My husband and I cared for my MIL in our home for two years. She was on 17 pills a day as well as on oxygen, insulin shots, and dialysis three times a week. She would have died years earlier without the medical interventions that she had. On the up side, she was mentally sharp until the end.
After watching her wither and become isolated, I feel like I would rather pass away more quickly than live longer with a lower quality of life.
Have others had thoughts about how they look at their own aging process?
I wash my hands for a longer period of time and try to politely slide away when I hear someone coughing,
i eat better, work out more and try to engage in mentally stimulating activities to keep my mind sharp.
I see greater beauty in flowers, a good slice of cake, sunsets, laughter and spending time with people I love.
I feel now now that my time is shorter (than I used to feel) and I want to spend it happier.
I avoid spending time time with people obsessed with money or things. There is too much greed and selfishness in our world.
I donate my time and money generously and take the time to meet (and help) people when I can.
I revised my will. I vow to get better organized.
I would prefer a quick death (while sharp), but want a natural death and realize m, accordingly, that I don’t get to choose.
Getting old takes a lot of courage.
dramatically over the past few years, and I am relatively young. I do not intend to suffer endlessly and without point. I have no children and never married. There is no one who will care about me or take care of me as I care for my mother. She is 91 and want to keep myself well enough to care for her and be there for her in her last years, but after that If I become so ill that I am suffering without quality of life or dignity, then I will take matters into my own hands. I have enough insulin to open up a pharmacy. For now I do not feel this way, but I am prepared to do what I have to do when I get too old and too ill to have quality of life.
Plus, I don't blindly listen to any Doctor I visit anymore. They throw pills at every problem and I use to take them without considering the alternative. No longer.
For instance, just last week my doc prescribed Lyrica to treat withdrawal from a antidepressant I was taking. I had a very scary experience with it and thought I was having a stroke. I have since read that there are interactions with it and Effexor which I am weaning myself off of. I still have Effexor in my system obviously so the doc and pharmacist should have caught that. I took the Lyrica back to the pharmacist and told them they could keep it. I should have said they should shove it but the lady working there didn't deserve my wrath so I let it go.
I agree Frequent Flyer. I would rather die on my terms.
I had cancer a decade ago, and the treatment didn't give me a good quality of life while on the treatment for 4 years. To this day, one of the side effects is haunt me. Thus, if something new develops, so be it, I don't want to risk more side effects, and pills for those side effects, and more pills to help with the pills helping the first set of side effect... hope you can follow that :P
I rather have quality of life then quantity.
But I do realize, if I had children I may think totally different by wanting to see their various milestones.