Successful Aging – Finding the Fountain of Youth - Continued Part 3
“When the prisoner told me about his dream, he was still full of hope, and convinced that the voice of his dream would be right. But as the promised date drew near, the war news, which reached our camp made it appear very unlikely that we would be free on the promised date. On March 29, the prisoner suddenly became ill and ran high temperature. On March 30, the day his prophecy had told him the war and suffering would be over for him, he became delirious and lost consciousness. On March 31, he was dead. To all outward appearances, he had died of typhus.” This dramatic and sad example illustrates how close and powerful the connection between the state of our mind and its resulting deadly effect on the state of our body. In this case we see the dramatic effects when this individual lost all courage and hope. There are other examples of when an individual loses hope, and shortly dies thereafter. Unfortunately my mother is one of those examples.
In 2001, my mother was having difficulty breathing, and as a consequence had very little energy. Medical evaluation, suggested a pacemaker procedure would assist and resolve problems. Now up to this point, my mother, age 92 lived alone and was certainly capable of maintaining that independent lifestyle. Even though, she was no longer driving her car, she still went shopping, cooked her meals, and visited friends and family. My brother, a physician, my sister, and I pushed for this medical procedure. She went along with our families input and had the operation. Unfortunately, although the operation was successful, the patient -my mother developed medical complications while in the hospital and was miserable and uncomfortable.
Mother never recovered from that operation, and the corresponding medical conditions- she was distraught and depressed during her stay in the hospital requiring constant and additional nursing care. Even though she was medicated, she was in pain, and totally dependent requiring care. Shortly thereafter she lost her will to live. She lost hope, couldn’t see a positive future, gave up, didn’t want to live and passed. This was the end for her. She lost her dignity, felt despair and didn’t want to live in this manner.
The mind-body connection can’t be under estimated. The importance of will and hope, and especially the ability to look and plan for the future is one major key in finding the “Fountain of Youth.” We just have to know where to search and be sure to look in the right place.
To be continued -Thursday
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