In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was a regional bank stock analyst with Morgan Keegan & Company in Memphis.  I was young, inexperienced as a securities analyst, and trying to learn the business quickly. After less than a year, I was speaking with institutional investors on behalf of our firm’s senior equity brokers.  I have written about this time before, but do so now with a different perspective.

One of the firm’s top equity salesmen was G. Walter Loewenbaum, II, whom everyone called Wally. He invited me to travel with him to visit institutional clients in London, Edinburgh, and Paris. I was about 32 years old at the time.

One evening in Edinburgh, we had no client dinner scheduled, so Wally and I went to dinner together. At some point during the evening, I asked him what seemed to me to be an important question.

“Wally, what is the secret of your success?”

He paused for a moment, then continued the conversation as though he hadn’t heard the question. A few moments later, however, he said something I have never forgotten.

“Chris, most brokers don’t lose clients because they lose money for them. If you are in this business long enough, you are going to lose money from time to time. Brokers lose clients because they ignore them while they are losing money. Don’t ignore your clients in bad times and you will keep them.”

Wally strongly believed in investing alongside his clients. If he recommended a stock, he owned it personally. His clients knew he was experiencing the same pain when markets were down.

I internalized that advice and have shared it many times over the years.

Then he added something else.

“Chris, the secret to my success, whatever that is, is one word — momentum. If you have momentum, do everything in your power to maintain it. And if you lose momentum, do everything in your power to regain it.”

At 32 years of age, I heard Wally’s comments entirely through the lens of professional success. Momentum meant productivity, growth, client relationships, recognition, income, and continuing to move forward professionally.

And for many years, that interpretation served me well.

What I could not appreciate then was that momentum changes meaning as we age.

For decades, my life moved at a fairly relentless pace. Building Mercer Capital. Writing and speaking. Client work. Deadlines. Meetings. Responsibilities.

Like many professionals, I became conditioned to motion and productivity. External demands created structure and momentum almost automatically.

Then came semi-retirement.

What surprised me was not slowing down. What surprised me was how difficult it was to slow down well.

It took me a couple of years to begin understanding that slowing down and stopping are not the same thing.

Many high-achieving professionals spend decades accelerating. Our schedules fill. Our identities become intertwined with productivity and usefulness. We grow accustomed to urgency. Constant motion begins to feel normal.

Then one day, if we are fortunate, life changes. The calendar opens up. The phone rings less often. Some responsibilities pass to younger hands. And many people quietly discover they are not entirely sure how to redefine momentum for this next stage of life.

I think that is one of the great challenges of aging well.

The danger is not merely slowing down.  The danger is losing forward motion altogether.

These days, momentum looks different to me than it did at age 32.

Momentum now means continuing to walk and exercise most days. Trying to stay healthy enough to enjoy life and remain independent. Travelling frequently for fun and family.  Staying intellectually engaged. Continuing to learn. Writing about things that matter to me. Investing time in relationships. Being present with family and friends. Paying attention to ordinary blessings that once might have gone unnoticed in busier years.

Earlier in life, momentum was often fueled by ambition.

Today, I increasingly think momentum can be fueled by gratitude.

Gratitude for health. Gratitude for meaningful work over many years. Gratitude for friendships and family. Gratitude simply for another day to live with purpose, awareness, and usefulness.

I still think Wally’s advice was right.

If we have momentum, we should do what we can to maintain it.

But perhaps momentum later in life is less about acceleration and more about engagement. Less about climbing and more about appreciating. Less about proving ourselves and more about continuing to live intentionally and gratefully.

And if we lose momentum for a season, as all of us eventually do in one way or another, perhaps the goal is not to regain the pace of earlier years.

Perhaps the goal is simply to regain forward motion — gratefully.

As always, be well, and age gratefully,

Chris

A couple of months ago, I had one of those restless nights.

I woke up again and again. Five or six times at least. Each time, I checked the time on my watch. 1:40. Then 2:25. Then 3:10. And on.  Every glance started the same quiet calculation. How much time was left before morning? How tired would I be tomorrow?

What surprised me most was not how often I woke up. I am of an age where waking up at night is fairly common.  What made me think was how hard it had been to fall back asleep. The more I checked the time, the more awake I felt.

I counted sheep.  I counted breaths. I tossed and turned.

By morning, I was not just tired. I was frustrated. It seemed I had spent as much energy worrying about sleep as I had actually sleeping.

That clock-watching thing had happened to me many times before, so it made me think.

Years ago, I had already made one change. I removed clocks from the bedroom after learning they could disrupt sleep. But I still wore a watch at night. First a Fitbit for many years, and now a Garmin. The time was always there, easy to see with a small movement.

The next night, I tried something different. I turned off the night light on my watch so I would have to make a conscious effort to see the time. Then I decided not to look at it at all. If I woke up, I would simply turn over and settle back in.

It felt like a small thing. Almost insignificant.

But it changed the night.

Without the clock, there was no calculation. No quiet countdown. The night no longer felt like something slipping away. It just was. And mostly, I just drifted back to sleep.

Over the past month, I have stayed with that simple practice. I still wake up some nights. They say it is an age thing.. That has not changed. But it is easier to rest again. The edge of frustration is gone.

After a bit of research, I learned there is actually a name for what I had been doing. Sleep experts call it “clock watching anxiety.” When we check the time, our minds engage. We start thinking, estimating, even worrying. That mental activity works against sleep rather than with it. In fact, one of the basic recommendations in treating insomnia is to avoid watching the clock.

It turns out a minor change I stumbled into by chance aligns with what science already knows.

There is something here that reaches beyond sleep. We often think improvement comes from adding more. More effort. More control. More awareness. But sometimes it comes from letting go. From removing a small habit that quietly works against us.

For me, it was not a clock on the wall, but a glance at my wrist.

I still wake up at night now and then. I just do not check the time. And more often than not, I fall back asleep easily.

A small change. A better result.  I’m grateful for adopting it into my daily routine.  Isn’t that part of what aging gratefully is all about?

As always, be well, and age gratefully,

Chris

I didn’t fall hard, but I was lucky.

My son and I were recently in Peru, working our way toward Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. After stops in Lima, Cusco, and Ollantaytambo (the Sacred Valley), we arrived at the base of the site.

One thing became clear before we ever got to the site.  There is very little level ground here in Peru, at least that we found, except, occasionally, in Lima.

The streets, paths, and steps are uneven. Stones are worn and irregular. Elevations change constantly. You have to pay attention to every step. This is not forgiving terrain.

I arrived at Machu Picchu already aware that my flatlander balance was not what it should be. Even so, I was not prepared for what we encountered.

My son and I had a guide and started on Circuit 2A. It begins with a steep climb, maybe three hundred feet on rocky, uneven stairs. With few exceptions, there were no handrails.

I have to admit, it was intimidating before I took the first step.

I was close to telling my son to go on without me. Instead, he handed me the walking sticks that my wife, Carol, had “made” me buy before the trip.

That changed things.

The start was wobbly, but I found a rhythm. Step by step, I managed the climb. In total, we covered more than four thousand steps. No falls. No trips. But by the end, I was tired and sore, and I knew I had been working at the edge of my balance the entire time.

Then came the final lesson.

One more obstacle. There was a transition from high, uneven stone steps to a set of stairs with a handrail. As I reached for the rail, I lost my balance.

In that instant, I had a choice. Try to grab the rail and risk a worse fall or let myself go down.  Muscle memory from Airborne Jump School many years ago kicked in. A rolling fall is usually better than a hard one.

I chose to go down.

It was a controlled fall with a soft landing. The only casualty was a broken walking stick. With some help, I got back up, grateful that it ended the way it did, at the last steps, not the first.

At the same time, I had learned that my wife, Carol, had fallen back home in Daytona Beach. Thankfully, she was not seriously hurt.

Different places. Same issue.

Balance is not just a mountain problem. It is a life problem.

And it is easy to ignore until it gets our attention.

One takeaway from this trip is simple. Balance is not fixed. It is something we either maintain or lose. And if we are intentional, it is something we can improve.

This fits squarely within physical stewardship.

We tend to think about strength and endurance. These matter. But balance is foundational. It supports everything else we do, often quietly, until it doesn’t.

So, I made a personal commitment.

I will work specifically on balance and core strength. Not in a vague way, but with intention. Simple practices. Standing on one foot. Stability exercises. Paying attention to how I move. It can’t hurt my pickleball game!  Carol and I will work on this together.

You might consider doing the same.

When was the last time you tested your balance? Not assumed it, but tested it?

I didn’t need a trip to Peru to find uneven ground. It is already part of daily life. We just do not always notice. Sometimes, until it is too late.

Machu Picchu made it impossible to ignore what I need to work on.

And being in Peru for nine days with my son, seeing things together that neither of us had seen, was simply the icing on the cake.

As always, be well, and age gratefully.

Chris

Many years ago, I was flying back to Memphis through Minneapolis and my inbound to Minneapolis was late.  I had already missed my connection but knew there was a later flight to Memphis that I might catch.

I was worried because I had what then seemed like a particularly important meeting in Memphis the next morning.  And I was very tired.  I don’t recall what the purpose of my trip was, but I do remember that it had been grueling.

We finally landed in Minneapolis and taxied, excruciatingly slowly, to the gate. When I got off the plane, I discovered that my possible connecting flight to Memphis was several concourses away and it was nearly time for the flight to leave.

Hoping for the best, I pulled my folding travel bag over my shoulder, grabbed on to my huge briefcase full of documents, and proceeded to navigate to the distant gate as fast as possible.

As I approached the gate, I saw and heard a passenger yelling at the gate attendant, disparaging her, the airline, and anyone or anything else he could think of.  He raised his voice, arms gesticulating, and continued to yell at the attendant. He then turned to me and did the same thing.

I can’t remember exactly what went through my mind, but it was probably something reflecting my frustration and impatience, like: “Will you just hurry up and do your business? I can’t do anything until you’re gone!”

What he thought I might be able to do to help I’ll never know. I just shrugged. He turned one last time to the attendant, yelling at her again, and then stormed off to wherever he went.

I walked up to the attendant and said hello. I then said something like this, as kindly as I could: “Well, based on what I just saw and heard, I guess I’ll be spending the night in Minneapolis.  I’m sorry you had to endure that guy’s tirade.”

She looked at me, smiled and said, “Let me see your ticket, please.”  I gave her my then paper ticket.  She took it and with her eyes on the keyboard, tapped through the many routines necessary back in those days to do whatever she was up to.  She seemed to be trying to do something, so I just stood there quietly.

She then looked up at me and smiled, reaching for the printer.  She pulled off a new ticket, handed it to me, and said: “Welcome aboard, Mr. Mercer.”

I took the ticket, collected my folding overnight bag, grabbed my heavy briefcase, and said to her: “I don’t know what you just did, but I appreciate it very much!  Thank you!”

Her parting words as I walked by were: “Have a nice flight, Mr. Mercer.”

Sitting down in my seat on that late-night flight to Memphis, I felt a wave of gratitude, appreciation, and relief.

I was going to sleep in my own bed that night. I’d start the next day at least reasonably fresh. And yes, I’d make that important meeting.

But over time, I’ve come to realize that the meeting wasn’t the most important part of that trip. In fact, I don’t even remember what it was about.

What I do remember, and clearly, all these years later, is that brief moment at the gate.

At that stage of my life, I was very much in “building value” mode. Focused. Driven. Moving from one obligation to the next. Like most people in that phase, I was often in a hurry, and likely more transactional than I would have liked to admit.

That night, I had every reason to be frustrated, impatient, even a little short with the person standing between me and getting home.

Instead, I simply chose to be… decent.

Not extraordinary. Not strategic. Just decent.

And in return, I was reminded of something that has stayed with me ever since:

How we treat people, even in small, fleeting moments, has a way of coming back to us in ways we don’t expect and can’t plan for.

That’s a different kind of value. Not the kind you measure on a balance sheet, but the kind you carry with you. The kind that shapes your days, your relationships, and ultimately, how you experience your life.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate that more and more.

We spend so many years focused on building value in our careers, businesses, assets. And those things matter. But at some point, the focus shifts, or at least it should.

Living the value we’ve built often comes down to something much simpler than we expect.

Mom was right, of course.

“Chris, just be nice.”

It turns out that’s not simply good advice for getting through a long day of travel. It’s a surprisingly good way to move through life, and, I think, a meaningful part of aging gratefully.

As always, be well, and age gratefully.

Chris

In the last post, I wrote about how situational awareness can break down—often in familiar situations where we assume we know what’s going to happen.

That risk doesn’t go away with age.

If anything, it increases.

The Margin Narrows

When I was nine years old, my father taught me to see the whole field, not just the ball.

At the time, it helped me become a better baseball player. Over the years, I’ve come to understand it as something more practical—and more important.

It’s a way to move through the world.

In the first two posts in this series on situational awareness, I’ve talked about what it is, and how it can break down, often in familiar situations where we assume we know what’s going to happen.

As we get older, a few things change. Reaction times slow down. Balance becomes less reliable. Recovery takes longer. Margins for error narrow, as we age, experience loss of muscle and balance, and more.  Margins sometimes narrow so slowly over time that we don’t notice it.

A stumble that might have meant nothing years ago can become a fall. Falls can precipitate serious injury and even death.

A pickleball friend says he is trying to avoid or delay as long as possible an adverse progression that goes like this:

• Walking more slowly
• Increasingly stooping over time
• Relying on a walking cane
• Progressing from cane to a walker
• And finally, relying on a wheelchair

That progression happens to many as they age.  And it is accelerated by one or more falls.

Why Awareness Matters More

Situational awareness becomes more valuable as our margins narrow. It’s one of the simplest ways to compensate for changes we can’t entirely control.

The lessons from right field still apply – but they need to be applied more deliberately.

• Don’t just track what you’re focused on.
• Understand where you are in relation to it.
• Be aware of what and who else is part of the situation.
• And think, even briefly, about what could happen next.

That sounds basic. It is. But it’s not automatic.

Where It Shows Up

On a pickleball court, awareness might mean choosing not to chase a difficult shot that requires an awkward movement or puts you in conflict with your partner. No point is worth the risk of a fall or collision.

Walking or driving, awareness might mean slowing down in moments that don’t feel particularly risky – crossing a street, navigating a crowded area, dealing with poor visibility. Those are often the situations where small lapses occur.

At home, where we tend to be most comfortable, awareness might mean paying attention to things we take for granted – lighting, footing, obstacles that weren’t there before. Many falls happen in familiar places.

None of this requires dramatic change. It requires attention.

A Habit of Mind

Situational awareness isn’t a tactic. It’s a habit of mind. And like most habits, it either strengthens with use or weakens when ignored.

There’s a tendency to think that experience alone keeps us safe. Experience helps – but only if it’s paired with continued awareness. Otherwise, it can lead to overconfidence and routine, and that’s when small mistakes slip in.

My father didn’t talk about aging when he was teaching me those lessons. He didn’t need to. The principles hold across time.

• Pay attention to what’s happening.
• Understand where you are within it.
• Don’t assume you’ve seen everything.

Wrapping Up

The first post in this series focused on learning to see.
The second showed how easily that awareness can break down.

This final post brings it back to something practical: as we age, paying attention matters more.

It took me a long time to fully appreciate what my father was teaching.

It wasn’t baseball. It was how to move through the world.

We can’t eliminate risk. We can’t control outcomes. But we can influence both—at the margin—by how well we pay attention.

It’s a simple idea. But over time, it adds up to better luck.

As always, be well – and age gratefully.

Chris

In the last post, I wrote about learning to see the whole field, understanding not just the ball, but where we are in relation to everything around us.

What I’ve come to appreciate over time is this: it’s one thing to learn that lesson. It’s another thing to maintain it.

Because most of the time, we don’t lose awareness all at once. We simply stop paying full attention.

Three Situations

I’ve seen that loss of awareness play out recently.

A couple of years ago, I was injured playing pickleball when my teammate and I both went for the same overhead shot.  Although the shot was mine, he wanted it more.  He ran into me, knocked me into a wall and to the floor, and then fell on me.  Ouch!  Bruised shoulders, hips, and ribs.

I saw the ball. I didn’t see the whole situation.  Recovery took several months.

In another pickleball game, a friend backpedaled for a lob, lost his balance, fell backwards and hit his head on the court.  He suffered a concussion that kept him out of play for a few months.

He too saw the ball, but not the entire situation.

A third situation involved a pedestrian accident.  My friend was crossing a busy street in the rain after dinner to get his car.  Because of rain, poor visibility, and his position in the street, a driver could not see him and hit him, killing him instantly.

Sadly, my friend did not see danger until it was upon him, and it was too late.

A Common Thread

These situations are different, but share a pattern.

Attention narrows. One element dominates.

Everything else fades just enough to matter.

Over time, I’ve tried to make adjustments.

• Being more aware of my environment and others
• Avoiding unstable movement.
• Slowing down when needed.

Consider giving some of these thoughts consideration.

All of this sounds straightforward. In practice, it isn’t.

Awareness tends to fade in the moments when we think we’ve seen it all before.

And as I’ll discuss next time, that matters more as we age, because the margin for error narrows.  So we will talk about “Paying Attention as We Age.”

As always, be well – and age gratefully.

Chris

In a previous post, I introduced a lesson my father taught me years ago about paying attention to what’s happening around us.

It started on a Little League field, and at the time, it seemed like a simple instruction: keep your eye on the ball.

It turned out to be something more.

A Lesson from Right Field

Three factors influence how long and how well we live: genetics, health, and luck.

• We don’t control our genes.
• We have some control over our health.
• And luck, good or bad, often feels random.

But I’ve come to believe that luck isn’t entirely random. We can influence it at the margin. One of the simplest ways is by learning to see what’s actually happening around us.

I started learning that lesson when I was nine years old.

I was playing right field, the designated position for the weakest player on the team, in Little League. After watching me in a couple of games, my father decided I needed some help. His first instruction was simple: keep your eye on the ball.

That worked, up to a point.

One day, I watched a high fly ball all the way from the bat until it landed about fifteen feet away from me. I could easily have caught that ball.  I had done exactly what Dad said. And I had completely missed the play.

That’s when the lesson changed.

He told me it wasn’t enough to watch the ball. I needed to know where I was in relation to the ball at all times,  and to understand when and how I needed to move when it came my way. Then he added another layer: I needed to be aware of my teammates as well, where they were, and where they were in relation to the ball – and me, as well.

That was a lot for a nine-year-old. But over the course of that season, I began to internalize the lessons. By the end of the year, I had moved to first base, and I was starting to understand what he had really been teaching.

It wasn’t baseball.

Seeing the Whole Field

As I grew older, I saw the same lesson applied everywhere, hunting, fishing, driving, walking into a crowded room, crossing a street.

Most of us think we’re aware of our surroundings. In reality, we often focus on one thing, the “ball” and tune out everything else.

Situational awareness includes:

• Knowing where you are in relation to what matters
• Understanding how things are moving and changing
• Recognizing who and what else is part of the situation

When those come together, you begin to see more clearly.

Facilitating God Luck

We tend to think of luck as something that happens to us.

But more often, outcomes are influenced by small decisions made in real time.  We can sometimes influence our luck in positive ways.

Situational awareness doesn’t eliminate risk, but it shifts the odds.

In that sense, it facilitates good luck.

That sounds straightforward. In practice, it isn’t.

Because even when we’ve learned to see the whole field, it’s surprisingly easy to stop seeing it, especially in situations that feel familiar.

That’s where things begin to break down. I’ll come back to that next time in the second post on situational awareness: “When We Stop Seeing.”

As always, be well, and age gratefully.

Chris

Walking off a recent flight into Memphis, I noticed a dozen wheel chairs lined up along the left wall of the jet bridge.

A dozen.

That meant there were at least a dozen people on the plane who would need assistance just to get from the aircraft to baggage claim, or beyond.

Two thoughts came immediately to mind.

First, a quiet but unmistakable sense of gratitude. Carol and I were walking off the plane under our own power. No assistance. No hesitation. Just walking.

It’s easy to take something as simple as walking for granted. Most of us do, most of the time. But moments like that interrupt the routine. They remind us that what feels ordinary is, in fact, a gift.

Second, a brief prayer—for those passengers. That they would travel safely. That the process would be smooth. That they would arrive at their destinations with as little difficulty as possible.

It wasn’t a long moment. The line kept moving. Life resumed.  But it stayed with me.

Because this is what seeing looks like.

Noticing what’s right in front of us. Recognizing what it means. Letting it register before moving on.

As we age, it’s easy to drift in the other direction—to stop noticing, to move on autopilot, to assume tomorrow will look like today. But situational awareness isn’t just about avoiding risk.

It’s about recognizing reality as it is, both the challenges others face and the blessings we still hold.

That short walk down a jet bridge was a reminder: paying attention sharpens gratitude.

And gratitude, practiced consistently, is one way we age a little more gratefully.

As always, be well, and age gratefully,

Chris

ChrisMercer.net has a new look, and a more important shift in focus.

For many years, this blog was about business valuation. That reflected my professional life,  helping business owners, attorneys, and advisors understand, build, and realize the value of private businesses.

Over the past few years, however, something has changed.

A Turning Point

In early February 2017, I was sent by ambulance to the hospital after an MRI revealed massive internal bleeding inside my skull.

That night, skilled physicians at Methodist Hospital in Memphis performed surgery for a subdural hematoma. They drained nine ounces of fluid from between my skull and brain.

I spent my birthday that year in the hospital.

In the ICU, a chaplain visited while I was up and walking. He made a simple observation: not many people walk out of that kind of surgery with both mind and body fully intact.

That got my attention.

Two days later, I did walk out, with my mind and body intact, having avoided what could easily have been a stroke or worse.

What crossed my mind, both then and in the days that followed, was how fortunate I was. Lucky. Blessed. Grateful to be alive with all my faculties.

It took a while for that to sink in. But that experience marked a turning point in how I think about life, health, and what actually matters.

That shift continues.

The Direction of the Blog

The valuation posts have tapered off. In their place, I’ve found myself writing more about walking, health, pickleball, and the practical realities of getting older.

Not by design at first, but consistently enough to recognize a pattern.

The new version of ChrisMercer.net reflects that shift.

There’s a new photograph on the masthead. A new look. And a new tagline:

From Building Value to Living It – Aging Gratefully

A Career Focused on Value

I’ve spent much of my professional life thinking about value.

Since founding Mercer Capital in 1982, my work has centered on understanding what businesses are worth, how that value is created, and how it is ultimately transferred, and realized.

That work led to writing, speaking, and advising across the country, and to building a firm, with the help of many talented people, dedicated to that purpose.

Along the way, I learned something that wasn’t always obvious at the time:

Building value is not the end of the story.

The Shift

At some point, often later than it should, the questions change.

From How do I build more value?

To What is that value for?

From growing enterprises

To transitioning them, management, ownership, responsibility

And eventually, to something more personal:

What does it mean to live a life of value?

Three Realities of Aging

I’ve said for years that living a long and healthy life comes down to three things:

• Good genes
• Taking care of your health
• Luck

We don’t control the first. We have varying degrees of discipline about the second. And the third plays a bigger role than most people like to admit.

Based on my family history, my genes are probably average.

I’ve tried, sometimes better than others, to take care of my health. That’s an ongoing effort.

And I’ve been fortunate. I’ve avoided many of the things that have taken others of my generation earlier than expected.

At this stage, I’m aware of all three, and grateful.

Why “Aging Gratefully”?

There’s a lot of talk about “aging gracefully.”

I’m not sure what that means in practice.

But gratitude, that’s different.

• I am grateful to be here at 78.
• Grateful to walk five miles most days.
• Grateful to still play pickleball.
• Grateful for family, friendships, and the opportunity to keep learning.

Gratitude is not a conclusion. It’s a discipline.

What This Blog Will Be About

This is no longer a blog about valuing businesses.

It is about applying the lessons from a lifetime of thinking about value to life itself.

That includes:

• Health, walking, and staying active
• The realities (and limits) of aging
• What to do with time after stepping back from a career
• Lifelong learning
• Relationships and the people who matter
• Lessons learned, some the easy way, some not

I am not a physician and offer no medical advice. I am simply sharing experience and perspective.

Who This Is For

I’m writing primarily for aging professionals and business owners.

People who have spent decades building something, and are now facing a different phase.

• Over 50: approaching it
• Over 60: in it
• Over 70: no denying it

The Transition

At its core, this blog is about one idea:

Making the transition from building value…to living it.

That transition doesn’t happen automatically.

If this blog helps make it more intentional, it will have served its purpose.

Coming Up

My father taught me many things as I was growing up. One of the more important lessons began when I was a nine-year-old right fielder on a Little League baseball team.

What seemed like lessons about baseball turned out to be something more, practical lessons for life about situational awareness.

In coming posts, I’ll explore those lessons in three parts:

• Learning to See
• What Happens When We Stop Seeing
• Paying Attention as We Age

See you there.

And as always, be well, and age gratefully.

Chris

Let me preface this short post by stating that I have engaged in strenuous outdoors activities since my early years.  Nothing close to what this story is about had happened to me in all of those years.  Read and heed!

The Situation

However, last Saturday was a very hot and humid day in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida.  By mid-morning, the temperature was 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was at 90 percent.

There is a public park with pickleball courts located less than half a mile from our condo.  I went to the park as I do several times per week to walk on the track there.  On reaching a distance of two miles, I went under a large pavilion to walk another mile in the shade.  I knew it was hot and took that precaution.  I had water with me and was drinking some along the way.  After reaching three miles, I got my pickleball bag and walked to the pickleball courts.

The north courts are a bit less competitive than the south courts.  I played one game on the north side to loosen up and to get warmed up for pickleball.  Then, I moved to the south courts for some more competitive play.  I played either three or four games there (I’m not sure exactly).  My last game of doubles was evenly matched, quite competitive, and long.  My partner and I won the game by a 12 to 10 score.  I noticed that I was feeling a bit uneasy during the last few points and was glad when the game was finished.

After the game, I went to a bench between the courts to sit in the shade and drink some water.  After a few minutes, I got up to play another game with the same group.  As I walked onto the court, I knew I should stop playing.  I returned to the bench where a fellow had a battery-powered fan running.  So I sat in the shade and drank more water from my bottle and from the water coolers there.  Obviously not enough water!

I could not move from the bench.  Thankfully, an angel noticed that things were not right with me.  Her name is Jeanie, and she was on the wrong side of the 12 to 10 game.  If only I had known what would shortly happen!

She gave me ice water, poured ice water down my back, and placed a cold, wet towel on my head.  She rubbed my neck and shoulders, which were hurting, trying to bring me around.  After a bit, Jeanie realized that this was not working and called 911.  The police station is less than 200 feet from the courts, and two officers with first aid materials were there in minutes.

This is Getting Out of Hand!

I don’t know how or who called the ambulance, but the crew showed up with a stretcher.  Jeanie asked me which emergency room I preferred.  I said I didn’t know but asked her to call Carol at home.  After getting me on the stretcher, I was loaded into the ambulance.  When they shut the back doors, the air conditioning began to cool things down.  Only then did I realize just how hot I had been.  They started an IV with saline solution in the ambulance.  A tech took my blood pressure, which was 90/60, or dangerously low for someone my age.

Carol called my sister, Judy, a retired nurse, and they both came to the ER immediately.  Carol and Judy called my adult kids.  They were all upset and concerned for me.  It created quite a mess.

The ambulance arrived at the Halifax Emergency Department within a few minutes, and I was taken straight back to a room.  The attending physician looked me over and had my blood pressure taken again, with the same result as on the ambulance.  He ordered another unit of saline solution, and drew blood for some testing. Judy took charge for me, talking to the doctor and the nurses.  She brought a professional sense of urgency to my situation that would not have been the same without her.

Within an hour of arriving at the ER, I began to feel somewhat better.  After a bit more than a couple of hours, the doctor had me up for a standing blood pressure, which was 119/78, or pretty normal for me.  At that point, I was weak but felt like things had turned for the better.

The blood work came back okay.  I learned that heart attacks are not uncommon in situations like mine.  Judy and the doctor agreed on one more blood test to check for damage to my heart muscles.  That process took another couple of hours and, fortunately, the results were favorable.  The doctor spoke with me briefly and said that he would discharge me.  He called my condition heat exhaustion, which is far less serious than a heat stroke.

Carol and Judy called my kids and let them know I was out and okay.  They are still concerned.

I Was Lucky

I was fortunate that my angel took charge when she did; that the ER physician and staff were prompt, courteous, and just good.  I was also fortunate that Carol and my sister Judy were there with me from almost the beginning.

Carol had brought me a change of clothes.  My pickleball outfit was absolutely drenched.  I changed clothes and was discharged, with an admonition to take it easy for a few days.  My creatinine test was a bit high, so I was encouraged to drink more water.

We arrived home and stayed there for the rest of the day and evening.  I took a nap.

Sunday morning, I was feeling better, but by the time we got home from church and lunch, I was tired and took another nap.

I cannot remember the last time I have had naps two days in a row!

It’s Monday morning. I feel at a level of 7-8 out of 10, but I know I’ve been through what the doctor and my sister called “an event.”

My Takeaways

There are a few takeaways from my experience with heat exhaustion:

• Again, I was lucky.  Jeanie took charge of a situation that could easily have gone a lot further downhill.  And I received almost immediate and effective health care.
• Overall hydration is critical.  I learned that the old rule of thumb of 8×8, or eight eight-ounce glasses of water per day, is too little fluid for active people.  A better rule of thumb seems to be to consume at least as many ounces per day as half of one’s body weight.  For me, rounding up a good bit, that would be 100 ounces of water per day.  I’m at about 80 ounces as I write this at 1 PM.  If one is exerting heavily for considerable time, even more hydration is needed.
• Constant hydration is key.  Now I remember training from my long-ago days in the military.  Constant hydration when moving outdoors is key.  When heat exhaustion hits, it hits quickly and without much warning.  And without immediate attention, heat exhaustion can turn into far more serious heat stroke.  It was not a good thing for a soldier under an officer’s care to exhibit heat exhaustion or worse.
• Don’t think it can’t happen to you.  After so many years with lots of strenuous experiences with hot weather, and without serious heat consequences, heat exhaustion caught up with me.  It can happen to anyone.
• Reading about heat exhaustion a bit, it seems as if many of us are somewhat dehydrated a good bit of the time.

Drink up!  And be well,

Chris