Author Topic: Does it matter what we die of?  (Read 777 times)

zoony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 63553
Does it matter what we die of?
« on: Aug 17, 2019, 01:04:27 AM »
  So much is written about living a healthy life in retirement and I have absolutely no problem with good advice in that direction if it's appropriate but I truly wonder if it matters? At our age, our paths are mostly set, in whatever way, and we represent what we've been and as such, a cross-section of what folk still are.. Some are active and fit with longevity as the goal, some are not. Some are up for change, most are not. Need we be continually nagged to do things that we either already do or will never do?
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #1 on: Aug 17, 2019, 03:25:58 AM »
Not really. To my mind, by the time we get to our sorts of ages, we are what we are. Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Flying bomb

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3515
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #2 on: Aug 17, 2019, 06:48:37 AM »
I shall eventually die of death. ;D
If the Buck stops here how can the Doe go all the way ?



Albert.

Macca

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 314
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #3 on: Aug 17, 2019, 08:16:34 AM »
Laurel and Hardy...  "what did he die of"?     "I think he died of a Tuesday or it might have been Wednesday".
"Don't argue with an idiot, he will bring you down to his level and beat you with experience" - Mark Twain

mick607

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3995
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #4 on: Aug 17, 2019, 11:19:38 AM »
Of course it matters what we die of. Who wants a long painfull illness or a quick heart attack ?I know which I prefer.

Alex22

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19425
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #5 on: Aug 17, 2019, 12:05:13 PM »
I think it matters, many of us on here have witnessed loved ones dying.   I watched my Mum die a slow, wasting death.  My Dad on the other hand died very quickly - it's a no brainer !
.

xetog

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11227
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #6 on: Aug 18, 2019, 10:36:36 AM »

The answer is surely no, but I can see a lot of sense in the argument for a quick, painful death over a lingering painful one.  But surely the issue is pain.  Occasionally we do hear of people suffering a painless death and that is surely the aim most of us have, whether it is quick or not is to my mind irrelevant, but at best a matter for personal preference.  My line is long lived with 85 to 95+ year old's common although I cannot vouch for manner of death (my father died of a stroke at 86).  However my medical history is long and torturous after serious disease at the age of 6.  My life span has variously been predicted as 30, then 40, then 60, but I'm still here.


Apart from a recent accident which has laid me low I have learned that I have a serious problem
that could prove terminal at any moment (perhaps before I finish this post  ;D ). There are two alternatives: Wait and see, or have a very risky operation.  We are currently wrestling with the problem. One might prove painful, the other I would know nothing about it, but with an opportunity to live on.  I have a  choice, is that worse or better?


Mike.X


PS.  I am really wrestling whether to post this mawkish diatribe, but feel it may be relevant to the subject under discussion. Oh hell - press the button!
If you want to control peoples thoughts, first control their words.

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #7 on: Aug 18, 2019, 10:39:34 AM »
 I do hope that whatever you choose works out best for you
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

xetog

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11227
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #8 on: Aug 18, 2019, 10:46:50 AM »

Thanks for the thought Mike, you were very quick.  The question though remains, is it better to have a choice of some sort, hence an argument for euthanasia.


Mike.X
If you want to control peoples thoughts, first control their words.

Scrumpy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 24731
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #9 on: Aug 18, 2019, 11:13:08 AM »



xetog..  I have thought about your thread and the choices.. It certainly wasn't easy to come up with answer..
It would involve my children and their opinions on the matter.
My daughter would , I think, tell me to take a chance.. My son would probably say the same..
However the last word would be mine.. I would take a chance.. The alternative of waiting and dreading every day would be too much for me.

Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, its not the end.

minniemouse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9158
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #10 on: Aug 18, 2019, 11:47:37 AM »
......I would be firstly inclined to ask the surgeon what he would do in the same situation.

Smoking kills you, bacon kills you, smoking bacon cures it.

mick607

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3995
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #11 on: Aug 18, 2019, 01:33:03 PM »
At the end of the day (pun intended) it's not the quantity of life but the quality of life that really for me.My side of the family we ususlly die young, my wife's family live much longer, her gran was 101 years old BUT suffered dementia for twenty odd years or so before she passed away.

crabbyob

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 24438
Re: Does it matter what we die of?
« Reply #12 on: Aug 18, 2019, 07:07:24 PM »
the thing is that thanks to the NHS we are writing on a blank page...
i have had loads of ailments, i had TB twice, i was carried out the pit three times
i had lung cancer, bowel cancer and prostate cancer... i am 78...
 and planning to winter in India...
we are writing a new book, and the fact we keep on trucking seems to point out that we are not the dross
and some might even be the cream... be positive guys, the cemetery is full of those who didnt
“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but as we are already here we may as well dance”