Hi Buck
you may have seen some of these. All of them are taken after I've been on warfarin:
I do my best to make calculated risks and to calculate I need data. I'll circle back to that.
About me, I've ridden dirtbikes since before I had my first surgery (which was at 10yo)
I got this one within a couple of years of that (no earlier pictures exist now)
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YZ80E
additionally I've always taken risks calculated in my life, my career, my relationships and my pathway. This has given me a rewarding life.
After my first surgery my mother (remember I was 10yo) tried to protect / shelter / cotton wool package and sanitise my life. Fortunately for me I was born in a time of having freedom to do as I wished.
Later one of the jobs I held saw me working with the elderly. That few years taught me a lot about how to die fast. It always seems to happen when the person talks themselves out of pushing their boundaries. Now, not real far, indeed perhaps not even as far as they've ever gone; but just a bit out of their comfort zone. Next thing you're confining yourself to a recliner.
I'm acutely aware of two things:
- life involves risk
- if you go backwards in your risk taking too early in your life you perform a sort of suicide to your spirit
Earlier you started on the idea of being afraid of getting an infection, but mat scrapes and abrasions are not how you get endo. Endo needs to come in close to the heart. Typically this is the mouth (via bad oral hygene) and the nasal mucosa (via untreated infections such as strrp throat and many others).
The body has an immune system (you didn't mention if you were immuno-compromised or not) and any bacteria starting at the extremities and fight its way through capillaries to eventually pass through to the heart.
In start contrast something in the mouth is on one of the most vascularised parts of the body with ready access to veins in close proximity to the heart
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its literally just a hand-span away. So what I'm saying is that your concerns about infection from the mat are about as far removed from the real problem as it gets (the real problem is the mundane oral hygiene).
The problems of internal bleeds are covered well by proper ACT control and IC bleeds are avoided best by "not getting a punch in the head that knocks you out".
To my mind this should be the case no matter what age group you are. Indeed if you refer to the above videos I reckon I'm at more significant risk riding my scooter or bicycle (or motorcycle).
All my life people have told me "I'm mad" ... its just (as Chuck put it) my risk tolerance may be higher and perhaps also my commitment to skills and training is higher too.
You need to understand that risk of bleeds is directly related to INR ... manage INR properly and you'll minimise risk of bleeds. Bleeds are NOT caused by warfarin, but being on warfarin exacerbates them. The risks are basically like this:
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URL for study
http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/415179
Finally you mention (as I see it) the real nub of the problem:
This feels like the actual problem: pride and perhaps delusion. The reality is we (all of us) can always face overwhelming odds. We aren't Chuck Norris and in any fight there are way too many variables and unexpected things to make any deadly conflict in the wild even remotely predictable (its not the ring). I believe I understand how you feel about survival and preparedness and for me there was a brief moment where I lamented the move to warfarin because I knew that I would not be able to survive off the land as I once had (because without the drug I'll die). So in a SHTF mAd maX apocalypse I would be crippled and dead within a year I expect (due to no warfarin if nothing else).
I had to recognise what is (was) reality all along: I live in a society which is not the wild west and hand to hand combat is the so close to utterly the last resort in such a world you may as well accept "I'm already dead". Stand off weapons have been the route of choice since medieval times. The longbow defeated more French Knights than the sword did let alone grappling or punching. Having said that I've not been in a fight since school ... not in the wild, only on the tatame.
So I can't tell you what is best but I can say "you're looking into your navel and your looking at it the wrong way. Nobody is Nobody
Keep training, keep doing what you love doing and make sure you're doing it for the right reasons (fitness, training, discipline and enjoyment). Eventually I had to give up Aikido and Fencing for different reasons. Time has a way of eroding everything we built from childhood through adulthood. It can happen slowly or there can come events which cause that loss suddenly. But come it does.
Reach out if you want to chat
Best Wishes