Outlook in our eighties?

Ashcombe, my local station is unstaffed, with steps to one platform. I can manage them, but it is hard work. No assistance available unfortunately.

CrazyH
My closest friend was the lead on a team educating care workers in care homes on all the different aspects of Alzheimer’s/ dementia.
This piece gives an insight to the different aspects of this awful disease.
Also it might help others caring for loved ones who haven’t been informed on so many small changes can help.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/dementia/living-with-dementia/home-environment/

Cabbie21: If I undertake a journey by rail on my own, I book Passenger Assistance which works really well. Help is provided to assist with boarding or changing trains with lovely staff to meet you and carry luggage.

It’s so long since I’ve flown that I am too daunted by airports to want to tackle one on my own now, and I tire quickly with luggage on trains and with driving for more than an hour or so these days, so my travels are limited but I have some short breaks lined up and am happy to explore on my own. Maybe I’ll consider a cruise with a company like Saga who will pick you up but they are not cheap. So I’d want to be sure it was right for me. Now that the weather is better I definitely want to get out more.

Blossoming and Fancyflowers 😍🥰

My cousin retired and set off around the country, then Australia and Italy and onwards. She spent her retirement lump sum and an inheritance.

Then out of the blue some kind of episode sent her reeling and she fell badly. It has taken years to recover, so yes, go while you can and can afford.

I cannot get my DH out of the chair and I would love to, but after a really bad experience in a Portuguese airport he will not fly again, so I would say if you are single, or your DH is willing, do get going.

butterandjam

I'm a great believer in the longterm health benefits of fresh air , good diet and good sleep. The older we get (80 this year) the more important it is to eat and sleep right. We sleep in fresh air every night, window open, cold room, cosy bed. DH and the dog have walked 2000 miles in the past year, every day in all weathers; he also rows skiffs. We both have outdoor volunteer jobs and I have an allotment.

Hear, hear. Recent research has shown that sleeping in a bedroom of 14 degrees or less can also help to prevent dementia.
I’m in Perth, currently about 5 outside. Window and balcony door open, room temp about 12. Lovely, thick duvet. Best of both worlds.

I'm a great believer in the longterm health benefits of fresh air , good diet and good sleep. The older we get (80 this year) the more important it is to eat and sleep right. We sleep in fresh air every night, window open, cold room, cosy bed. DH and the dog have walked 2000 miles in the past year, every day in all weathers; he also rows skiffs. We both have outdoor volunteer jobs and I have an allotment.

Blossoming

Not something I have to worry about, I’m not going to reach my eighties.

Same here.

Physical activity and a new hobby that opens new pathways (learning a practical skill, instrument, language, etc.) makes a significant impact, as does exercise.
Go for a walk each day and find a new hobby.

Romola

Yesterday I asked Google translate for a Latin version of my motto:

Dum possum, facio

Which, for those of you who have forgotten any Latin they ever knew, means, while I can, I do. And that's how I try to live.

Sounds similar to the tenor Placido Domingo’s motto:
“If I rest, I rust”.
He carries on singing (though some say he should stop😁) and conducting (same) in his eighties.
So I carry on singing (79 next month), painting and travelling.
I put my favourite pop songs on, dance round the sitting room
and try not to think about the future…🤞🙏🏻

Blossoming💐

At 81 I’m the oldest person on my family tree, going back hundreds of years. It’s not genetics which killed off my family but lifestyle. Drinking, smoking, inactivity and cancers associated with bad habits. My siblings, parents and three grandparents were all dead before seventy.

crazyH

I am still confused about Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Old Age Senility. My darling mother had the last one, I think. She was forgetful. I was the youngest of 9. She remembered all their names, albeit, in the wrong order, but just couldn’t remember me. ‘And then, there was a girl’……….bless her .
She was lucky to have been looked after by my bachelor brother, who, when his turn came, had to go to a Nursing Home.
There are times when I worry about the future. Atm I am ok.

.

Dementia is a generic term for a range of mental problems in old age characterised by a loss of memory and confusion.

Alzheimers is one of the illnesses where the main symptom is dementia. There are other forms of dementia. Many people have vascular dementia and there rae other very rare dieases that cause dementia. Old age senility is an old fashioned term for 'dementia'. It is a long time since I heard anyone described as suffering from senility.

I keave others to refine my definitions

I am still confused about Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Old Age Senility. My darling mother had the last one, I think. She was forgetful. I was the youngest of 9. She remembered all their names, albeit, in the wrong order, but just couldn’t remember me. ‘And then, there was a girl’……….bless her .
She was lucky to have been looked after by my bachelor brother, who, when his turn came, had to go to a Nursing Home.
There are times when I worry about the future. Atm I am ok.

.

Graunty7 you clearly know very little about dementia!
For many people and their families dementia is a devastating, destructive disease of the brain.
I know from both personal experience, nursing my husband and from observing the progression of the illness in others known to me.
There really are no words to describe the awfulness of this terrible illness.

win

Graunty7

The positive thing about dementia I’ve realised is you don’t know you’ve got it and if you are in a nice safe place it can be managed.

Don't you believe it, some don't but some certainly do and suffer greatly.

How true Win My friends father took his life when he was going through a lucid period 😥

Yes health concerns are an issue as we age. Sadly I know a number of people who have been in poor health since their sixties, so life has not been good to them. Enjoy what you have while you can and don't worry to much about tomorrow, enjoy today and all that it brings.

I have admittedly not reached my eigthies yet, but honestly: what is the point of worrying about something that might never happen?

We seem to be living in a society that is hell-bent on making anyone over retirement age either feel guilty that they are receiving the pension that they worked hard to qualify for or to bombard of with all the "health issues" (horrible phrase) that might crop up sometime in the remainder of our lives.

Is this some kind of sadistic game? Points for making us feel guilty that we are getting on in years, and more points if they can scare us into believing that dementia, terminal cancer etc. etc. are just round the next corner.

Yes, we ARE all going to die - everyone does, sooner or later.

However, many of us will get to the end of the road without becoming senile, loosing our ability to care for ourselves, or developing any illness that is hard to live with.

If we are so unlucky as to be amongst those whose latter years are full of disability, illness and other worries that will be sad, but unavoidable, so cheer up, enjoy life while it still is enjoyable even if the pace is slower and do not plague yourselves with the thought of what could or might happen, but is just as likely not to happen.

Carpe diem! Latin meaning literally grab the day - in other words make the best possible use of your time.

It does depend on the personality. Some don’t realise they have dementia and give their family hell !

Graunty7

The positive thing about dementia I’ve realised is you don’t know you’ve got it and if you are in a nice safe place it can be managed.

Don't you believe it, some don't but some certainly do and suffer greatly.

My mother came from a large and generally very long-lived family - as she used to say, ‘Good stock!’

However all of her siblings except the youngest (a lot younger than the others but she’s still 90 now) had succumbed to dementia. My DM went on to 97, but was in a pitiful state for at least the final 6 or 7 years.

In her case, having the general constitution of a rhinoceros certainly wasn’t a later-life bonus. She broke a hip (so often the beginning of the end) at 90 or 91, and apparently the anaesthetist who attended her, said, ‘Boy, this is one tough old bird!’

The positive thing about dementia I’ve realised is you don’t know you’ve got it and if you are in a nice safe place it can be managed.

My Great Grandfather was married three times, had 7 children and lived to 93. He had his golden wedding with his third wife.

Both my parents lived to 93 and had hard early lives plus two world wars to cope with.

I will be 83 later this year and DH 84. He is physically fitter than me but my memory and hearing is much better than his so between us we do quite well. I expect that I may live longer then my parents but not as sure about DH. His Mum died at 48 and his Dad at 77.

In any event, as the Bible says "We know not the hour nor the day" so we just have to KBO as best we can!

Not something I have to worry about, I’m not going to reach my eighties.