This is pretty much the worst case

[googily]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut and two more friends got so sick their lives changed forever.

I think this is what DH felt lucky to have side-stepped, even if in a non-optimal way.

[Bamaman]

No one knows how much time they have on this earth. That is why everyone needs to stop and grab as much gusto out of life as early as possible.

[timo2]

Today I found out a person I worked with fairly closely (I retired last June) dropped dead on Jan 3. He was 58. Yikes. Then I found out that another of my HS class of 1971 died. That makes 25 out of 179 class of 1971 now deceased. That '..running out of life' quote from Nightcap really rings true today. And Googily, I'm very sorry for your loss.

[friar1610]

I really disliked the last job I had before retirement. A woman in the next cubicle who was quite a bit younger than I was at the time (58) had lost her husband a few years before. She told me he had died from a heart attack at work. I'm sure that was a subconscious motivator to my decision to retire a short while later.

Sorry for your loss, Googily.

[RobbieB]

It's most important to be happy and have fun whatever that entails.

[Danmar]

Ya, you never know. All you can do is use the best probability you can find. The vast majority of people don’t die early. But some do,

[MRG]

Googily sorry for your loss.

There was an ambulance brought in for me at Megacorp one day. DW insisted I'd had a stroke and went to w*rk anyway. The EMTs agreed and took me away. They were very nice, but I didn't understand what was wrong. I know I didn't want to stay where I was mentally and physically. My brain wasn't workin.

I'd be a fool to say I was not afraid, but I didn't understand what a stroke was anymore. It was a really bizzare day.🤣 I really knew something was seriously wrong with me and didn't want to face the truth.

When I was examined, the doc told me he was sure I hadn't had a stroke, but something called TGA(transient global amnesia) and would be just fine. They did a CT to ensure I hadn't had a stroke.

It was strange as I started coming out of it in the ER. At one point I had a case of the giggles at myself. It was like watching a weird movie of my own messed up behavior.

Since the ambulance took me from work my manager called to see if I needed a ride or assistance home. I assured him I was just fine to get home, after all I knew where I lived? Didn't I?

He insisted I ask the doc; I had to admit to him I really wasn't sure where I lived or exactly how to get there. The doc reassured me I would when I left. Someone did review my plan to get back to work and then drive myself home.

I did end up where I was supposed to be with no long term effects(😁really). I am fortunate it wasn't more serious, life is pretty fragile.

[Souschef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG Googily sorry for your loss. Life is pretty fragile.

I am sorry for your loss, also, Googily.
I live in Ventura County, just south of the Thomas Fire. My heart goes out to the people in Montecito who lost loved ones and their homes.
They breathed a sigh of relief when their homes were not burned, only to be devastated by the flood.

[davismills]

Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.

[bigcmagor]

One of our employees turned 65 in December of 1985. We had a big retirement luncheon on Christmas eve to send him off to retirement. He died that night of a heart attack. The event shaped my thinking about early retirement planning.

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by googily Thanks, all. DH was astonishingly accepting of it. We had been so very grateful about our good fortune even before he got sick--and he said many times after he got sick he wouldn't trade his life (even the ending) for the unknown of the future. And I still know how incredibly lucky I was to have had the time I did with him. But this is why you'll often find me in threads advocating against OMY.

Very sorry for your loss and thank you for your insight on OMY.

[LOL!]

So everybody has gone out and bought Michael Greger's "How Not to Die" book and changed their eating habits, right?

[Tadpole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davismills Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.

That must be why I have more dizzy episodes the older I get - life just spins faster at the end of the roll.

On topic - although I was totally oblivious to it, I had a substantial heart attack a week before my retirement. I sent my husband to the pharmacy to buy heart burn medicine which I proceeded to down all night long as I went through nose bleeds and vomiting. It was prolonged and painful. I couldn't bear to sit or lie down. The massive pain subsided and I went to work for that last week. We found out later that I had had a heart attack so my first year in retirement was triple bypass fun.

My husband had retired before me because he no longer could stand the commute. After retirement he found out that, instead of a back problem, he was in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Then two months after my bypass he had a stroke. It was transient and left no physical effect but left him fearful. He never smoked, drank, or was overweight. He ate lean meat, bicycled, but didn't appreciate tons of veggies.

I guess people who didn't survive those "at retirement time" events would consider us lucky but it certainly changed our retirement plans substantially.

So I encourage everyone to retire as early as possible as I am very in love with fun and freedom.

[HadEnuff]

I retired at 62 (64 now) so I'm not afflicted with OMY disease. But I do sometimes get twinges of anxiety over spending my money. One of my "requirements" for retirement was to be able to spend at least 3 months of the winter out of NY State, someplace warm. And I have enough to safely do that, but forking over the money to do so left me ill-at -ease.
I have to remind myself that I may or may not die, but one thing is for sure: If I don't die, in 16 years I'll be 80. The inevitability of that math seems to help me get over my fear of spending money.

[CaptTom]

Throughout his battle with colon cancer, my brother was stoic. Never wanted anyone to know, never complained. Kept a smile through all the indignities as the illness and the chemo took their toll.

Close to the end, we were there when his wife asked something like "is there anything you want?" Meaning, in a casual way, "Can I get you anything?" His answer was the closest thing to acknowledgement of his condition that I'd heard:

"More time."

Yeah. It had an impact. No OMY after that!

[Danmar]

Those who advise against OMY syndrome (with good reason) presumably should also advise against very low WR’s?

[Alan]

In a few days we will be attending the funeral of my wife’s BIL who died aged 66 from pancreatic cancer. We have known him since our university days and spent lots of time with him and my wife’s sister over the years. (They were married in 1975, a year before us).

He always lived a healthy lifestyle and stayed fit and thin. When we spent a few days with them last July no one had any inkling of what was around the corner. He retired at age 58 and his wife, 3 years younger, also worked until age 58 so they had 5 years together both retired and in that time did lots of travel including some pretty exotic vacations. However it is still a big shock and a reinforcement of our decision to both retire at age 55 (8 years ago this month).

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptTom Throughout his battle with colon cancer, my brother wast stoic. Never wanted anyone to know, never complained. Kept a smile through all the indignities as the illness and the chemo took their toll. Close to the end, we were there when his wife asked something like "is there anything you want?" Meaning, in a casual way, "Can I get you anything?" His answer was the closest thing to acknowledgement of his condition that I'd heard: "More time." Yeah. It had an impact. No OMY after that!

Sorry about your brother, but thank you for sharing the story. It really makes one think about what is important in life.

[frayne]

I wonder if there are any stats on people just dying at work and not from an OHSA defined work type physical injury. In my thirty two years at mega corp I experienced at least five deaths from heart attacks that I can easily recall.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frayne I wonder if there are any stats on people just dying at work and not from an OHSA defined work type physical injury. In my thirty two years at mega corp I experienced at least five deaths from heart attacks that I can easily recall.

Yes me too. Mostly heart attacks but also prostate cancer. Many good people. Ironically, of the cohort that retired early, none have died yet.