It used to be that we didn't have so many health decisions to make. The ambulance didn't get to the house in time to save the life of heart attack or stroke victim. But now that mom is eighty-three and traveling to four states my family has to decide what to do if mom needs immediate medical care at one of our homes. Each state has a different way of looking at this and so each of us has to have a different form signed and thought through, notorized and/or witnessed by two unrelated persons which is a chore as well.
And then to sit down with mom and figure out her true wishes brings about different thoughts on different days. One day she doesn't want extreme measures to save her life, the next day she wants to live no matter what. No matter about that I know I couldn't watch her suffer in my house and let her die. That's what the hospital is for. I'd have to call the ambulance. Besides that, I don't have a clue what the law requires.
A while back my daughter and I were eating lunch out and she started choking on a salad and I froze. She wasn't breathing and I just sat there watching. I'm not good in emergencies.
A nursing home is the place for the dying and the old. It's a clean, sterile place to visit and leave behind. That way your home won't have the memory of death.
No matter how old you are it's never the right time to die and it's never easy to let go of the expectation that those we love will live forever.
And then to sit down with mom and figure out her true wishes brings about different thoughts on different days. One day she doesn't want extreme measures to save her life, the next day she wants to live no matter what. No matter about that I know I couldn't watch her suffer in my house and let her die. That's what the hospital is for. I'd have to call the ambulance. Besides that, I don't have a clue what the law requires.
A while back my daughter and I were eating lunch out and she started choking on a salad and I froze. She wasn't breathing and I just sat there watching. I'm not good in emergencies.
A nursing home is the place for the dying and the old. It's a clean, sterile place to visit and leave behind. That way your home won't have the memory of death.
No matter how old you are it's never the right time to die and it's never easy to let go of the expectation that those we love will live forever.
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