Lew Hodgett wrote:
"Robatoy" wrote:
I sometimes hear it said: "I know how you feel."

Well, I don't. I know my parents are 87. I'm not ready to say good
bye. I doubt I ever will be.
Another 16 years for mine?
I'll take it.

Sorry to hear about your loss, Lew.

Thank you.

Had she made it until 01/2009, she would have outlived my father by an
even 50 years, but such was not to be, she was ready.

Standing at that spot, in that cemetery, in June is a whole lot
different than it was in January.

Just like myself, Mom hated to be cold, wonder if that had anything to
do with it?

This forum and this list in particular provides me with a podium from
which I can and do choose to speak.

To those of you with parents who are in the 75-80+ age bracket, it is
time to have "The Talk".

It is totally different than the one conducted at puberty, this one is
about staying alive.

My mother, a fiery red head in her youth, the youngest of 10 children
born to German immigrants, she was a formidable adversary, if you
chose to cross her.

Negotiating with Mom can best be described as a Challenge.

About 10 years ago, during one of my annual visits back to Ohio, we
had "The Talk".

These talks always started with the "Ma, What if ................."

The answer was always the same.

"When the good lord wants me, I'll be in my bed waiting.", but this
time was different.

Her twin sister had just died at 90, and she seemed to be more
receptive.

I decided to go "All In", as the poker players say.

'Ma, if you want to continue to live alone, you are going to have to
get a Medical Alert, and WEAR it.

The time was right, she agreed and I slept a whole lot better.

Ultimately, that decision saved her life.

When she fell and suffered a compound fracture of her lower right leg,
about 04:00AM, in her house trailer, in January with 10F outside
temps, she pushed her medical alert button worn around her neck,
before she fainted from a loss of blood.

EMS got to her in less than 10 minutes and saved her life.

Picture if you will, you are almost 102, living alone, in Northern
Ohio.

It is January, some nights the temps bottom out around zero.

You fall and suffer a compound fracture of your lower leg, and start
bleeding profusely.

You DON'T have a MEDICAL ALERT to summon help and bleed to death with
out anybody knowing you need help.

Your death will haunt your kids for the rest of their lives, but hey,
nobody invaded my free space.

Think about it people.

Be selfish, this one is so you can get some sleep at night.

It just so happens that your parentsn also get some benefit.

Each of you MUST make the same deal with your aging parents who are
living alone.

During a medical emergency involving the aged, a few minutes can make
all the difference.

Many of your parents may consider a Medical Alert device an intrusion
on their free space.

I have a very straight answer to that idea:

B--U--L--L--S--H--I--T.

Last time I checked, healthy living beats the alternate.

Medical alerts provide the few minutes that just may allow healthy
living to continue.

I release the podium to those who have a different position.

I don't have a different position. I couldn't agree more, Lew.

My mom is 86, and has had the Button for about a year. She was perhaps a
little more receptive to it than yours, but it took 4 of us kids to talk
her into it finally. Once she had it, she appreciated how easy it was to
use, how much service the people at the other end gave, and the peace of
mind it gave her - and us.

Mom is younger than yours when she passed, but has come to the
conclusion herself that she can't make it on her own. The approach that
we took was one of "We'll support you in whatever decision you make, as
long as it's in your best interest."

She knew that meant we weren't going to pressure her into a home if she
didn't really need to be there, but it also meant we weren't going to
give her a pass if we felt she was endangering herself.

This past week, she threw in the towel herself and decided the house and
dog were just too much for her to cope with.

Diff. strokes...

What Lew said is so true. It's now up to us to care for them, as they
did for us. What comes around...

Tanus