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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 10:05 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I talked with Gary's son Dylan Marantz. Gary has dementia, which is why we haven't heard from him in such a long time. I asked Dylan to keep me in the loop, and I will report back whenever I hear anything. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:36 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Do you know if he’s living at home with the help of caregivers....or in a facility? |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 5:45 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Befade wrote: Do you know if he’s living at home with the help of caregivers....or in a facility?
In several hospitals. At the moment in a transitional facility. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:34 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Sad. I remember thinking Gary’s last post didn’t come across with his usual sharpness. But I think he once said something about Jewish hospitals being the best. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:37 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Jewish doctors, as I recall.
It was fairly clear something was wrong.
Everybody is aging, and it can often bring ill tidings.
I was just thinking the other day that my parents are pretty lucky.
My father is 81, my mother 78 and they haven't had any serious medical issues. Hitting 80 and avoiding cancer, strokes, dementia is pretty good. They're still reasonably active. Dad has slowed down a fair amount, and has some finger arthritis issues. But recently I've been taking an annual international trip with my mother. And somehow she doesn't really need to eat, sleep or use the toilet ... it's like my mom is some kind of human plant. I'm in the process of planning a trip to Armenia. Georgia, Azerbaijan (& Abkhazia) for late Spring. Which is fairly adventurous, but mom can still handle fine.
My mother is on a quest to get to all 51 countries in Europe and I believe these will tally 42, 43, 44. With Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Cyprus, Malta, Andorra to go. The first four could be covered on one trip. Though I'd be inclined to combine Kazakhstan with central Asia and hitting up say Uzbekistan (shaped like a squid), Turkmenistan. etc. Moflix who used to post here went to those central Asian -stans a decade or so back and enjoyed the trip.
Just counted and I've been to 26/51 in Euroland, so just over half. Not bad. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:55 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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gromit wrote: And somehow she doesn't really need to eat, sleep or use the toilet....
That hasn't been my experience of the aging process. Kudos to Mom.
Your impressions of Kazakhstan would be of interest, since my knowledge of the place is that Russians do rockets there plus all I mislearned from Borat.
I hope Gary finds himself with loving people. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 1:00 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Gromit.....your mother...WOW....and a former OJ groupie. I have a 76 year old friend who almost has that kind of energy for travel. Almost. She does love to eat and that backfired in India.
A friend said his mother advised him not to get old. One of my best friends is in her 90s. Another is in her 20s. Both have an appetite for drinking, eating, and enjoying life.
My father lived to 103 with his mind and his nastiness intact. My stepmother developed dementia in her 90s and before she was treated continued to drive a car. She did not last long. I remember how Gary loved to drive..... |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 3:23 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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I really don't understand how my mother functions as she does. I think her secret is drinking wine. I require at last 6 hours sleep (8 preferred; 4 at utmost minimum), get grumpy plus my allergies kick in if I don't get food, and I need frequent bathroom breaks since I drink a good deal of water. But I think that's all fairly normal. Though I fall apart without food faster than most.
I still need to get to India. I think it's getting a little easier to travel through since they've developed a highway system and the middle class has expanded and has begun traveling. But it's such a large place to tackle.
My paternal grandmother developed Alzheimer's. She died when I was 9 and had the condition for the last 2+ years of her life. I was probably 6 1/2 years old or so when she was stricken. So unfortunately I really can only remember her when she was enfeebled, and only vaguely earlier times when she was functional.
So never really knew her.
I did know her mother, my great grandmother who lived to 96 in good health, except for bad eyes. Had a Scottish accent and would roll her Rrrr's.
A story my father likes to relate:
When we would visit my father would say something like 'Okay grandma we'll see you next time', as we were leaving. And my nonagenarian great-grandmother would say, "Next time you see me they'll be shoveling the dirt over me face." |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 7:09 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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I like Gary's fiction vignettes in the creative writing thread here. Also his anecdotes about living in France, and bumping into famous people and oddballs in his NYC years. He seems like a good and gracious soul, and was always welcoming of newbies.
One grandma lived to 94. She had a Mediterranean diet before it was called that. And didn't smoke. Works for me. I think the single most important factor in longevity, however, is not sitting. She walked everywhere. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:24 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| From what I know Alzheimer’s involves a personality change. Often anger. And the victim can live for years. My stepmother, with dementia, just more or less stopped everything including eating. She did not last long without food. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 12:19 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Gary was a character and had lots of anecdotes. Sounded like he had fun and enjoyed his life. Besides the France and NYC and famous people stories, Gary was pretty loyal to his hometown Winnipeg.
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I think my grandmother experienced frustration at not being able to do things and remember things. And then the last 6 months or more, she was just confused and couldn't remember who anyone was. I was pretty young so don't know the exact cause of death, but her personality was gone and her body still functioning for a while.
Similarly, last year a good friend's father died, and I think it was almost a relief for the family since he had Parkinson's for nearly a decade.
There's a lot of promising research on-going into dementia and how to prevent it or tackle the symptoms. Some experiments have had great success in mice recently. I don't smoke, rarely drink, eat healthy foods, exercise a lot, so I'll probably ... get hit by a bus. [sidenote: While riding my bike in Shanghai, sometimes I'll see a big bus looming, occasionally with its lights off at night, and I narrate in my head: "The death bus, as it was later called ..."] |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Befade wrote: I remember how Gary loved to drive.....
When I spoke with Dylan, he said that his dad wouldn't be allowed to drive any more (there was an incident recently) but Gary didn't know that yet and Dylan predicted it would be a serious blow to him. Sad indeed. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:27 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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bartist wrote: gromit wrote: And somehow she doesn't really need to eat, sleep or use the toilet....
That hasn't been my experience of the aging process. Kudos to Mom.
Your impressions of Kazakhstan would be of interest, since my knowledge of the place is that Russians do rockets there plus all I mislearned from Borat.
I hope Gary finds himself with loving people.
Sergei Bodrov's film Nomad is a historical epic set in Kazakhstan. Mongol was partially filmed there (and is a lot better). |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:08 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Gary visited me in AZ on one of his cross country drives. He was warm, handsome, a sharp dresser. A true bon vivant. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:07 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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My dad died of Alzheimer's in 2004; my mother is 98, living in a facility for the frail and forgetful, but still reading the newspaper and irritated by Trump ("How did he get to be president?!"). She doesn't eat much, and sleeps a lot. I don't want to live that long.
One of my cousins just died of Alzheimer's, and another died of Parkinson's two years ago. And one I was pretty close to when we were kids died of pancreatic cancer last year. One of the problems with getting older is that your friends and relatives start to disappear fairly rapidly. |
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