OT: getting old sucks

Every morning when I get up, I am like an airline pilot going through his checklist. 1) am I really awake? 2) lift up head and slowly turn towards clock, check, 3) Slowly rotate body towards edge of bed, check, 4) slowly rotate body to upright, sitting position, check, 5) slowly stand up hunched over and see if stable, check, 6) take a couple of steps while becoming fully vertical, check, 7) make command decision to go to bathroom or downstairs, check, 8) stand in kitchen wondering what order to make coffee, check, 9) slowly take coffee to sitting position and sit down, check 10) take inventory of preceding steps and evaluate physical condition for day, check.

Never used to do that.

Mumbo said...
7) make command decision to go to bathroom or downstairs, check,

That item on your list had me laughing out loud!

The vision that I had of myself growing old has just not panned out for me. Too many surgeries, too many probes, too much radiation. And add the xtandi, lupron, Zytiga along the way, my body does not recognize itself. And then I have to remember that my paternal grandfather lived to be 96yo, but the trade off was that he lost his sight and his hearing at some point. And that appears to be the deal that we made with our creator. We will get so many years but we have to leave something behind. It had to be horrible for my grandfather to lose his sight and hearing. When I think of that, it helps me feel less sorry for myself.

Now if you will excuse me, my lupron riddled brain is asking me to decide between the taped Georgia Tech vs. Louisville game or the Young and Restless.
Michael

I'm going to my 50th High School Reunion in a few weeks.... I'm going to suggest a fun game called:

"He/She who has the most original body parts wins!"

That will be more fun than the STRESS TEST I'm doing in two days... This will be my second one. First one was 12+ years ago and I passed it.

I also did my first CT Scan of my Chest last week. It is much more detailed than the typical X-Ray.... I smoked for 40 years but quit about 7 years ago. The scan also looks at some of the hearts arteries and measures blockage. Test came back looking GOOD.

The darn upcoming Stress Test is one of those "better safe than sorry" tests... I mentioned that every so often I get a weird sensation in my chest. Course this is a fun test and the only one I know of where there's a DOCTOR standing right there in case the test kills you....

Thanks Jack.... The storm missed my area by a long shot so to speak. AND, today is one of the prettiest days we've had in a while. Not a cloud in the sky - humidity is very low and there's a nice breeze. I think come Wednesday, the heat and humidity will be back.

I better only be doing the treadmill... It's bad enough.

Side question for all - Seems like I read a long time ago, that going from Zero to 100 can be hard on the heart... EXAMPLE: If and when my cat walks in front of me and stops..... I've been known to lose it... My blood pressure can and will go through the roof as I attempt to chase down and kill the cat. Is the quick rise in blood pressure a bad thing? (no animals were harmed in this story)

Many, many years ago when I was taking a college biology class, we had to do a family tree and identify lifespans and causes of death. I was in my early 20s and hadn’t given it much thought but the assignment was enlightening. Women on the tree hit their mid-80s but males are gone by their mid-60s. Primary cause of death was cardio-vascular disease.

While that seemed like a long way off, it still sounded like too early an exit for me. The follow up assignment had to do with lifestyle and how those behaviors impact longevity. Well, I got the message and, while I was living a pretty healthy lifestyle, I did make some serious additions. I took a college nutrition class and following that I graduated to a vegetarian diet. I took up bicycling and some running in addition to playing racquetball and volleyball. I never smoked so I didn’t have to break that habit and I’ve never been a drinker. I also took a meditation course to offset any stresses that came along. When I was in my early 30s I was diagnosed with hypertension and after trying one thing or another my doctor said that lifestyle can’t fully offset genetics (shown in family history) and I went on a pill and still am.

Some years later, when my wife and I sat down to do retirement financial planning, the first question in order to figure out how much money to have put aside is “how long do you plan to live?” I wanted to say “forever” but the reality is that I needed to pick a realistic number. Based on family history, offset that by my much healthier lifestyle than them, I picked 92. Considering that it’s only 19 years away, I feel like I’m going to make it.

The challenge is to keep up the healthy lifestyle choices which, for me, are already embedded so I don’t have to make changes or give anything up. While I crept that the body is slowing down, a bit, I get more concerned about cognitive decline and am actively working against that by staying mentally active, learning new things. I mentioned elsewhere that I went back to college and received a BFA a year ago and I am making all kinds of art and recently have started taking guitar lessons, an instrument that I’ve played at off and on for years and will now achieve some sort of mastery.

You're the man, Vince. Most of us, in hindsight, wish we had started earlier with healthy habits. Consider George Burns' famous line, "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself." Healthspan is the important consideration when aging. Lifespan could mean a long decline in functional health over many years (my mom died at 96, but was in poor health for the last 10 years of her lifespan) Healthspan is sometimes called "Squaring the Curve" with a healthspan extending your whole lifespan, with a quick decline at the end. Physiologists call this "Compression of Morbidity".

I think you're on to something, Pratoman,working with a Functional Medicine specialist. It sounds like the core principles are similar to what I follow with the American Heart Association's "Essential Eight" guidelines for heart health, which includes stress management, good quality/quantity of sleep (they only recently added that), diet, exercise. I hew pretty close to doing all these things, but know that luck and genetics also play a role. I'd be interested to hear what kinds of testing the functional medicine doc is doing to establish your baseline. I did a few extra heart tests that my cardiologist didn't order: TMAO (produced by the gut and affects heart), Lipoprotein(a), Lipoprotein B, homocysteine and high sensitivity CRP. After writing this, I realize how lucky I am to have PCa behind me, whereas many guys here do not! I do not take that fact for granted.

My father died a couple of weeks ago at age 96. He lived a good life but too long. He was ready to go at least a year ago and wished it would end, no way to live he told me many times. His recent line was “I can see but I can’t see.” A hospital nurse called me (I was POA for his health care) from one of his recent hospital visits and said “your Dad says he can’t see yet he can tell how many fingers I show him. Do you know what he is talking about?” I told her I was not sure and questioned him about it the next time I saw him. He basically said he could see albeit poorly but he could not interpret what he was seeing or if it was real or not. Basically, he sometimes had hallucinations that were real to him but yet they never happened. I think I was the only one that understood since he had told me stories of recent happenings to him in great detail that never of happened.

He had all the maladies we talk about, artificial knees, heart surgery, pacemaker, PCa, diabetes, kidney failure, etc. He played tennis through his 70’s that had to stop at some point, played keyboard in an old timer band through his 80’s until his arthritic hands gave out, and lived his 90’s not being able to do many of the things he loved. The last two years were in decline with hospital visits every 6 months or less. They would fix him up and send him back home. Eventually, it all caught up with him and it was over in a few months and he did not die in his sleep as he hoped for. I had to make the call at 1:30am to the hospital doctors and it was over.

I look at that as my roadmap and not looking forward to my 90’s if I make it that far. As a side note, now I am stressed having to deal with his widow and estate. Did not expect my retirement to be this way but shame on me for not expecting him to die and make my life like work again. Stay healthy to the best of your ability.

Mumbo, my condolences for the loss of your father. My mom passed away at 94 after years of colon cancer, kidney disease and dementia. Dealing with the kidney and cancer was no problem for her or us. The dementia was tough as she didn’t recognize us. When she finally passed it was a blessing as she was highly medicated and we could tell she was in pain, but she never complained. As we were responsible for all her health concerns, dealing with SS, vet administration and funeral arrangements was a task for sure. It was stressful, but like dealing with PC, we took it one day at a time. Try your best to de-stress daily. Eventually everything will get done. Your father is in a better place and you are carrying on his legacy. Stay strong for him.
Again, so sorry for your loss and we are all here for you whatever your needs.
Jack

If you are in good physical and mental condition, the time that you spend dying is brief. Otherwise, it can take a long time being miserable. Mom did that - 9 years in a nursing home on heavy meds and oxygen with a bunch of serious conditions until she pulled her tubes and quit eating/drinking.

The friends I mentioned above were fine right up to the end when they each just stopped and died. I started trying to get healthy 50 years ago, still working at that.

Anybody want to take me to Vegas? I'm feeling pretty lucky right about now. Have a feeling it could rub off...

I'm 68 years old, 5' 11'' and 225 lbs. (30 pounds too much in the gut dept)
I smoked for FORTY YEARS but quit almost Seven Years ago.

Two weeks ago I had a CT Lung Scan as part of physical. It basically came back clean. I do have mild COPD but am not on any meds or inhalers. This CT scan is supposed to be way more effective then the good old X-Ray method. It also looks at some of the heart veins.

My Blood tests all came back clean... The main Cholesterol number was 115.

Yesterday I did a Cardio STRESS TEST via a treadmill. (apparently there is a way to do the stress test via drugs - who knew) - It came back as NORMAL. I did this test 12 years ago, but it seemed different... The one yesterday - they injected my with a radioactive dye and did some sort of scan before and after the stress test. They said several times that they ONLY stress people based on their age.... They got my heart rate over 130...which was about twice what the "resting" rate was. Guess they took it easy on me.

Post Edited (Steve n Dallas) : 9/7/2023 10:28:54 PM (GMT-8)

OMG errors!
No I don't live in my car. I meant to say my apartment upstate.
Mumbo my wife has had to do the POA and yes it is not a easy job.
Thanks for taking care.

Glen