Quality of Life - Part IV

Quality of life is defined by the World Health

Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns". Wikipedia

There are several key terms in the above description...

1. Position in life
2. context of culture
3. context of value systems
4. goals
5. expectations
6. standards
7. concerns

My Personal Story...

"Quality of life,"  what the hell is that, I asked my self a few times before I reached the age of 50?  And, my answer was always the same...  "who gives a shit?"  I had a job or would soon have a job...  I had the money to do whatever I wanted as long as it was not too expensive...   I mean I could fly to Florida to visit my childhood friend but I could not fly first class.  I could visit him as long as I stayed at his home and not at a motel.

That was my quality of life as perceived by me...  and, I could see all around me, the other people who had the money or the willingness to use a credit card to have a higher quality of life by enjoying the luxuries of life that I had deemed was not possible for me given my current state of affairs...

But, I was alive, physically fit and content.

At the age of 60, my life changed substantially...

I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and a few months later discovered that I had experienced a severe heart attack and should undergo a triple bypass.  I was able to have stents inserted instead.

Five years after that situation, my cancer treatments had made my body susceptible to melanoma and now I was being treated for two cancers simultaneously.  The cancer treatments also screwed with my thyroid and 14 years after my cancer diagnosis, I underwent lumbar fusion surgery to fuse together L2, L3, L4, L5, and S1 disks from which I am currently recovering three weeks after surgery.

My quality of life has declined rapidly and having more money would not have made any difference at all to that quality of life other than I would be recovering in a more expensive home...

When I was 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or even 60, I had no idea that my quality of life would be like it is at the age of 74...  but, here I am...

My quality of life is all MENTAL these days...

• My wife and I are debt-free
• My wife and I each have reliable cars
• Our backyard has a 24-foot round pool surrounded by an oversized deck that incorporates a gazebo, a sunning area, and a hot tub
• Our 24oo square foot home sits on an acre of land
• We live in a quiet and safe community
• We walk around the community for exercise
• We have the finances to pay our bills until both are 95
• We are 40 minutes away from UT Medical Center
• We are 50 minutes away from an airport
• We grow our own vegetables each summer

In case you are wondering, the photo that I use is from 1972 when I was honorably discharged from the US Navy...  I cut off my beard a few days later and have been clean-shaven ever since except for a couple of years where I supported a mustache and/or a goatee.  I don't like to have my photo taken so I use old photos.

Having more money would not alter my physical health...  

Having a larger house would be a burden even if I was able to pay someone to clean it each week...

Having a driver would just make me lazier...

Eating great food at a fancy restaurant would just make me fatter along with the consumption of alcohol which I no longer drink...

My quality of life is better than some but worse than others...  and, I don't care either way because my quality of life is what I have been given and what I have earned...  so, it is what it is.