Old People

[S.A. Boggs]

I see them at Wal-Mart as they stroll in with their walkers or canes...young people who stroked out on OD. Had another girl who I started to work with when she was 25, did 9 years then came out for two and now back for 3 more. 40 and looks 60, guy's not looking anymore. I now look in the mirror and ask myself, "Does the moustache need trimmed?"
Sam

[louigi]

Be prepared for a shock when you get those hearing aids!

That's when you'll learn all those silent farts you've been letting -- weren't!

OOPS! Wondered why folks gave me plenty of space at the restaurant! Thanks for the Heads Up

[blackhawknj]

On another board I visit somebody said:
"I thought growing old would take longer than this."

[Merc]

Be prepared for a shock when you get those hearing aids!

That's when you'll learn all those silent farts you've been letting -- weren't!

Speaking of hearing aids, my job in the Navy as a Morse code operator in the early 1960s started me down the path of hearing loss. I got my first aid in 2008 and it was OK, but I still struggled to hear under certain circumstances. I put off getting a new technology digital aid until my old aid stopped working for the 5th time last week and had to be sent off again for service. I decided to try a digital aid while I was in the office and it was like night and day. I found that I can hear better than some of my friends and relatives who still think they have good hearing. It's no fun to miss half the conversation at a gathering or constantly ask someone to repeat what they've just said. I wear the best shooting muffs at the range to protect what little hearing I have left.

[Vern Humphrey]

Speaking of hearing aids, my job in the Navy as a Morse code operator in the early 1960s started me down the path of hearing loss. I got my first aid in 2008 and it was OK, but I still struggled to hear under certain circumstances. I put off getting a new technology digital aid until my old aid stopped working for the 5th time last week and had to be sent off again for service. I decided to try a digital aid while I was in the office and it was like night and day. I found that I can hear better than some of my friends and relatives who still think they have good hearing. It's no fun to miss half the conversation at a gathering or constantly ask someone to repeat what they've just said. I wear the best shooting muffs at the range to protect what little hearing I have left.

If you're not registered with the VA, you should be -- you get the best hearing aids free.

[Merc]

If you're not registered with the VA, you should be -- you get the best hearing aids free.

Vern,

Thanks for the tip. Hopefully, this will be the last aid I'll need.

[Vern Humphrey]

The VA will replace them every 5 years. And at the rate technology is moving, it's worth replacing them.

[PWC]

I checked with the VA, and if they aren't treating you for anything else (?) they don't do hearing aids. I have Medicare and Tricare for life, but the va certified me as a 10 point vet, but they aren't treating me for anything.

What are you guys doing?

[leftyo]

go file a claim for tinnitus or hearing loss.

[Vern Humphrey]

I checked with the VA, and if they aren't treating you for anything else (?) they don't do hearing aids. I have Medicare and Tricare for life, but the va certified me as a 10 point vet, but they aren't treating me for anything.

What are you guys doing?

If you're enrolled with the VA,. you take an annual exam -- usually at a contract clinic near your home. They will handle the arrangements to get you an eye and ear appointment.

[Art]

Back in the mid to late 1970s when I was actually young I had a partner up in New York who was a great guy. Working with him on my first big case I learned all I needed to know about major crime work and being a crime fighter. He and his wife were the best friends of me and my wife. Today I learned from him she has cancer and almost surely won't get well. She's 66...It hit me hard, it always hits me hard when my contemporaries are dying especially a great gal like "Risa."

This January I'll have completed my "three score and ten." I'll never be actually "healthy" again but I feel good, which is quite ok too. My wife is in great shape and believe me I'm sooooo grateful for that.

Age is NOT just a number. Get up into your sixties and expect things to start to go wrong. It's true that genetics and lifestyle habits have an influence but its no guarantee.

Every morning I get up and thank God that I (1) woke up, and (2) that everything is more or less working. I also know that if it wasn't for modern medicine I'd probably be taking the "dirt nap" right now. One of the things that should come with a certain maturity is gratitude for what you've still got and an acceptance that it isn't forever; my periodic visits to M.D. Anderson have a way of reinforcing that.

I'm taking our daughter, she's 44, on her first duck hunt this year. I'm actually paying for a guided hunt from a reputable outfitter because I want the best experience possible for her. I'm just glad I can still do it.

Oh, it cracks me up to hear my wife talk about "elderly people ."

[Gaffer]

I am 85 and still do 8 miles 3 times per week at the gym on a stationary bike. I still work outside in the yard and still shoot but even with my hearing aids most of what I hear is a wild guess or lip reading. Getting old is not for sissies, and you just have to get up in the morning and do it. Have had many surgeries over the years and probably more to come but you just got to hang in there and make the best of it each and every day.

[John Sukey]

Getting old beats the heck out of the alternative! (1937)

[Ken The Kanuck]

Old, you want old? I just got off a 10 day cruise, the future was right in front of my eyes.

KTK

[Vern Humphrey]

Getting old beats the heck out of the alternative! (1937)

You betchum, Red Ryder!