End of Life Care
Death is evident, it can occur to any one at any time. It is important to have a clear understanding of end of life care and what your desires are for when that day approaches. Would you like to be intubated? In a vegetative state? Would you like to be resuscitated or would you prefer to pass away without any resuscitation measures? It is important to have an end of life talk with your family members and the important people in your life. Who will be able to make these decisions for you? Will you write a living will? These are important questions that we should consider and discuss with our family, I did so and the following describes my family’s end of life thoughts.
The topic of death is something I have always avoided. I cannot imagine losing my parents, it brings me to tears. My mom has always expressed her desires to me if something tragic or her death was to occur. She wants to be cremated and not have a memorial service. She does not want me to cry, and she wants me to believe that she has passed away to a better life. She will not be suffering and she would be able to look down upon our family. This may be easy for her to say, but hard for me to believe. The thought of losing my mother is something I cannot imagine. My confident, my best friend, the woman who gave birth to me. I just love her so much that the thought of death is unreal, a reason I believe I would never be able to be her power of attorney nor implement her end of life wishes. My father is the same way. He would like to be cremated, and he would like his ashes scattered in the ocean. My father has never been one to talk about death nor show much emotion. I think it would be easier for me to implement his end of life wishes than my mothers. Why, I don’t know.
In regards to myself, if something tragic was to occur and I was still young I would like to be kept alive. If I have children I would like to be kept alive at all costs because my children deserve to grow up with their mother and father. If I was to have a very low chance of survival it would be ideal to let me go. There would be no point in prolonging my families suffering. I know that my mother would do anything in her power to keep me alive; therefore I would not appoint her as my power of attorney. At this moment I am still unsure of my end of life wishes. It is something that I have to put more thought into and I believe once I have a family of my own I will be able to make a better decision.
It is very hard to have a conversation where end of life decisions are discussed. It is not pleasant and sometimes we are in denial. I am guilty because I cannot imagine my parents passing away. I cannot get over the idea of never seeing my parents or sister; my loved ones being taken away without even saying goodbye or letting them know how much I love them. This topic is difficult for everyone but it is an important conversation that we all must have.
