Death and Schrodingers Cat

Thanks Moggy….something to think about……….

At least it was caught in time (touch wood).

Moggy

I have a question for you. It might sound a little silly in the asking but……

Knowing what you know now…..would you have done things much differently when you were younger ?

Actually no, but then I have lived quite a full and unrestricted life.

What I would have done would have been to ask my GP for a PSA test at 40, then again at 50. This would have identified the problem earlier and made the treatment easier.

Moggy

Just pack as much as you can in to every day. I’ve always done that even from being a yoof. There’s only one thing I haven’t done that I want to do and that’s scuba diving, haven’t got round to it yet. I’ve had three close friends die in the last five years, all in their 50’s. I’m 56 and if that isn’t a wake up call to get more stuff packed in I don’t know what is.

I’m always reminded of something my Dad used to say ( he was a bon viveur too) about people’s tombstones. ‘Here lies Fred, buried at 80, died at 30’. He used to say ‘Don’t let that happen to you son’.

Dylan Thomas summed it up rather well

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Moggy

I have a question for you. It might sound a little silly in the asking but……

Knowing what you know now…..would you have done things much differently when you were younger ?

PS Speaking personally I hope I will be able to do much haunting. But also hope many years hence, since there is still much to do.

So it looks as though people aren’t that bothered about death ?

Now I know this isn’t really relevant,but I’d like to share this. Three soldiers from New Zealand were killed in Afghanistan recently,and their comrades performed a haka for them on their return home.

If I had a send-off like this I’d be well pleased.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVMO32rdffg

Moggy

I’m glad you’re doing well. 🙂

My sister, had a narrow escape (so far) from breast cancer.
There are no guarentees…so you have to have fun, yet not tempt fate too much.

As I get older, I’m tempted to take up flying again…IMHO, it’s better to go five minutes early than five minutes late. I’m not sure I really want to sit aound a nursing home pissing my pants.

And rather like the BBC story author, I have Schrodinger’s Basset.
The only way you can see if he’s still breathing is to mention dinner.

Thanks. That is very well-meaning and your concern is greatly appreciated

But ‘preventing cancer’ comes a little late for me

Moggy

Moggy and other cancer survivors. Please read this book : http://www.amazon.com/You-Prevent-Cancer-Michael-Colgan/dp/1896817076

I have a background in biochemistry and I cannot dispute any of the facts nor the references. The author is a 25 year cancer survivor. I had a suspect x-ray 5 years ago (tumor) at age 46 and, being familiar with the book, have tried to follow the principles ever since without accepting any medical treatment, although not easy where I live. I lead a very active life including regular exercise and have not used any pharmaceutical product except when I contracted malaria a few years ago. And then only the minimum dose. I have not been off sick one day in 5 years. I know this is difficult for most folk to swallow and is only anecdotal evidence, but it worked for me. The most you can lose is about a tenner. And I still drink beer!

At sixty-five this year I definitely qualify as a coffin-dodger,but I’m certainly not worried about dying. Rather I think I’m lucky to have got this far with good health,compared to so many people I know.

I heard from a friend in New Zealand this week that she’s just been diagnosed with a painful,incurable,untreatable muscle-wasting disease. We used to laugh about how clumsy she was,always tripping over things,but it was because she was ill all along.
She’s just had an excruciating muscle biopsy,and now faces having a bone-marrow sample taken.

What exercises my mind much more than thinking about dying is just how bloody unfair life is. Why should she,younger than me,have to bear this burden while I’m still ( almost ) skipping around like a two-year old ? Why couldn’t I have had the incurable fibromyalgia my daughter was diagnosed with when she was seventeen,instead of her ?

I know it’s a cheesy new age cliche to have ” an attitude of gratitude “,but I definitely do.

The only thing that slightly depresses me is that I don’t think I’m going to live long enough to read all the books I’ve accumulated 🙂

I fear you are in a minority.

But thank you 🙂

Moggy

(PS: I am sure few really care, but post-op in 2008 I have a 94% probability of being the bane of your forum lives in 2018)

I’m very pleased to hear that;)

Very true, no-one worries about money until it’s in short supply, no-one thinks about old age or the end when they’re young and full of life.

Like it or not none of us grow younger, this is not some depressive thought, personally I’m enjoying retirement, but I’m also aware that I have considerably fewer years left than I have already had, so make the best of what you have, enjoy what you can and the rest can take care of itself.

Every time I read an item, by younger (than me) types, blithely telling us how they don’t care a fig about aging, and carelessly snap their fingers at fate, I’m reminded of Eliza Doolittle, and “Just you wait, ‘Enry ‘Iggins, just you wait.” Life is never so attractive, as when you near the time of losing it.

It all depends on what sort of day,week,month im having.
Sometimes,im full of beans.Live life to the full.
Some times the darkness arrives and the other is a decidable option.

So do you worry, care about death.

When you have sat opposite the man who looks up from the test results and says…

“Well, you have cancer”

… you do worry about death. But more so you worry about not extracting every single ounce of enjoyment out of whatever years you have left.

That is the key. In the immortal words.. it really isn’t a rehearsal.

Moggy

(PS: I am sure few really care, but post-op in 2008 I have a 94% probability of being the bane of your forum lives in 2018)

It’s all about a balance I think. Let’s face it, none of us know how many rolls of the dice we’ve got, so why worry too much about how long you’ve got! If there’s anything you want to do, get on and do it as you may not have a tomorrow to do it in. However it’d be foolish to lead a lifestyle that will only hasten your demise. But the old people you mention out jogging and power walking can only keep ahead of the reaper for so long 🙂
And by the way our cat is the laziest creature which ever drew breath 99.9% of the time. The remaining time he spends successfully reducing the local population of small furry creatures, frequently returning to deposit them (or components thereof) proudly on our feet…