“Getting old is not for the faint of heart.” So says a friend of mine who is retired and has some medical problems. I won’t catalog them, but they are substantial. He’s doing well and has a good attitude, but still it’s not an easy road for him.

Getting older isn’t too bad because there are some advantages. Getting old however, really sucks. Even worse is watching the generation ahead of me get old and die. Not that there is anything I can do about it, but it still isn’t even a little bit pleasant.

Not that I’m auditioning for a return of Queen for a Day, but lately it seems that all too many people that were the adults I looked up to as I was growing up are leaving.

An uncle in his 80s whose colon cancer has metastasized and all treatment is being stopped. Actually he’s Mrs. TOTWTYTR’s uncle, but he’s been a favorite of mine since I met him. I don’t know that he’ll see the New Year, although I hope so.

An aunt of mine, who once made the best fudge cake on the planet, slipped and fell a couple of months back. She went to the local ED to have her scalp laceration fixed, but didn’t mention or didn’t feel the neck pain that started to bother her later. So, she went back a couple of days later and an Odontoid fracture was found. That required surgical correction, which required intubation of course. Due to other medical problems she couldn’t maintain her airway and ended up with a tracheostomy. Which was supposed to be temporary but now looks permanent. I don’t have a good feeling about her course, not one little bit.

My mother told me that she has an ulceration where she sits which doesn’t really ever heal. Not new and she’s been seen by a doctor for it, but still it worries me. Watching her fail physically, bit by bit as her mind is as sharp as ever, is to say the least difficult. Especially since you know who gets to be her medical advocate since my sister isn’t very good (OK, she sucks at it) at sorting out all of the details.

Finally, a brother in law has brain cancer. Which was discovered late because he thought that the headaches were just headaches. At first the treatment plan seemed to be going well, but a recent MRI has discovered that this cancer too has spread. Here’s a guy that is 65 but always looked 20 years younger than he was. His father lived into his mid 90s and his mother is almost 100. He should have easily had another 30 years to enjoy his kids and grand kids, but it looks like he has a couple of weeks or maybe a couple of months left.

I know, it’s just the natural progression of life. I understand it. Don’t like it, but I understand it.

Enough whining. I’ll try to have something more uplifting for tomorrow. Maybe some more Joe Biden Gaffe-o-rama. That ought to cheer me up.