This week's readings were very interesting, although they did bring up a lot of feelings both good and sad. This week I would like to reiterate what the text said about filling out a Durable Power of Attorney or Living Will. I feel like this is the most selfless thing you could do in life. Having a Living Will may release your close family from having to make those difficult decisions, as well as granting you your final wishes. No one is too young to complete either of these forms.
My uncle (age 51) passed away one year ago, in his passing he did not have either of these in place and furthermore hadn't discussed his wishes with any one. Being a "young" healthy man there was no reason to have either of these in place right? Until he became very ill with pneumonia. He was unable to speak and was being kept alive by machines in the ICU. A week into the dying process family had a meeting and had to make a very difficult decision. This raised several issues, most of the family did not want to prolong death and some wanted heroic measures. Just when the family should be coming together they were being torn apart by this horrible decision looming ahead. Ultimately they decided to "pull the plug", my uncle had passed with all of his family at his side within 3 hours.
After my diagnosis of Lymphoma, I recalled the difficulty my family had with this huge decision. I was handed a living will at my first oncology appointment, I held on to it for a couple weeks not wanting to face the fact that what I have could be fatal. After having many discussions with my husband about what I wanted in death I filled it out. There is no reason I should leave that decision to my family. My young kids and husband would be devastated to have to make that decision, and having seen how my mom and dad reacted to my illness I wouldn't want them to make the decision due to the "selfish" nature of parents. I'm not saying my parents are selfish, rather they would want to keep their child safe and "alive" what ever that meant to them.
Again, I really enjoyed this weeks readings and can't believe how fast this quarter has gone, I would like to encourage all of you reading this to create a living will or fill out a durable power of attorney as we really don't know what may be around the corner.
I agree that it is so importaint to take care of after life directives before you are ready to pass on because you never know what is going to happen or when you are really going to pass away and people need to know what to do and how to deal with it the way you would like it to be delt with.
ReplyDeleteIt is important for everyone to create their living will before they die. When family makes this decision for someone it becomes really hard for them to make the right decision. Even though we feel healthy right now but who knows about the future? So, I think everyone should make their decision before they die.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah. Sincerely, I found that to be a very emotional and powerful blog entry. I was just having this discussion the other day with a friend because they didn't understand what a living will was or why it's important to have one. I agree with you that it's so valuable to have that in place. We don't know what the future has in store for us and it's nice to have those kinds of decisions made for ourselves, so that others don't have to do it for us.
ReplyDeleteI'm inspired to get this done for myself and am going to try to get my husband and my mom to do it to. Thanks for the reminder. I'm curious, do you have information on how and where to get this done?