady from HR correctly, I will get a lump sum of (what was it?) US$40,000 in severance pay? So I suppose I could coast just a bit before getting serious about income. Obviously we will not be rich like some retirees we know.
I promised you that I would tell you how it was that at the young age of 70 I suddenly decided to retire from my job as tech writer, the work I have been doing since 1991. As everyone knows April 4th this year (2017) was Tomb Sweeping Day—well maybe not everyone knows—but anyway we had a four-day weekend, and since I had no obligations to do any actual tomb sweeping, I stayed home to work on a project.
I had decided to motorize a 4-foot camera track that I had made a few years earlier. I had bought a nice little geared DC motor and I had a power supply left over from a dead laptop computer with just the right specs. I had also bought a heavy duty pot to use as a speed control. And 10 feet of black plastic mini chain to use as a drive chain–each link is 3/4" long. So when the 4-day weekend rolled around I was all set.
Got up early on day 1 and got to work. There were lots of interesting problems to solve. I needed two chain sprockets and decided to make them by turning wooden disks, coating the rims with epoxy putty, and pulling the oiled chain into the putty.
I needed to weld up one bracket for the motor and another for the idler sprocket. I do all my welding in the bathroom now, ever since I ruined two floor tiles in the bedroom and burned a hole in the bed (not on my side). This time the welding went better than usual; I think I got lucky on the penetration setting.
I extended the plywood end panels for the track, and ran wiring for the auto kill switches that keep the motor from driving the dolly into the end panel. I cut a couple aluminum plates to serve as tripod mounts, and tapped a 1/4 x 20 hole in each to take a tripod screw. Then I screwed the plates to the end panels.
The lathe and mini mill are on the bedroom porch, some tools are in the studio, and the vise and welding bench are in the bathroom. So I did a lot of fast walking from one place to another. Oh yeah, I have quite a few tools in the living room too.
I used plenty of Lipton's tea to keep me going. And chocolate. Chocolate gives me pep. The project was a ton of fun. I started early and worked late for all four days; it was coming along nicely but still was not quite finished.
But when I woke up for work on Wednesday April 5th, I had a nasty surprise. After mistreating my 70-year-old body for four days, I suddenly had marked arrhythmia; my heart was missing every third beat. This was very strange. I could feel it before I got out of bed. Other symptoms: I felt like a cat was sitting on my chest. I felt a bit lightheaded. And I was aware of the skipping beats, and occasional big double beats. I'd never had anything like this. I promptly took a week off work. There was also a funny little cough.
I went straight to a Chinese medicine doctor (notice that I can't say a Chinese doctor, because they are all Chinese). She took my pulses and prescribed some Chinese herbal medicine. The next day I went to a Western medicine doctor (he was Chinese too), and he ordered an ECG and prescribed Western medicine. I took a picture of the ECG graph; that was April 8th.
I went online and did some research, about arrhythmia, about the Western medicine I'd been prescribed, about ECGs. I checked in the medical stores, the ones near hospitals, that sell wheel chairs, TENS units, etc. But none had ECG units. But through eBay, for US$90.99, I ordered a small ECG unit, a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes, from China. It works great. And recently I happened to find and download a textbook: ECG Interpretation Made Incredibly Easy, 5th edition. It's a 386-page training text for healthcare workers. Lots of interesting info, practically presented.
I quit tea and chocolate cold turkey. I took my Chinese meds, but not the Western meds. My research had turned up several interesting facts about the Western prescription for propafenone. The Western doc had originally prescribed seven days' worth. When I went back he asked about results. I explained that the symptoms were somewhat better, and since I was already on Chinese anti-arrhythmia medication, I didn't want to mix the two. Not sure what he was thinking, but he prescribed another month's worth of propafenone, which I picked up on my way out of the clinic.
I had also been taking polyethylene glycol 3350, a modern laxative. My research turned up the fact that PEG 3350 may also be implicated in arrhythmia. I checked the bottle. It said not to take it for more than six days in a row. I had been taking it for eighteen months. Is that more than six days? Yes it is. I stopped the PEG 3350.
Some of the side effects listed for propafenone include: increased arrhythmia (gotta love the logic of that!), dizziness, constipation, metallic taste, and last, but most, death. Now I know that a lot of people take whatever a doctor prescribes without thinking about it, or worrying about side effects. Their faith in the doctors is beautiful, or you might say that their innocence is beautiful. But that's how we lose several hundred thousand people per year in the US alone, to adverse drug reactions. Some people would say that losing just one was too many. One thousand, that is. Anyway, I don't want to become a statistic. At least not that kind of statistic. So the propafenone is still safely in its blister packs.
Of course there is no guarantee that if I took it, I would experience any of the side effects. Or that it would help with the arrhythmia either, for that matter. I did see, in more than one place, that propafenone is recommended only for cases where the arrhythmia is so severe as to be life threating. And from what the two docs told me, mine is not (at least not yet) that bad. Of course maybe if I took the propafenone, it would be. In which case, the prescription would be indicated.
As I said before, I am not sure what the prescribing doctor was thinking. He did mention, more than once, that he was the best cardiologist in Taiwan. Lisa was there, and can vouch for it. If he really is the best, we should worry. If he merely thinks he's the best, then it is not so serious.
I took the Chinese herbals for a bit over a month. The symptoms subsided somewhat. And I had just finished the last dose by the end of May, when Lisa and I did a cleansing routine that we had been planning since before my heart kicked up. We did colonics, then one day of lemon juice with salt (a lot of salt), then two days of nothing but apples (delicious apples), followed by a couple tablespoons of olive oil. The cleansing made a dramatic improvement. After that, my heart was beating quite regularly. So maybe I was just full of shit. If you had told me I was full of shit, I probably would have resented it. But getting the shit out really did help. Can't deny that.
In the month following the cleansing, June, I gradually ramped up the tea and chocolate again, but limiting myself to one teabag and one chocolate bar per day. I also increased my sugar intake. I've always had a sweet tooth. So for the past day or two the arrhythmia is back, though not quite as bad as it was at first onset. Today I did not have any tea or chocolate, or sugar, except for that slice of cake for dessert tonight. We'll see how I do tomorrow.
Previous to my announced retirement, I had said that my plan was to work, work, work, until I die. No retirement plans. But this whole arrhythmia thing made me rethink. I never really believed in getting old, but if my time actually is limited, and my physical capacity diminishing, which it is, I want to make some changes. I've enjoyed the tech writing, and shooting and editing the corporate videos, but I want to move on.
So it was the heart scare that prompted me to retire. I told the company that I'd work through the end of July, then kiss off. Lisa pointed out that if I worked through the end of August, I could pick up my half-year bonus, which should be worth around US$2000. So I told the company, end of August. Fine, they said. I've now got two months to go.
I don't know how many people have asked me what I am planning to do after retirement. "I plan to make a plan," I say. It's true. I always planned my vacations carefully, especially if they involved travel, but for this endless vacation I don't have much of a plan. I hope to write. Do some music. Maybe we can move to a better place. Bigger but cheaper is easy to find if you go farther out of the city. Lisa wants to continue to work though, so we can't go too far out.
As far as the money situation goes, I should continue to get about US$600 per month from US Social Security. And I should get around US$400 per month from the Taiwan LaoBao retirement program. If I understood the lady from HR correctly, I will get a lump sum of (what was it?) US$40,000 in severance pay? So I suppose I could coast just a bit before getting serious about income. Obviously we will not be rich like some retirees we know.
I prefer text with more contrast.
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