Can You Get Botox for Knees? And Other Joys of Growing Old

[Moonbear]

All is well. Tsu got food poisoning about two months ago, and this has led to minor complications. All of the really bad stuff is ruled out.

That's a relief that the worst has been ruled out! Here's hoping she is feeling better quickly.

Astronuc, sorry to hear your family is going through such a rough spell too. That must be incredibly hard on the caretakers being spread so thin in the family with so many illnesses at once.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Astronuc, sorry to hear your family is going through such a rough spell too. That must be incredibly hard on the caretakers being spread so thin in the family with so many illnesses at once.

No kidding! These sort of problems can be a real strain on the entire family. Hang in there Astronuc.

 

[Astronuc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people

Yone Minagawa of Japan dies at 114, making Edna Parker of the United States, 106 days younger, the oldest living person in the world.

My grandfather lived to 103.5 yrs. He died just after midnight Jan 1, 2003.

He had been hospitalized for about the last two months with recurrent respiratory infections. He had recovered before Christmas only to get another illness shortly thereafter. Just after Christmas, it was decided to let him go, since that was his wish. He just did not want to be bed-ridden, which was the only alternative at that point. His knees had pretty much given out.

Even on his 103rd birthday, he was remarkably coherent and still sharp.

I have a video of him on his 100th birthday.

 

[Evo]

All is well. Tsu got food poisoning about two months ago, and this has led to minor complications. All of the really bad stuff is ruled out.

Thank goodness, tell her I said hi and I hope she's feeling better soon.

 

[Astronuc]

The mother of my widowed sister-in-law is going into hospice tonight. She is suffering from scleroderma and dermatomyositis. To survive, she would require a lung transplant, but more than likely would not survive the surgery. So she is expected to die within the next week or two.

She is a very gracious and brave person who has made her last plans, put her affairs in order, visited her ranch and a few other special places, and said good-byes to friends and family. Now that's the way to go. And she will be missed.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dermatomyositis/dermatomyositis.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/scleroderma.html

 

[hypatia]

My Granny died last week at 105 yrs old. She is the 5th generation to top 100, and she was very active until 4 days befor she died. My Uncle{her son} is next in line at 82 and still going strong.
Sorry to hear about your family Astro, sending all good thoughts and wishes your way. My mother has had progressive neuropathy for over 25 years. She deals very well with the numbness, its the pain that makes things hard. Hers was a precursor to diabetes, which came 10 years after the onset of neuropathy.

 

[turbo]

If you are growing old, make as many financial preparations as possible while you are young. I got a letter from a pension administrator for a former employer today (who owes me a pension for 10 years of employment) saying that they didn't have my current address on file. How, might you ask, did they get the letter to me, complete with a 5+4 Zipcode (and even I don't know the last 4 numbers of my Zip)? Their website was a complete mess, and it wouldn't let me log in and register as a new user, though it pretended to be configured to do so. Nothing but cryptic error messages every time I filled in the fields and clicked the "register" button. OK, I called the 800 number with its predictable automated data entry. This is a smart one, though, and it will not let you bypass and get to a live operator until you at least enter your SS#, date of birth, and Zip code (wonder why they need that?). After a wait of at least 15 minutes with a recorded harpy thanking me for my patience, I got a presumably live representative who asked me for all the information that I had punched in, plus previous addresses and contact information from over 10 years ago. Then she said OK, I need to know when you separated from the company. Expecting a year would be sufficient, I told her 1988, and she said that there was nothing further that she could do to update my address until I provided the exact date, month, and year. The entire procedure is designed to throw as many obstacles in your path as possible. I will contact a friend at that company on Tuesday and ask her if she can dredge up that 19+ year old information from the personnel records. Heaven knows what might have happened had I died and my wife tried to collect on my pension. She'd probably have to hire a lawyer at a couple of hundred dollars an hour to pursue a pension worth probably no more than a couple of hundred dollars a month. Dying is not just a result of getting old - there are lots of ways it can happen, so don't put your families through hell. Get your affairs in order as best you can and keep your will, beneficiary selections, etc updated. My wife and I both have copies of our wills (and Living Wills) in our safe and on file with our attorney, but pensions, IRAs, 401Ks, etc all have their own quirks, and they all have to be kept up with. Good luck, all.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My Granny died last week at 105 yrs old. She is the 5th generation to top 100, and she was very active until 4 days befor she died. My Uncle{her son} is next in line at 82 and still going strong.

I'm sorry to hear about your Granny, Hypatia, and I'm envious of your genes. It sounds like she was blessed with not only a long life, but a healthy one as well.

When I called to wish him a happy bday, I was shocked to learn that my baby brother just turned 40! I thought he had a couple of years left before transforming into Middle-aged Man.

Sometimes, when I watch the news, or when I think of my own age, or when I hear of some icon who has died, I think I might be dreaming.

 

[Astronuc]

My Granny died last week at 105 yrs old. She is the 5th generation to top 100, and she was very active until 4 days befor she died. My Uncle{her son} is next in line at 82 and still going strong.

My condolensces to you and your family, hypatia. I am glad that Granny was strong until the end. My grandfather died at 103.5 yrs. Recurrent pulmonary infections wore him out, and with the final one, the family honored his DNR request. He had enough.

Sorry to hear about your family Astro, sending all good thoughts and wishes your way. My mother has had progressive neuropathy for over 25 years. She deals very well with the numbness, its the pain that makes things hard. Hers was a precursor to diabetes, which came 10 years after the onset of neuropathy.

My mother-in-law has diabetes, which recently developed, so it is a concern with my wife. My wife also smoked for about 15 years, and she quit shortly after we married. Her father, a heavy smoker, died of lung and brain cancer, so that's also a concern. At the moment the neuropathy may be due to compression on some nerves, so hopefully it's treatable. But we'll just have to watch it.

Unfortunately, I must report that my sister-in-law's mother died last week at a young age of 63. She suffered from scleroderma and dermatomyositis. She went downhill rather quickly.

I didn't mention it earlier, but we received sad news a few weeks ago that the son (20 yrs) of one of my wife's cousins was killed in automobile accident. He was driving home at 4 am from a party, when he turned to wide, collided with a parked car, and the car he was driving flipped over and he was ejected. I suspect the young man had probably been drinking (but I can't confirm), possibly driving too fast, and not wearing a seat belt.

So please, if you go out drinking, find someone who is sober to drive one home, or crash where you are. Your life is very precious to others.

 

[Huckleberry]

Hope you are well despite all the recent bad news, Astronuc.