I Believe in Life BEFORE death!

The stories about individuals are getting longer and longer, but I question the content of these stories. Yes – we are better at preventing early death, we are better at keeping people alive, but we are not getting better at preventing sickness and disease, especially amongst the adults and elderly. Do not forget quality of life when we pat ourselves back about increased average life expectancy. Medical intervention can extend life expectancy, but is that our ultimate goal? I think, when some one say they would love to live until their 80s, 90s or even 100s, they say this because they can see an extended life the way they are living their life as they speak. Not because they want to beat the statistics or just to exist, I believe. We are all going to die, sooner or later. From my experience with thousands of patients, death is not our top concern. I believe absence of the lifestyle that makes us happy, is what concerns us. It does not need to be life-threatening disease. It could just as well be a disabling back, a knee or a hip. We would like to continue to play tennis, feel the excitement of trying to beat our neighbour in a breathless game. Continue to play golf in beautiful surroundings and try to get an even better handicap. Continue to play soccer with our grandkids in the garden or be an affectionate spectator when our grandkid is scoring their first goal. We will continue to enjoy the quietness in the mountains as we move through the spectacular scenery by foot or maybe cross- country skiing. We will continue to feel the wind swiping through our hair, the spray from the sea in our face while we are sailing. We will continue to travel to new destinations and explore the infinite possibilities. We will continue to tend our garden, enjoy the smell from our beautiful flowers, to reap our homegrown vegetables, berries and fruits. We will continue to enjoy a tasteful meal in delightful company with family and friends. We would love to still be a resource to our family, friends and society. This is examples of what I call living, this is examples of content in our stories. If you read a good novel of any kind, I am pretty sure that you wonder how it ends. You are excited because you put effort in getting to know the different characters and vividly make pictures about the happening in your head. Do you think the ending would matter for you if you had only read the ending, without getting to know the characters or the happening? It is all the pages prior to the last chapter that makes the last chapter worth reading. Are you able to see a parallel to your life? You might think that safety is regarded as an important ingredient in life, especially for the elderly. Interviews and studies show the opposite. Even when people are in need of care, safety is not top priority. The answer is crystal clear – we want to live, not just survive! That is a major difference. I remember vividly a patient from my internship as a Physiotherapist. I was working with amputated patients at a rehabilitation unit. The patient was a man in his 60s. Because of decreased circulation to his feet he had to amputate one of his legs. He was a heavy smoker, always surrounded by a cloud of smoke. He was also a diabetic. His list of medications was like a parchment. Our job at the rehabilitation center was to help him to take care of his stump, fitting his prosthesis and functional exercise. The man was very depressed. He did not want any prosthesis. He was not interested in moving around. He just wanted to sit in his wheelchair with his cigarettes and hide within the cloud. The other leg had developed a nasty ulcer and was at the time also in danger of being lost. When the hospital signed the man out of the hospital to go home he was informed about the importance of movement, the importance of taking care of his diabetes and the consequences of heavy smoking. The man was back to our rehabilitation unit before my internship was over. This time without the other leg as well. If possible he looked even more depressed. Ha said he did not want to live anymore. His life was empty, no more pages to add to his story. I was puzzled that he still smoked like a chimney after loosing both of his legs. On several occasions the man fell a sleep with his cigarette. He got a couple of nasty burns from the glow. He was also a fire hazard for the rest of us at the unit. I remember I got angry at him. How could he still smoke after loosing both his legs? How could he be so stupid? Why should we spend time and effort with this man who obviously did not want any help? Today I see it differently. This man had obviously ended up in this terrible situation, loosing both his legs and being crippled, because of a bad lifestyle. Without the amputations he would probably have died within a short period of time. Still, I would not say that the amputations saved his life. I would rather say the amputations extended his lifetime. A life he did not want to take part in. His life ended several years ago. The help got to him far too late. Not to extend his lifetime, but to save his life. He should have had some help and healthy advices before the situation got out of hand. He had not ended up in this shape if it was not for bad choices. My question is if this mans bad choices were based on unhealthy recommendations from the public? Had the man received proper information about the importance of eating well, moving well and thinking well?