Aging Well

Hello @bill1001, Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. As a 77 year old man who has not always been focused on health, I am also interested in aging well discussions. It looks like you have found the Aging Well group and started a new discussion which is a good start to meeting other members and learning together from experiences and sharing what you learn. Here are a few topics to use as food for thought:

Mayo Clinic Newsfeed:
- 12 Strategies for Healthy Aging: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/charter-house/newsfeed-post/12-strategies-for-healthy-aging-1/
- Aging & Health: Take Charge: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/take-charge-healthy-aging/

Aging Well Discussions to get you started:
- How do you accept change as you age?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-you-accept-change-as-you-age/
- Depression and Anxiety at an older age: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/depression-and-anxiety-at-an-older-age/
- Journaling - The Write Stuff For You?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/journaling-the-write-stuff-for-you/
- Brain Health: Keeping your brain active: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/brain-health-keeping-your-brain-active/

@bill1001 Are you able to share your most important concern about aging well?

Hello @bill1001 Nice to e-meet you here on Mayo Connect! I echo @johnbishop and his welcome to this terrific, online community! I'm Scott, a 69 year old widower, who after nearly a decade and a half of primary caregiving for my wife and many 'deferred maintenance' health issues, now find myself also interested in aging appropriately.

As I slowly catch up with my needed health improvements and adapt to my current situation (being a widower, having had a stroke, which left me blind and deaf on one side, and fighting recurrent skin cancer), I focus on trying to live my life in what I call an age appropriate manner.

This was brought to the forefront of my thoughts by two recent events.

First, my best friend, several years my senior, believes we should still be able to do anything we want. So I agreed to join him on a white water rafting trip on a river of Class V rapids. Mid-trip, when our raft hit a boulder and flipped, he and I had to be rescued from near drowning. As I lay on a rock, trying to breathe while coughing water out of my lungs, I realized the mind might want to stay young, but our bodies often dictate otherwise.

The second was the fact, having been a 'dog guy' all my life, I had decided I was past the time of life for a puppy. Long story, but one of my nieces convinced me to put my name on a list for possible rescue adoptions. I agreed thinking I probably would not be called, but at best wouldn't be called for a couple of years if ever. It was less than a month later when I got a call to consider an abandon Lab puppy. I'm not a big one on 'signs' and so forth, but I got that call on the steps of the church my wife and I were married in -- on what would have been our 44th anniversary. I drove the two hours 'just to see' the pup. We bonded immediately and in spite of having to clean a lot of puppy vomit out of the back of my new car, NapaTheLab and I are best buddies. Plus I'm thrilled at the many improvements in my daily living routines she has brought me.

I look forward to staying in touch here on Mayo Connect.

Strength, courage, and peace!

Bill, I'm on your coat tails. I've been active on the Bronchiecstasis/MAC forum for a long time, but this is my first visit to this forum. I'm an 81 y/o retired psychologist with excellent "metabolic health" probably due largely to having been eating a low-fat, whole-food, exclusively plant based diet since early 2007. My lipid numbers are enviable especially considering I have never taken a statin. Total cholesterol = 163, LDL in the lower 80's. I'm proof that one can eat right and still have things go wrong that have little or nothing to do with nutrition; in my case it's Afib so I've got a Pacemaker and take Eliquis (a blood thinner). I used to be able to brag about taking no meds. Eliquis stopped my braggin'.

Much greater annoyance in daily life is diminished equilibrium, unsure gait, low-back and hip pain. I remain quite active; walk daily, resistance training 3 x week, and an "Energizer Bunny" pace around activities of daily living.

I have chronic lung disease which is why I'm involved on the other Mayo board. Glad to be here and look forward to interesting interactions. Don

A heartwarming story about your pup, particularly so since you’re able to tie it to a memory of your wife.