Go Retire Psychiatrist

I scheduled this morning’s early post about the Iowa State Fair Cribbage Tournament yesterday afternoon. Well after that, later in the evening Sena told me she read a news story about Rusty Martin, a former Iowa state senator, who had Stage 5 Alzheimer’s Disease and traveled to Switzerland to end his life via the assisted-dying organization Dignitas on August 18, 2026.

She mentioned one of his statements, saying he would miss playing cribbage with his wife.

I read an AOL news story this morning which contained several of his statements about he felt about his situation (republished from a Des Moines Register article originally posted on-line August 19, 2026). Among them was this one:

“I wish I was sitting at our dining room table, playing yet another game of cribbage with my wife.”

It’s just one of the little ironies that made me wonder how I would respond if I were in his position.

Sena and I have played cribbage for many years. She gets on these long winning streaks. Every once in a while, I win a few.

I’ve been sour on politics for years and I don’t like to think about it so much anymore. I know I got all in a sweat about the ivermectin bill this past Iowa legislative section. In fact, I posted on my blog about all the anti-vaccine bills (which are, in my opinion, anti-public health).

Rusty Martin felt as strongly about the right to die legislation as I do about the anti-vaccine legislation. I don’t like to think about my own death or politics. I’m aware of how inconsistent this is with reality. Yet, I keep telling Sena I don’t want to hear any talk about political news.

I would rather talk about cribbage or, better yet, play a game of cribbage. We have a dining room table, but we use it just for cribbage.