Quality vs Quanity

   I was talking to a patient today who told me that she had a very close friend just recently die tragically. She was 80 years old, but she said you would have never guessed it. She was active, and in great health. So I asked what happened? She died on the operating table, during a procedure to put a stint in. Horrible. Now I'm not going to go on a rant about how many people die per year in the medical model. I've done that plenty of times. Especially when there has been a lot of research and evidence lately showing the ineffectiveness of stints in the first place. And the fact that the doctor had no explanation for the family on why she died. But I won't rant. What I do want to talk about is quality of life. My patient said that her friend went out without any loss of quality. And that is something my patient never want's to lose either. Her words were she never wants to get to a point were she's not useful, or even worse a burden on someone else. I agreed. It's all about quality, not quantity.
   Yet I see so many people push off their health problems. I have actually had a large amount of people tell me, I don't want to live till I'm 80. But they are missing the whole point! It's not about living to a certain number, it's about maintaining your current quality of life in your later years. If you aren't going to make it to 80, most likely your 70's are going to suck. Decisions made now produce the results you will get when you are older.  

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