The Seniors Thread :-)

[darksideofthemoon]

"This is for the Senior members of CS, those born before 1947. Baby Boomers and Generations X & Y are welcome providing you are over 18 🙂

But this is definitely for people who are facing the last long haul.  We have survived babyhood, childhood, being teens and twenties... We have learned to read and write, to drive, have probably been married and the women have survived child birth.

The challenges are constant and the near misses of death are also there.  If we have become a senior we have learned to survive so much, and along the way we have, of course, gathered a great deal of knowledge about life.

The  belief that age diminishes us is not true, it changes us and not all of it is bad.  Yes there can be various forms of dementia for some, but that is also a disease that can happen in younger people.  Alzheimer's can also occur - it is another form of dementia and generally occurs in people over 65, although that can occur much earlier too and not everyone is going to get it.

Most of us keep our mental alertness up to the moment of death, even if we lose our hearing and our eyesight, but of course this can happen at any age too.

What changes is our physical strength, which diminishes but our mental strength and patience grows, it has to of course, to deal with this aging thing.

Arthritis, heart trouble, strokes - all these things associated with age can happen at any time in your life - arthritis can happen when you are a child but they don't like giving out new hips and knees until you are in your 50s and 60s or later.  We can talk about that too.

Cancer can happen any time and that is also something we can discuss here if you like.

The point of this thread is to give the Seniors a chance to talk about how they are coping with age, the challenges it presents and the fears that can come with it... loss of hearing or sight, aging spouses, living alone, retirement villages, even death...

So I will ask that the Juniors treat us in kindly fashion and remember, all this is going to happen to you too - providing you avoid death before you get here 🙂

So, onward and upward.  Let's go...."

[grandmoon]

Morning All Oldies

I am off to lunch today with a group of friends we are going to the oldest pub in Canberra.

[darksideofthemoon]

Evening all 🙂

Um.. have you all fallen off your twigs?

that is the problem with a thread like this we could all fall off our twigs and not keep it going :^O

Richo?  gil?

Oh welll, I know gil is still around, where are you richo?

Have a good evening everyone 🙂 xxx

[serendipityricho]

Reporting in -Darki---im here.

Jackass -good onya with the car.

Im in the motor trade and have heaps of very old

parts books-help a few locals out getting hard to find parts.

 ~~~waves to all the other seniors and my thoughts are for

the ones that are ill and doing it tough.........Richo.

[doll*obsession]

Oh dolly... that a nasty shock for you both and I do hope that wherever the cancer is it is quickly defeated by the treatment.. I also hope it doesn't knock OH into next week as he goes along.

So hard for both of you, Just a thought, just a strange one, but maybe worth a thought... could he have mucked up his test results by handling your elderly staffy Tyson who has cancer... is there any chance that Tyson could have 'contaminated' OH's tests?

A strange thought, but the coincidence is there isn't it.

One has to be so careful of contamination when it comes to tests.

Whatever, may both your OH's fare well, and you take care of you too okay?  ((((((hugs)))))

It is an interesting thought Darkie, but I really don't think that could be the case. Even if it were possible, OH had been working between when Tyson came home and when he had his tests done, so had little contact with him. I'm just so worried about OH. We are only in our 20s, we have 3 little kiddies. I know that he will most likely be fine, but it is a hell of a lot to deal with 😞

[freshwater-2]

 But it was such fun.....but wasn't everything in those days?

I should have added........my life is still full of enthusiasm and a huge amount of fun.  I still feel the same inside as I did when I was a young gel. This is one of the reasons my Barbi is a good fit for me.

I have been reading some of the recent posts and I feel so sad for what some are going through.  It really hurts me.  I have never been 'put to the test' myself and I don't know how I would handle it or how brave I would be in their circumstances.

[azureline**]

Good morning, I have only read a page or two here but I have a question and also some advice.

Question: does anyone know how much it costs and how to go about finding a nursing home with both low and high care facilities please? and the person involved is in NSW, we are in Qld, we would want to have him close to us, so transferring to Qld, would that be an issue?

Advice: please ensure that you have arranged and nominated someone to be your power of attorney and guardian in the event you may not be capable at some point, even temporarily. A will cannot be of any use unless you pass away.

[lyndal1838]

Azureline, I am in NSW and had to put my father in a Nursing Home a few years ago.

It is usually done after an ACAT assessment as to what level of care is required.  You can not just put a person in a Nursing Home, unless you are prepared to pay the horrific rates for private care....and if you can find a placement.

Is it your father you are talking about?  His GP should be able to arrange for the assessment and then he will go on a waiting list for a place in the appropriate home.

I have no idea how you would go about moving him to Queensland, but maybe a call to the Health Department may be useful....they could probably tell you where to get help, if they are unable to help.

[lyndal1838]

BTW, I initially googled Nursing Homes in Sydney and found a complete list of what was available nearby.  We contacted several of them for information but before we could follow up it became urgent and the hospital that my father had been admitted to was able to find him a placement in the next suburb just 4 days after determing that he would not be able to go home.

It was a great Home and apparently one of the better ones so we were very lucky to get it so quickly.

As my father was not a pensioner he had to pay full fees...about $600 a week from memory(it was 6 years ago now, so may have increased), but that covered everything including washing.  The only extras added to the bill was haircuts and podiatry.

Try googling Nursing Homes in Queensland and ring a few near you...they can only say they will not take him.  At least you will know where you stand.

[azureline**]

Thank you. I have called some and they will call back.

He is going to be assessed but we are currently trying to avoid him being placed in one in country NSW, as his dr indicated this morning.

I know there are processes that must be followed.

Thank you for the costing info 🙂 too.

He is a pensioner and owns his home, the real issue is, there is a family member who wants to move in with him but he has said in the past, that must never happen, she is far too controlling and he would probably will himself to die very quickly. 😐

No, he is my husband's father. we would have him here with us but I suspect it might not be good for him, he may be very dependant and I know him well enough to know that he would prefer someone outside the family to care for his personal needs.

[lyndal1838]

Do not let anyone move into his house under any circumstances. Not sure if you are aware of it, but if she can prove that your FIL's house was her only place of abode she can end up living in it as long as she pleases or get a very good share of it from his Will.

I feel for you...I have had problems with a family member's will that have been ongoing for years.

As a pensioner your FIL will have to pay a bond..usually financed from the sale of his home....you don't want someone else living it it or you will have to find the bond money elsewhere.

There is a lot of information available about Nursing Homes and their costs on seniors.gov.au or agedcareaustralia.gov.au which should cover Queensland as well as NSW.