Away back, some 20 years ago, in these columns, I expressed my opinion that we have four stages of years to live.
Year One, zero to 25 years, Two, twenty-six to 50 years, Three; fifty one to 75 years, and four is seventy-one to 100 years.
I still feel that this is true for an increasing number of our population. We do appear, to me, to be living longer. At that time, I had a full expectation of making it to 100 years old. After all, my parents had great genes which should help me to make 100. Good reasoning, don’t you think?
Over the last few weeks, I have been feeling down in the dumps. My ‘killers’ have been melanoma and the resulting autoimmune disease labelled as dermatomyositis. It is a very rare autoimmune disease and caused the doctors to think it was caused by melanoma. It is not a terminal disease but the melanoma could end up being a problem.
I am only 84 years old and I have heard that the current average life expectancy is 85 years of age. Statistics appear to be on my side. I should have lots of years left – at least one more.
Since I was first diagnosed with a dementia in 2013 the doctors have added to my list of diseases with the autoimmune disease and our doctor’s have helped me to make it to 84 years. A statistic that I have just found is that if you make it to the age of 60 in good health, then 50 per cent will make it to 100 years. This autoimmune disease is a silent inflammation ‘killer’ and may be the end of me. The doctors have me on all sort of treatments and drugs.
About three weeks ago I went to our Golf Professional for a lesson. She was great and worked hard to get me hitting the ball, while dealing with my diseases. But, a few weeks later, realty made its presence known to me. I played nine holes twice, scored once at 60 for nine holes and didn’t keep score at all for the other nine holes. I am discouraged, to say the least. Looks as if my life in golf may have come to an end.
Age seems to have caught up to me. I do not want to grow old but it seems to be happening. I have come to realize that the clock keeps ticking and the body does age as the years pass. I seem to have lost my positive attitude. My biggest problem is balance. I just have a problem walking and staying upright.
My dilemma is to either keep on living or retire from life. I’ve reviewed my life in the past few weeks and I don’t like what I see. Apparently, my actions indicate that I have decided to retire from life. I’m not eating well and doing very little exercise. I have had an active life and this is not the time to become inactive.
What do I do? I should go back to the “Seven Pillars of Good Health” and run my life by these Seven Pillars: Lifestyle, Diet, Exercise, Awareness, Connection, Insight and Purpose, I wrote about these in the summer of the year 2020. Now I have to listen to myself and get my life back on track. The alternative is to quit and I do not want to be a quitter.
Stay tuned, hopefully I can retain my positive outlook on life and forge ahead.
***
Bob Murray is retired from the graphic communication (printing) industry and has been living in Seaforth since 2015. Murray was diagnosed with Dementia in 2013 and works hard to stop the progress of the disease. Follow him on his blog entitled Voyage with Dementia – https://myvoyage553264702.wordpress.com.
