Everyone liked him. Though his later years (the only ones in which I knew him) took away his ability to do most things, and though he was in great pain every day, it was easy to see the mischief in his eyes. The subtle humor was still there, coming out of a man who was weak, in pain, dying.
She lived for him. She was always telling me of his pain, frustrated with the fact that he didn’t tell me enough. She was anxious about each complaint of his, wondering if this was the one that would take him away from her. Many of her problems were driven by this anxiety and fears, and she spent many hours in my office giving witness to them through her tears.
As his health failed, I wondered about her future. He was the center of her life, the source of her energy, joy, purpose. How could she manage life without him? How could she, who had so much lived off of the care of this wonderful man, find meaning and purpose in a life without his calming presence?
Research from Denmark shows that life expectancy is increasing steadily and there is a good possibility that by controlling life factors, most everyone can live to be 100. Of course, living in a high income, first world country is the first factor. The Danish experts report that since the 20th century, people in developed countries are living about three decades longer than in the past.
Check out the list (click on it for a better read) to see what factors you can control.
Tip: Don’t eat the nuts if you have an allergy. That would definitely lower your chances! And having a baby “later in life” does not mean with IVF or infertility drugs. And a “little” wine doesn’t mean a bottle a day.
Ed Walker is 102 years old. I met him by chance on a steep hill in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – not long after my husband blurted, “I hope you’ve got good brakes on that scooter!” Ed pulled up next to us (to demonstrate his brakes) and jubilantly announced his age, along with his suspected reason for it: “I have prostate cancer but chose to leave it alone.”
I chuckled to myself, thinking that he was probably right about his longevity-hospital avoidance connection.
Of course, the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer is being hotly debated these days. While no one likes the idea of leaving cancer untreated, slow-growing prostate cancer may be less of a threat to men at a certain age than the treatment required to cure it. And that’s a difficult truth to accept – especially for Americans.
My fellow blog contributors have noted the disconnect between scientific evidence and clinical practice in regards to prostate cancer. According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, PSA (a screening test for prostate cancer) testing has not made a difference in overall longevity. Urologists still favor testing (the American Urological Association guidelines recommend initiating PSA testing for all men starting at age 40) while family medicine physicians don’t usually recommend it. Is there a conflict of interest driving this difference in recommendation? Perhaps – though I suspect it has more to do with a surgical mentality (to cut is to cure!) than a conscious decision to protect one’s income. If you think there’s a shortage of urologic procedures to go around, then I’d recommend you simply consider the increasing age of the US population. It’s not as if the prostate gland is the only thing that needs work “down there.”
Perhaps Americans can take some cues from their elderly neighbors to the north – and try to accept that doing something is not always better than “doing nothing.” In the case of some prostate cancers, it’s cheaper, safer, and a lot less painful.
Just ask Ed Walker.
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