I’m 2 years from my (70th) 60th HS reunion. What would we talk about.
- Who died.
- Our health or lack of.
- How many marriages we’ve had.
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Congrats! Are there many still left in your HS class? I don’t know if any of my educational institutions have 70th reunions. Is someone organizing a 70th reunion for you?
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@bostrav59 I don’t know as I haven’t heard anything. Your post caused me to do the math. A man who graduated with my uncle from the same school tried to interest him in monthly get togethers, as they were dropping like flies.
Correction not 70th 60th. What, I can’t do simple arithmetic in my head. Now I’m like the teenagers I know who can’t do arithmetic without a calculator 
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My father went to his 50th, East Orange High School, NJ. Next door to Newark, pretty rough urban territory back in the day. His class was 1938(?), late 30’s.
He said the main topic of conversation was who was still in the penitentiary.
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@bostrav59 and @Rphil2…I too was class of '75. It’s a little hard to decide why but I have not attended a single HS reunion. I left the east coast as quickly as I could in the 70’s and have been 3,000 miles away ever since. The person organizing the 50th gave off a strong “Jersey Shore” vibe which did not entice me to make the flight. The main high school friends I am in regular touch with are one who is here in Seattle with me and a few back east who were in the class behind me.
Anyway, @bostrav59 it was not me who recommended dishonesty, must be a mix up. I would answer the survey as “excellent” health. In private conversation, and if I felt the need to go deep with an old friend, I would summarize the ups and downs of diabetes as any given day I might find myself temporarily unhealthy (and moving toward worse) with BG either too high or too low.
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Sue Townsend, the author of the Adrian Mole books, says in some autobiographical essay that she’s in excellent health. She later mentions that she’s totally blind from high BP or something.
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FWIW, Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage when she was 64 and said she was in the best shape of her life. There’s also a growing body of evidence that indicates our later years are not all about physical decline, that you can get stronger (maybe not faster), or at least maintain a certain level.
I guess I think of two things wrt to your reunion questionnaire. First, if it’s an anonymous collection of data and the person is essentially doing a long-term study, that’s cool and deserves to be answered “accurately’. I recognize that any self-reporting is subject to poor accuracy. Second, if you feel like you are effectively managing your chronic conditions, and feel good in most other respects, I would answer “Very Healthy”
Phil’s responses are great, btw and reminds me of my best friend in high school, who, when presented with the Sex? question with a M or F choice to check off, would just write, “YES!”
I’ve never been a reunion guy, but I’m a bit envious of those like you who are.
Cheers!
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A lot of people just have high cholesterol. It’s genetic. There are very effective medications for that.
I consider myself ‘healthy’ even though I have diabetes. “Healthy” is relative.
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It’s more about how you think of yourself - health is a state of mind. Do you wake up and pop out of bed and want to do things? I have had T!D 61+ years, DXD age 12. Diabetics back then died in their 30s, go blind, and lose limbs. Luckily, no one told me!
High cholesterol is a non factor for me. I feel like I am in control of my D, and it is not an obstacle to the hiking, backpacking, and etc. I had a pacemaker put in9 years, no problem. I had 3 back surgeries and cervical vertebrae fused. No problem. None of these things limited me. With all that, I still thought myself as very healthy, and could walk 6-8 miles a day several days a week. However, I had covid in 2020, and developed long covid. That has limited what and how long I can do things, and now I think my health is fair.
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It seems like health is only partially a state of mind. We run into physical limitations that should affect how we evaluate our own health.
So I’d add a second clause to your example: If you wake up and want to do things, and are physically able to do all the things you want to do, that’s excellent health. If you can do most of the things you want to do, that’s good health, and on down.
If you don’t want to do things when you wake up (and/or you’re not waking up very much), that also contributes to health demerits.
By that measure, I’d say my health is ‘good’ (not very good) …
thanks everyone for helping out on this expedition.
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Honestly that survey is way too black and white for real life. You can run, lift, function great day to day and still have T1D and high cholesterol sitting in the background, managed but not “gone”. I’d probably pick “somewhat healthy” just because there’s ongoing stuff that needs meds and monitoring, even if you feel fine most days. Being capable and active doesn’t cancel the risk side, it just means you’re handling it well.
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That’s such a tricky question. I’ve thought about that too. I feel like being healthy isn’t just about diagnoses, it’s also how you function day to day. If you’re active, managing things, and living your life, that counts for a lot. I’d probably still lean toward very healthy, just with a few extra things to manage.
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Thanks coco, and welcome to the discussion. Have you been lurking long or did you just find us? you can share something about yourself in our “Introduce yourself” thread (I think we have one). Or not.
Your post reminds me of a similar question, related to employment and social situations.
I’ve had a diabetes diagnosis since I was 50, and at that point I was very active at work - customer facing / and prospective customers as well. Who do I tell about my diabetes diagnosis?
One of my clients was a large healthcare organization and they were very open about discussing it and providing me with some advice and suggestions.
I wondered whether I should tell prospective employers or clients about it as I thought that might be a condition that affected my work.
My doctors said: “why would you want to do that?” There’s no need.
Because at that time in my diabetes journey, I would have rated my health as fair or poor - I’d just received the diagnosis and thought that it would limit my activities and work habits.
Now I’d rate my health as good (not very good), because there are some activities I wouldn’t undertake because of the condition. Though not very many.
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The meaning of the answer, “Yes.” Or, in the context of the question, “No.” It seems routine these days to ask these questions. No doubt social scientists have worked out that in our modern society people can’t ask for help, so the questions are designed to allow people to ask for help without feeling humiliated or feeling that they might lose their liberty or their insurance. Don’t know about the first right.
Most people just lie. I don’t normally lie but being asked a question like that makes me think twice before telling the truth:
If I were to be honest I would say, “0”, or whatever the scale was. That’s not a cry for help, it is a simple fact. I do a whole load of other things that docs would consider very dangerous and a small number of things that, in fact, are dangerous; I’ve given up SCUBA because of the, whatever, but show me a slope with snow on it and I will certainly climb up and it ski down it. I also use a chainsaw, regularly.
But do not underestimate the importance of those stupid questions. They give us an opportunity to ask for help. I find them very, very difficult because I don’t lie, but that’s my problem.
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