He has aged 10 years in 6 months. What's going on?

CRGrim11, it is my understanding for someone who is in their 90's, every year they do age 10 years. I saw that with both of my parents.

My parents were pretty active in their late 80's and early 90's... they use to walk 2 miles a day no matter what. Then poof, they could barely walk down their driveway or walk in the stores. Before I knew it both were using canes. Then out of the blue Dad needed a rolling walker. Within a couple of years my Mom could no longer read as her eyesight was failing quickly. It was yikes, what is happening here?

This whole aging thing had really rattled me. Mainly because I never saw my grandparents age. I had nothing to compare this to. I always pictured my parents remaining the same age with no health issues.

Thank you for your response and you couldn't be more accurate. His quality of life is amazing as he has all of his mental facilities about him. The bittersweet part is that he is accepting help and listening to my sister and I about getting the proper things in place to assist him. For example, we are having Life Alert installed for him and getting him to dr.'s appts (all things he would do on his own and then only tell us what we wanted to hear.)
I think seeing and listening to him admit he needs assistance has been the most difficult. I have always viewed him as 10 ft tall and literally bulletproof. (He is a WWII Holocaust Liberator)
My sister and I aren't used to having be the strong ones....obviously he had us later in life and my sister and I are in our early and mid thirties. Hard to get support and guidance regarding the person that has always been the one to give it.
Again, I'm grateful for this support blog.

To me, the bigger question is how is your dad feeling about his life right now? Is he having major difficulties that could be helped? If something can be done that would improve the quality of his life, see if you can help.

If he's just winding down, then there's not much you can do but grieve the passage of time and the loss that brings to all of us. It is sad, partially because of the inevitable loss of our parents and partially because of the impending loss it signals about our own aging.

Thank you so much for your honesty and insight and I would have to agree with you...we all can't live forever. This was definitely a club I hadn't given much thought in joining at the age of 35. 😢

They say all our US presidents age unnaturally fast in office too. Stress, I suppose, and truly the weight of the world and the nation on their shoulders.

But I digress - it's your dad you care about, who was smart enough not to run for that office at least - and either he is really losing ground to old age, or something reversible is going on. It is probably worth a visit to a really good geriatrics center to find out and also learn about supports that may be available, things that could make both your lives easier. Sometimes medication doses have to be changed as metabolism slows down significantly, it's notorious for thyroid replacement for example. Even the best of us slow down overall a bit at his age, and some of us are destined to be centenarians if we do it right and some aren't. I got some great help with my mom by setting up the appointments in her town via phone and web contacts, for times I knew I could be there and go with her. She lives in Pgh PA so we used Benedum Center, and I live in Arkansas. She didn't want to move at that time, but I eventually kind of tricked her into it and it was a real blessing not to be such a long-distance caregiver any more. Hugs and welcome to this club that no ones really wants to join :-)