If you were Dying (Hypothetical)

[Teknav]

Enjoy your life to the max, as long as you are healthy. Once your health quickly starts to deteriorate, wish for a painless and swift ending while you're asleep.

Mauritz
Going to behave now!

[boatman61]

Makes me smile... "I'll start eating healthy food"... maybe you should start that now... not wait till its to late to have any effect...
My plans simple... Live as per normal but stop worrying about getting AID's.... so the sex life would improve 100%...
Then wait till my health becomes a serious problem that affects normal everyday life and the pain (if any) gets to much to tolerate...
Buy a little Hurley, a jar of acid and some serious black market drugs... head for sea and disappear...
Making sure of course I let Sinbad and others have a route/destination plan... Keep CF buzzing for weeks...
Doubt I'll get the chance though... I think its gonna come sudden... grin turns to grimace then gone....
Unless I fall over the side before that happens...

[Teknav]

Hi Boatman! Make sure you always carry an emergency locator transmitter beacon on you! My float plane will locate and fish you out, whether you are in Zanzibar or in Istanbul! You can't be thinking of leaving us so soon!

Mauritz
Going to behave now!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Teknav

Hi Boatman! Make sure you always carry an emergency locator transmitter beacon on you! My float plane will locate and fish you out, whether you are in Zanzibar or in Istanbul! You can't be thinking of leaving us so soon!

Mauritz
Going to behave now!

Don't be daft.... folk only know I've sailed when I arrive somewhere else... except when I'm working..
And even then its usually just restricted to the local GF...
Can be really embarrassing if two or three others appear by air from other countries as well..
But... I do appreciate the sentiment... Cheers mate..

[sailcruiser]

Well your priorities do change. At the top of my list is family. Parents with serious illness come first as I'm doing currently. They were there for me so now it's my turn. After that it's casting off into the sunset.

We are all on borrowed time so live each day to the fullest because there may not be a tomorrow. It all sounds hokey until you're there but it is indeed true. Captain58sailin is absolutely right and I truly wish the best for your wife. I'm 9.5 years past my prognosis so everyday I wake up is a good day.
SC

Edited to add Imagine2Frolic did it right. Godspeed to him.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

Sad to here about your wife,hope all the best things come her way..

+1

[boatman61]

WOT ^^HE^^ SED Capp58....

Imagine2Frolic did it right. Godspeed to him.

A good man indeed with the guts to choose his path to the end.. not one imposed by others

[Capt Phil]

Just keep adjusting life to stay at sea as long as possible... move from cruising under sail to cruising under power to driving boats occasionally for others. Figure I've got another couple of trips in me before I cash out. Think of the ones your are leaving behind and how your actions before you die affect them... kids, grand kids, wives, lovers, friends, enemies, too... when you die, try and have your affairs, both personal and financial in order. Try and go out with no debt, either financial or personal obligations like a borrowed tool or help you feel are due others. Make your peace with what ever 'Greatest Supreme Being' happens to be yours at the moment.
Once you've looked after those basics, don't sit around piously waiting for death, rather embrace the idea and go out with a bang, sliding sideways with a drink in your hand, a smile on your face and the thought of a loved one in your mind. Just MHO... Phil

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Come on folks ! Ya can only live one day at a time anyway ! so do what ya really love a day at a time ! Im 75 and Ive been doing this for the last 10 or so yrs, works for me ! makes things simple ! And I love simple !! Of course being healthy makes a big difference, but ya still can only live one day at a time !

I can't believe you're 75. You have a more interesting life than people less than half your age.

[The Garbone]

Sailing is the change I have made. My wife was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago ( our mid 30s at the time). After licking cancer buying our boat is the change we made. We will have a bigger one in 5 years and cast off full time in 9 years 8 months. If I though we only had 2 years left I would buy a bigger boat sooner. No one gets out of this place alive.

[mrohr]

When sailing with my older friends ,I often posit this question: "If you had your life to live over again,what would you do differently?"

The answer I like most: "not much".

And so it seems to me that most happy people would answer the same. I suspect most ( happy or unhappy ) persons confronted with impending mortality would not change much in their remaining days either.

[pathlesschosen]

Sell everything and spend the nest egg on the largest boat I could. Once health turned, sail off into a hurricane giving the world the bird.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by pathlesschosen

Sell everything and spend the nest egg on the largest boat I could. Once health turned, sail off into a hurricane giving the world the bird.

Seems like a rather violent and horrible way to die.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by virginia boy

In the interest of gaining perspective, I would like to pose a hypothetical "end of life" scenario, and then ask how you imagine this would affect your cruising plans.

While few of us get very much advance warning of our death, lets assume that you have an incurable disease with a fairly predictable prognosis. You will remain healthy enough to sail and travel for two or three more years, but after that you'll begin a year long decline and ultimately exit stage left.

You are retired with modest income.
Your children are either grown or heavily involved in step family activities etc, so your role in their lives and ties to land are minimal.

Does news of your impending death change your plans? How?

Would you say goodbye to family now and travel your last days?

Would you take greater risks in your travels? Sail past Somalia coast while flipping the bird? Cape Horn?

Would you sell your boat and attempt to spend your last few years with family and friends?

Some of you may be in this very situation: Would you be willing to share your experience?

Well...I'm almost in your sceanario. I've had 2 MCI's (Myocardial Infarction). Long story, short as to what that means for the future...up in the air. Suffice it to say, I'm off to Mananaland for starters this fall. Since my last MCI in 2008, I have paid off all my Real Estate, bills, child support, hospital costs ($70K), boat, you name it...no bills. I was already a risk taker...I raised freakin teenagers for cripes sakes. In my past a motorcycle racer, mountain climber and the list goes on.
After the 1st MCI, I changed my perception towards most things...meaning I use mind over matter..."I don't mind and it don't matter". There is not much that upsets me. Well...maybe some of the BS that goes on here....
You can only do so much with the information given to one at hand. I have had to plan carefully and save money diligently.

Originally Posted by Freerider

I don't mean this to sound harsh, but this concept is so f***'in mind blowing to me, and it really shows how we've become such victims in society.


If i had 2-3 good years left in me, then it means I'm not going to die and I'm going to beat that disease.

I would start to eating healthy, I mean real healthy (no processed, no dairy, no grains, no factory meat etc), I would move to a place with lots of sunshine and clean air and give my body the tools to get healthy. Once the diet changes the mental state will begin to change, and its all uphill from there.

I know that sounds all hippie/treehugger and all, but its realistic and it happens all the time.

Almost all terminal diseases are linked to stress, diet and habitat, and many of these so called "terminal" disease have been managed or cured by life style changes.

Then once i dominated that weak disease, i would push the limits like always. There's just something about scaring the sh*t out of yourself, that makes life so much more fun.

Wait...Eat healthy but no factory meats?...After my 2nd event, I went vegetarian. Until I did, my blood work results were at a crawl towards better numbers. After my first year of "right eating", the numbers improve dramatically. Most now, are in range. That does not mean heart disease is gone but I've slowed it dramatically.
I'm with ya on the stress factor, it is debilitating. Stress is a littlle, tiny bullet, in a little, tiny gun. We just keep shooting ourselves with stress until one day, we're in a hospital room, starring at a Navajo white wall wondering what happened.
I think the key is to live each day, like you want to...not like you have to.

Originally Posted by sww914

I'd keep doing this.

I'm with ya brother and I know why.

[SmartMove]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Dying slow is usually a long drawn out painful, nasty affair. The pain can be so great that your focus is down to just getting through the next minute/second. I talk to my Wife about cruising/commercial fishing/living in Belize, to take her mind off how dire her situation really is. It is not some beautiful sailing off into the sunset affair. It usually involves vomiting all night and insomnia due to the pain in your bones is so great you cannot sleep.
If you are in reasonable shape, then go down to the sea if that is your bent and stop fantasizing about what you would do if you just had another 10,000 dollars or just one more 401K. That day may never come. You could have a blood vessel burst in your head and you can die at 32 like one man I knew did. You never know when the hammer will drop. I for one would feel very foolish if it happened while typing a response to a hypothetical question. Live every day like it was your last, treat everyone else like it is their last.

I think another thread discussed a sailor's bent for black humor. When I posted my comment it was a tongue-in-cheek answer to an uncomfortable subject that I thought was witty at the time.

In truth, it is a subject that makes most of us uncomfortable and it is hard (in advance) to look in the eye. My husband and I are where we are today due to the untimely deaths or disabilities of friends and associates. It made us realize that there may not be a tomorrow, so we better get out today and live our dream. Fortunately for us, our kids are OK with us spending their inheritance! However, we did make sure they all got a good college and post-graduate educations.

Captain58, I wish the best for your wife and yourself too. Give her a hug for us and keep one for yourself.

Robyn & Barry
S/V Smart Move