Do you want to grow old?

[sonar]

I did a bit of temp work today at an old peoples home and it was fucking depressing. All these old people sitting around doing nothing, barely hear anything, all hunched over having trouble walking, lots of diabetics, the carers were talking about bed wetting and stuff. I'm sure it has it's joys etc but it just seems like a really sad way to leave the world, slowly losing mental and physical capability...

[Motorway to Roswell]

I'm terrified of old age.

[pompende]

im hoping to get murked b4 the lung and colon cancer set in....

[Phigure]

I'm terrified as well.

Not only of becoming old myself, but losing more and more people around me, and probably the changes the world will go through.

What's struck me in particular is my grandparents on my dad's side of the family... They can barely walk and the house my grandparents live in is absolutely terrible for people of their age... Their bedrooms are up the fucking stairs and they've both fallen and broken bones, yet they refuse to move out because they're so attached. My grandfather has been deaf in one ear ever since WWII, but in the last 10 years he's been losing the other one as well, and the last 5 he's been pretty much entirely deaf. My grandma doesn't really know how to deal with this, and she ends up yelling at him when he can't understand her. She on the other hand is almost entirely blind from macular degeneration. My grandfather's had a battle with bladder cancer the last 10 years and it's gotten to the point where the poor guy needs to take a piss every 10 minutes, and it takes him about 10 minutes to get across the living room because of his fucked up knees. The two of them are completely isolated from each other by sound and by sight. My grandfather has become somewhat of a shell of the person he used to be, although I'm certain everything is fine and well on the inside; he's just cut off from the outside world.

And yet they refuse to move into a home, which I can sort of understand because it's the house they've worked for almost all their lives and that there's a lot of sentimental value in it... It's heartbreaking though.

My dad on the other hand, is sort of on the fast track of aging. He's got this tremor in his right hand that's he's had ever since his thirties, that's gotten steadily worse over the years. Now it's starting to spread to his right foot. Doctors can't really figure it out, some say it's Parkinson's but it's progressing relatively slowly, thankfully,and some of his symptoms contradict the diagnosis of Parkinson's. He's also been tested to see if he carries the genes for hereditary Parkinson's and he doesn't, and I think I'm starting to notice it as well, at 17 rather than the roughly 30 years at which he started feeling it. He's lost the ability to do a lot of things with his right hand, mostly things like cutting, writing, etc. It's getting to the point where he can hardly grab things anymore because the muscle cramps up so hard from the repetitive shaking. He's also clumsy because of how it's spreading to his right foot. He fell off a ladder a few years back and broke his collarbone which still hasn't fully healed because his arm won't stop moving. Recently, while on fucking vacation he fell down some slippery stairs ans broke two ribs and his wrist which also won't heal correctly... There's hope though, since whatever it is is progressing slowly, and he might soon be getting one of those deep brain stimulation implants that many doctors say would work wonders in his case...


It kills me to see him like this though. He's still relatively young, 44, and he can't do a lot of the things he used tonlove anymore. No more skiing/snowboarding. He used to LOVE aviation more than anything, now he can't fly anymore. Scuba diving still works since he's weightles and relaxed jn the water, but he had a little trouble swimming. Too bad he broke his rib on the scuba trip and couldn't do any of that...

Anyways, the point is, it terrifies me. To see me grandparents pretty much at the end of their life, living unhappily kills me. To see my dad slowly waste away (although I'm optimistic about his future) kills me as well. Knowing that I might suffer from the same illness as he does doesn't bother me though. strangely enough, it somewhat puts me at ease since it confirms that he doesn't have Parkinson's. And by the time I'm older, stem cell research will have come much further and may have found a cure.

Oh and then there's the fact that cocaine increases dopamine levels (which is the cause of the tremor aka shaking). I always tell my dad to try cocaine, jokingly, but I have a feeling we're both going to end up doing it together...

So yeah, I don't exactly know why I wrote about all that, it's not like any of you really care (not to sound cynical), but it feels good talking about it.

[apmje]

No.

My grandad is battling cancer atm and it fucking sucks. I've had to move out so he can have my room so he can spend his last few months around family as his heart, from heart disease, is too weak for keemo and it's just purely a waiting game. He doesn't even spend time with family anymore, just takes tablets and sleeps. He used to be a well fed man and now you can see all his ribs, its horrific.

[kidshuffle]

I want to get to be like 65-70, so I can be able to putter around and shit, but I really hope I don't live a whole lot longer than that (unless I can somehow keep my sanity). That freaks me out like mad

[frank grimes jr.]

Waiting for android body parts. BRB with ears that don't have hair growing out them.

[mashmash]

yeah, my mom used to work in an old people's home. i hated going, it stank and was just really sad seeing the state some of them were in. i couldn't wait to get out every time i visited, but then i realise that'll be me some day... i hope to god i don't get put in an old people's home

[Pedro Sánchez]

I worked in an old peoples home and it was grim but changed my perspective on life, it was was one of them one where the rich families just pay a shit load to dump them out of the way. I defiantly learned the older you get, the more wicked your sense of humour is.
Bingo evening was fun also baring in mind, half are almost blind and the other half are almost deaf, so it was played with a megaphone and a4 sized number boards and one game lasted about 2 hours.

[ketamine]

I'm not going to grow old simply because I don't believe in it, and refuse to. So its not an option. The Universe can go [censored] itself if its doesn't like it.

[helix]

It's just as natural as dying.
I don't mind aging, I just hate the responsibility that comes with it.

I guess it's best put this way
I don't mind growing old
I mind growing up.

[sigbowls]

working when your old would suck dick

[WhosZena]

Don't particularly mind (won't be an issue for a while)
Probably just like wearin and old suit
People look at you different, but inside your the same
Maybe slightly colder

Plus my granddad - such a legendary old person
Makes it look easy

[nicenice]

Its sad seeing old people and no one cares for them any more.

[dubmatters]

Here's a question:

The advance of medicine and lifestyle has lead us to leading longer lives which is good in the most part.

But surely dying a bit younger is better than ending up loosing all brain and bodily functions before you finally pop your clogs?

My mates dad is in the early stages of dementia at aged 50 something, poor bloke.

[nicenice]

On the topic on longevity.

Apparently, people being born now could possibly live to the ripe age of 150 or more.

[WhosZena]

On the topic on longevity.

Apparently, people being born now could possibly live to the ripe age of 150 or more.

Wow. Who says this?

I know ancient civilisations were big at this

[BLAHBLAHJAH]

Youth ain't wasted on the young - what you gunna do to prove it

[pkay]

I can't picture living past 50. Why would you?

Ride it till the wheels fall off

[magma]

I'm terrified of old age.