Munchies:[quote/]
orderofthegooddeath.com/death-positive-movement/End of life care is very cold, and how we treat the elderly and infirm is appalling. It's no wonder that most people want nothing to do with it.
We all want a good life, but it shouldn't be lived in fear of death. For death comes for us all.
Sterlingdf:***** Thanks for the link to Order of the Good Death. I enjoyed the sentiments there.
I am older than most here so I might have a different perspective. The way things are set up, it is difficult to retire and I was so relieved to get past that hurdle, BUT, having accomplished that, I turned around and saw that there was this giant cliff I still had to climb and that is taking care of yourself after you retire.
The cost of Elder Care is astronomical - thousands of dollars a month and completely beyond most people's capabilities. It appears you have to sell everything you have to pay for it and get down to assets less than 2000 a month and then become a ward of the state in whatever facility they throw you into. All privacy is revoked.
So in terms of wanting longevity, I would not want that type of longevity wasting away in a bed in an elder ward. It would be nice if one could bow out medically (assisted suicide or euthanasia) when that time comes. But the health care system is very greedy and wants you to transfer all your wealth to them in the last stages of your life.
For me, even though it might be crazy, having fun and enjoying life and putting on pounds and having a friends around me who enjoy food is a good option. With continually gaining weight there is bound to be a tipping point eventually where something goes wrong and I keel over, (hopefully with a quick heart attack or stroke) but isn't that a better end than being propped up medically while they literally suck the life out of you SLOWLY and fill their pocketbooks?[/quote]
Welcome, welcome.
Aging and gaining is a big gamble. Speaking as someone who has been in the medical industry for about a decade - mostly with the 65+ crowd - I know it's a gamble to let go like that. Sometimes you're fine. Sometimes, you're not. And when you are older, that tipping point is often a slow, painful process.
This is often complicated when the patient goes against medical directives and/or the family refuses to accept the end is near. Both make the end-of-life experience exceedingly more miserable than it needs to be.
I hope that everyone gets to have the life they want. And I hope that when the end comes, it comes the way you desire. But make sure you aren't moving with false conceptions of reality. Because sometimes, when you get what you asked for, it's not what you wanted.
