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Ageing. It's a Bugger....

docstocker said:
Let us know how you got on
Nearly all men on this forum and nearly all of us ‘of an age’
Keeps this in our collective minds, however often, individually, we forget.
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Indeed. I'm very aware that I'm one of the slightly younger ones here but time marches on and 15 years ago I thought 50 was a long way off. It wasn't, and I'm past that now. 60 is no longer light years away. Make hay, it won't be June for ever.
 
30s are the new 20s. 40s the new 30s. 50s the new 40s.
But are 60s the new 50s ? Not sure that continues through the decade.
 
docstocker said:
Let us know how you got on
Nearly all men on this forum and nearly all of us ‘of an age’
Keeps this in our collective minds, however often, individually, we forget.
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I said above that I was diagnosed at 55, my surgeon reckoned that I'd probably had it for 5 or more years.

What persuaded me was the death of an old school friend of Mrs seagull, he was 52.
 
Mullardman said:
I joined PFM at 54 yrs old.. in 2003...

I'm now 72.

Makes you think... That time has flown over..

I was remarking on another fave site that in 12 months I've gone from being able to walk several miles.. to struggling with a mile. Also gone from generally active and strong..to feeling weak .slow etc...

I do keep trying to do stuff.. but it feels like a losing battle.

Anyone of similar age with views on this?

Clearly.. we are all going... but I'd like to stay active..

Any views from other old Gits?
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I'm 81. In all seriousness I recommend that you get a bottle of cognac- not VS cognac, but at least VSOP cognac- that is, aged (by law) for longer than VS.

Drink a SMALL amount every evening, say, not more than about would go into an eyeglass.

I did. I found that after about a week of this rouitine I was feeling more energetic and, generally better.

But...please... don't be tempted to drink more than this amount every day, or you may cancel its effect. It works, according to scientific research, because of the chemicals absorbed into the cognac while it is being aged in oak (usually limousin oak) casks.
 
Barrymagrec said:
My Dad made 96 but he didn`t much enjoy the last couple of years.
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With that I can completely identify. My mother was 97 last week and her last 4 years have been thoroughly miserable. At 93, she was still living independently, in her own house, but then the dementia started - she started seeing people and things that weren't there. In the middle of a conversation, she'd suddenly say, "Where's all them'uns gone?" Them'uns? Er, which'uns? "Them'uns that's always here!" We moved her to a group of retirement flats, but this proved unsuitable as she set the cooker on fire, and would take a notion to "go back to me own house", and have to be brought back by the police. So, it was a retirement home, where she constantly berated my brother (and myself, when I visited) about how we'd stolen all her money and "stuck me in here". Finally she fell and broke her femur. This was fixed, but she has lost her confidence in walking, and so is hoisted out of bed in the morning and hoisted back in at night. Her hearing and eyesight are poor, so she has difficulty reading. One can live too long.
 
^ Agreed. But you are lucky it started as late as 93. Started around 75 with my mil and lasted until she passed aged 88.
My own parents died in their early 70s so that is one less thing to worry about.
 
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Well, this thread is aging well. With regular tipples of eau de vie, it's coming on nicely, I'd say. That's the spirit !
 
tones said:
With that I can completely identify. My mother was 97 last week and her last 4 years have been thoroughly miserable. At 93, she was still living independently, in her own house, but then the dementia started - she started seeing people and things that weren't there. In the middle of a conversation, she'd suddenly say, "Where's all them'uns gone?" Them'uns? Er, which'uns? "Them'uns that's always here!" We moved her to a group of retirement flats, but this proved unsuitable as she set the cooker on fire, and would take a notion to "go back to me own house", and have to be brought back by the police. So, it was a retirement home, where she constantly berated my brother (and myself, when I visited) about how we'd stolen all her money and "stuck me in here". Finally she fell and broke her femur. This was fixed, but she has lost her confidence in walking, and so is hoisted out of bed in the morning and hoisted back in at night. Her hearing and eyesight are poor, so she has difficulty reading. One can live too long.
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yes dementia is horrible sometimes , i certainly dont want to live that long !!
 
tones said:
With that I can completely identify. My mother was 97 last week and her last 4 years have been thoroughly miserable. At 93, she was still living independently, in her own house, but then the dementia started - she started seeing people and things that weren't there. In the middle of a conversation, she'd suddenly say, "Where's all them'uns gone?" Them'uns? Er, which'uns? "Them'uns that's always here!" We moved her to a group of retirement flats, but this proved unsuitable as she set the cooker on fire, and would take a notion to "go back to me own house", and have to be brought back by the police. So, it was a retirement home, where she constantly berated my brother (and myself, when I visited) about how we'd stolen all her money and "stuck me in here". Finally she fell and broke her femur. This was fixed, but she has lost her confidence in walking, and so is hoisted out of bed in the morning and hoisted back in at night. Her hearing and eyesight are poor, so she has difficulty reading. One can live too long.
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Similar story to my grandad, he was about 15 years older than my gran and she died in her early 70s I think, he lived a full independent life from then on until around 94 when he had a minor stroke, he suffered no physical damage and wasn't in hospital long but it played havoc with his mind.

After the stroke he defaulted to his native tongue (Serb-Croat). He would only use brief English and struggled to communicate, my Mum managed to record some of his dialogue on her phone and show it to a family friend who spoke Serb and unfortunately it was all nonsense.

He spent his last few years in a home and still in decent physical health considering, but was never the same.

Thankfully whilst he was still active - around 92 I think - my Mum managed to fly him back to Croatia to see his sister he hadn't seen since he left during WW2, he spent a week in both Croatia and Serbia visiting all his family and on a trip back to what used to be the family farm (which was then just waste land and the derelict remains of a building) he managed to unearth a cutlery knife, which he bought home and cleaned up and ate his dinner with every day!
 
Don’t worry.
You might fall down the stairs, bang your head and die in 48 hours like my mum and not worry about ageing.
 
hifinutt said:
yes dementia is horrible sometimes , i certainly dont want to live that long !!
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It depends from who’s perspective, my dad suffered from vascular dementia in his later years and for us it was awful seeing a very intelligent person gradually losing his memories but from his point of view he was largely happy, once you understood what was happening you could have a conversation with him from the perspective of what memories he had, so you would find yourself rolling back in time to the point where you both had common memories, in many respects it was easier via telephone as he could remember my voice but could not remember what I looked like as his memory of me regressed through time so as the last memory of me was much younger than I was and obviously bore no resemblance to how I looked at the time and hearing a voice he recognised coming from someone he didn’t was confusing for him.
 
russel said:
...but from his point of view he was largely happy, once you understood what was happening you could have a conversation with him from the perspective of what memories he had, so you would find yourself rolling back in time to the point where you both had common memories......
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I did the same for dearly beloved grandparents. It was pointless trying to keep them in the here and now, involving constant correction which they hated and found upsetting.

It was far easier to talk about times past and just to agree. No harm done.

"...when are you back at school Darren?"

" Oh.... not for a week or two yet grandpa..." ( me aged thirty five at the time)

" Is that a ham sandwich in your cardigan pocket Grandpa?

" It is! One never knows when one will be able to eat again....."

They were all such characters and I loved them dearly for they had been endlessly kind and generous to me when I was a lad. It was a pleasure to do them this kindness. I'd do it all again if I could spend one final Sunday afternoon in their company. Upset myself now. Too many special people lost. Off to bed......
 
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