I would like to agree with this poet in that

"Truly enlightened life begins at 80."

A long, long ago I had a funny elderly patient 

who would bring a story titled the same

whenever he visited with me on his regular office visits.

They were full of humor and wisdom so I decided to copy them

for all other elderly patients over age 80.

Alas, all those lovely human beings were gone a long, long ago.

Alas, now that I'm over 80, I was trying to trace the old stories

without success in spite of the Mighty Google Search.

I'm old enough to know

nobody gives a damn to your being over 80.

As a matter of fact

nobody gives you a damn no matter what you say or do.

If you are not careful, you might think you are gone

unless your lovely half reminds you around the clock

where you are in your life.

So my conclusion is that is how you begin your true, genuinely enlightened life,

that counts in your heart and by the Good Lord who is watching 

and is your second best friend after your lovely lady 

as far as you can see on the horizon.

An octogenarian visited his doctor
'I think I'm getting senile” he said
The doctor replied “I don’t think you are senile
Let’s look for a different diagnosis instead of”
“But I keep forgetting to do up my fly”
The old man said “After I’ve been for a pee”
The doctor smiled and then replied
“Not opening your fly before you start, that’s senility”

Here is a surprising data which shows the elderly in the USA

live longer compared to other developed countries, 

although it applies only to the white.

Comparative Study

 N Engl J Med​

. 1995 Nov 2;333(18):1232-5.doi: 10.1056/NEJM199511023331824.

Survival after the age of 80 in the United States, Sweden, France, England, and Japan

K G Manton 1, J W Vaupel

Affiliations expand

• PMID: 7565998
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199511023331824

Abstract

Background: In many developed countries, life expectancy at birth is higher than in the United States. Newly available data permit, for the first time, reliable cross-national comparisons of mortality among persons 80 years of age or older. Such comparisons are important, because in many developed countries more than half of women and a third of men now die after the age of 80.

Methods: We used extinct-cohort methods to assess mortality in Japan, Sweden, France, and England (including Wales) and among U.S. whites for cohorts born from 1880 to 1894, and used cross-sectional data for the year 1987. Extinct-cohort methods rely on continuously collected data from death certificates and do not use the less reliable data from censuses.

Results: In the United States, life expectancy at the age of 80 and survival from the ages of 80 to 100 significantly exceeded life expectancy in Sweden, France, England, and Japan (P < 0.01). This finding was confirmed with accurate cross-sectional data for 1987. The average life expectancy in the United States is 9.1 years for 80-year-old white women and 7.0 years for 80-year-old white men.

Conclusions: For people 80 years old or older, life expectancy is greater in the United States than it is in Sweden, France, England, and Japan. This finding suggests that elderly Americans are receiving better health care than the elderly citizens of other developed countries.

I tell you, buddy, it is NO fun to becoming an octogenarian!

No matter how much you could convince yourself, you ain’t go anywhere but you will be treated as an octogenarian you can hardly ignore wherever you go! So it takes a time to admit you are indeed an octogenarian with no qualm!

For example, my department chairman here at George Washington Univ, Tony Sidawy was an intern when I started to work at Georgetown U in 1978 so that he knows me too well so that he is very cautious to speak to me to make sure he doesn’t irritate me by his casual comment like ‘are you doing alright?’ or ‘Oh, I am checking!’ not to remind me as an ancient man after all.

Indeed, when I got the renewal/approval of clinical privilege by the credential committee of the medical faculty association of GWU up to the Year 2023 January. yesterday, I felt different this time, unconsciously counting my age which will be over 84 then! Though I will sheepishly insist to Tony to let me stop the clinical work through this year, not to becoming the burdening to the department for my malpractice insurance, I can’t help but feel 뻔뻔스러워 as my wife accuses me.

So life as an octogenarian is not much smooth and easy as happily ever after!

Indeed, I still refuse to use the hearing aid though I know I need it. 뻔뻔스러워? I guess I do.

Have a good weekend!

BB Lee

P.S. One senior joke:

This is a sex test for retired people.

The object is to see how fast can you guess the words.

Hey, who said retired people don't think about sex!!!

How fast can you guess these words?

1. B o o _ s

2. _ _ n d o m

3. F _ _ k

4. P _ n _ s

5. P u _ s _

Answers Below, Don't cheat

Answers:

1. Books

2. Random

3. Fork

4. Pants

5. Pulse

Did you get all 5 wrong DIDN'T YOU?

I didn't pass either!!

I loved the joke.

You knew the answer.

The above medical fact should encourage you

since you have beaten all the whites in your professional circle.

I bet you will beat them in your longevity competition as well.

Long live, Professor BB!

Thanks, doc! But feel more and more 'stupid' when I perceive my 'aging', no matter how I feel, like my shape/꼬락서니 with an old hapless looking. I can't help but this GD zoom meeting reminds me of my age only to make me get depressed. After all, 82 is 82, and not much I could do differently. So I plan to stop the office/clinical service at the office by the end of June as my wife insists.

Indeed, I still remember the last recital/recording Carlo Bergonzi gave at New York, who remained my last Belcanto tenor I loved dearly, made me feel so saddened and humiliated with no voice left enough to complete the Neapolitan songs- Luciano Pavarotti had a similar humiliating experience which forced him to quit!- so that I really will have to stop showing my ugly (?) aging shape, sooner the better.

BB Lee 

I got another sad news this morning! One of my closest colleagues in Calgary is now at the assisted living place because of rapidly deteriorating mental function through the year- he is only two years older than me!-, his wife wrote to my wife!!!! Such a brilliant man becomes dementic!? Unavoidable? Natural aging process?

So shocking, though expected, to remind me, struggling to recall the common names I use every day, especially the person's names in their days!!!

Depressing, depressing!! No other way to avoid?

Living too long is definitely no fun! Scary!

BB Lee

Indeed it is sad to see our friends becoming that way.

I was talking to my old nurse yesterday, 2 yrs older than me, who ran my practice for 43 years

until my retirement in 2014, and once again heard multiple sad news of my former patients.

I suppose it is the season of our life when we are supposed to say

good byes to our friends and old acquaintances.

I can only say, "Good Lord have mercy on us!"

Creating in Your Eighties
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/creating-in-your-eighties/?utm_source=Flipboard%3DThrive

It cretainly is 'creative' thought, Dr. HJ!!! 

What an enthusiastic approach with no reservation on the limit by the age, how about that!

Well, they are exceptional and not me as a plain old man, slowing shrinking, by all means!

BB