Old people and the illness report

With three of my closest friends and relatives, all my age (within 1.5 years) being currently dead.

Yes, this sort of thinking crosses my mine now and then.

yes, what Auf says. When ever I call my mom that is the main topic every time .

I don't know how old you are, but I'll offer this perspective from my age (71). Old people tend to get preoccupied with health issues because their own deterioration is, if not on-going or immediately imminent, at least visible on the horizon. The failing health of their contemporaries is a constant reminder of this. The older one gets, the more difficult it becomes to ignore the fact the "time is running out". Maybe what you see as a compulsion to discuss unpleasantness is, at least in part, "venting" to relieve their own general anxiety.

Keep in mind also that more than just concern about their personal, immediate health can be involved. Both our actual friends and our contemporary, cultural icons provide a contextual backdrop for our own, personal identities: when they start to sicken and die off with increasing frequency, this can be disconcerting and even somewhat disorienting.

Myself, I try to neutralize such thoughts with dark humor, but some find that offensive. Everyone deals with these issues differently. I'm sure that, if I should be diagnosed with a terminal illness tomorrow, I'd find it more difficult to just "laugh it off".

Difficult as it may be, try to empathize with their state of mind if only by letting them talk, maybe dropping in an occasional "well, at least you're doing well". As irritating as you may find their apparent obsession with misfortune, I suspect you'll understand how they feel a lot better when you get to be their age.

I'm 73 1/2 and have a laundry list of faulty bodily mechanisms. But when someone asks, "how are you doing," I just say "fine."
My wife knows every ailment of every member of her extended family, and insists on informing me, whenever one of them has a Depends blow out.
She gets impatient with me for not quizzing my son (by e-mail) about his health. "How is he doing?"
I say, "OK I guess, he hasn't mentioned anything lately."
"You don't ask?"
"Nah, we talk about movies we're seen."

Good point and so true. 
My wife - at the tender age of 60 - already seems to be one of these people.
Me? I refuse to look at life that way. But who knows how I'll look at things further down the road? 

Yup. And the weather, even when they have no intention of leaving home.

At 681/2 I would be a list of issues but people really don’t want to hear them. I want in 2021 to focus on the positive. I mean after this year it has to be better(hopefully)

Noticed this when i was young, when I first met my father in law. Every conversation would become him talking about what was wrong with him.

A lot of older people do it , as has been said, they just dont have much else in their life to talk about.

no one asks about my health, so I dont need to tell them.

Lol, they’re in your ear silly 🤣😉

I call it "the organ recital". "My kidneys, my lungs, my heart etc..."

Like Widows 7?

I live in one of those communities. I refuse to be the guy who knows everyone's personal medical history. My MIL who is 90 lives down the street and we have her over for dinner at least 3 nights a week. I just hate seeing her all alone, and my wife and I make sure to include her in most activity especially since the stuff is around.
She is very lucid, and on top of most things, but she does this litany of neighbors illness think that drives me nuts. Then starts quizzing me on our kids and grand kids. I play it off, since I know my son who had a horrible motorcycle accident in Feb last year does not want her to worry. I know it is a touchstone of the community comparing illnesses like war wounds but it is frankly depressing. You get old, things fall apart, you get them fixed or replaced or live with the challenge, but I do not see how comparing everyone on the block to see who is more stove up helps.