Lexi>> (including my mum who suffers from dementia and with whom I've recently had a bit of an upset).<<

Life is a joker card Lexi. My mum who is 87 was forced into a rest home because her physical condition requires 24/7 attention. The body has failed but her computer is 100%. She sits awaiting her fate with her mind operating as if she was 21.

I wish she had dementia, it would ease her psychological burdon of knowing there is no future other than death, and being painfully aware of every second of the present is no help.

Sonofgloin,

You're right on one thing - we have to play the cards we are dealt. I wouldn't wish dementia on anyone after seeing my father's brilliant mind overtaken by dementia.

My mother died with a heart attack, and her G.P. said it was the kindest death a person could have.

Your poor mother would probably agree that it is preferable to retain her mind although her body has failed.

After experiencing the deaths of both my parents I am left with the hope that mine will emulate my mothers' death, and a persistent fear that it will be the same as my father. In the increasingly rare moments of lucidity my father wept that this had happened to him.

Neither his nor your mother's last years have been kind to them. A poor reward for all the good things they both did in their lives isn't it?

Worlwatcher>> Neither his nor your mother's last years have been kind to them. A poor reward for all the good things they both did in their lives isn't it?<<

WW, my thoughts about my mum were generated by her wish that either death or dementia take away the constant emotion of helplessness that invades her day and night. How do you overcome anguish? With drugs you can mask the physical pain…dementia masks the anguish of the patient but sadly nurtures it in their loved ones.

One of evolutions peculiarities that keep me guessing regarding our time here on earth is the consciousness and emotional capacity we carry. All the other creatures that have shared the same evolutionary process as us do not have the knowledge that they have a use by date. They are creatures of the present, but our consciousness allows us to be creatures with a tomorrow.

I have considered that this consciousness is needed because of the complex society that humans have evolved. But all other social creatures, be they insects, mammals, or birds, have the hardwiring that allows them to cohabitate and work towards the good of the whole without the need for a consciousness.

That fact and the current big bang synopsis probably forms the basis for my belief that there is a lot more going on than we can see because consciousness is the enemy of evolution and of a species ongoing prospects.

Finally a beef against the creator, if she is listening….why give the Galapagos Tortoise a two hundred and fifty year life span….they are not going to the moon, they are not splitting the atom, ….give it to us.

Sonofgloin,

I understand where your Mum is coming from, as I too have a family member with a good mind and a fast failing body, accompanied by frustration and depression. All I can do is empathise, but am helpless to change that situation. Wish with all my heart that I could.

I agree, if the Galapagos tortoise can be given 250 years of life, why can't we have that too?
Maybe she realises by giving us a much shorter lifespan she limits the damage we can do, in the hope that following generations will become wiser?

Sorry fellers. Do be careful what you wish for, it may not be what you really want.

I would guess that to get that 250 years, you just might have to slow down to the tortoises pace. At that speed I doubt you'd get to the moon. In fact I doubt you'd make it to the rocket, in one even very long life.

Perhaps you could send your grand son on after you, if he can remember why you were walking that way, in the first place.

Hasbeen, I think you may have something in regard to metabolism and speed. There is a clam that lives just off the coast of Finland and he lasts 500 years, and I expect he does not move anywhere.

As I understand it each cell that we have when we are conceived has a tail with trillions of use by tokens, as the cell regenerates or splits the new cell has one less regeneration tag in its tail…eventually the tags run down and the cell reproduces at a much slower rate, or it just dies. That is why we age.