-
Just thought I would resurrect this thread from its resting place! 
A TV program was shown recently that caused some controversy here in Britain. It was hosted by Terry Pratchett, a best selling Science Fiction author who is developing Altzheimer's Disease and was on the subject of assisted suicide. I'm not sure how the law stands in your country, but here, although suicide is not illegal, assisting someone to do it is. This means that if you choose your own controlled method of dying, you have to do it while you are still fit enough to travel to a country where getting help is allowed. This is probably too soon for most. The program followed one man and his wife to Switzerland where his death was organised and was shown. It also showed another who had chosen to spend his last days in a Hospice. It was an interesting program and although the method will only appeal to a few, it is not one that is currently open in the UK without legal risk to others.
I don't think it is something that appeals to me, but I would like to be allowed to go when my time comes. Even this seems to be quite difficult to guaranty in the UK since we don't seem to have a very well established system of Final Wishes instruction and Medics are often afraid of being sued if they let you die.
-
My dad always had strong views on how he wanted to die. He always wished that he would die in his sleep. He always made it clear that if he were to get very sick and have no quality of life and not be able to look after himself he would rather die. The night he died we had been down at the hospital that evening, the last thing he said to my mam was bring me home, we think now that maybe he knew. The week leading up to his death he really seemed to improve, he was sitting out, talking, not sleeping so much, even the doctors commented on it, they were ready to put him back on the cyclophosphamide that Monday. I have looked up the dying process so much lately, they say that the dying process can start days to weeks beforehand and that the person always seems to appear to be getting better before they die.
When daddy was in hospital he lost his watch, we asked the staff but it could not be found, we bought him a new one. The night he died they said he had medication and settled down for the night around 11 and went to sleep, at 4am, they checked him as he was on a tpn feed, he was asleep, they didn't realise until around 6am when they tried to rouse him that he had a stroke. The ward nurse said for all the world he just looked like he was asleep, they were unable to rouse him and he was unresponsive to pain. Of course what I am bitter about is that they did not ring us until 8am that morning to tell us he had the stroke, by the time we arrived he had gone into cardiac arrest. We found his watch at home a few days later, it had stopped at 11.40, we believe he died before 12 that night which fell on his mothers birthday, we believe she came for him. Although they recorded his death as the next morning he had gone in mind and spirit. The consultant assured me that he would not have knew or been in any pain and it was very likely that it happened in his sleep which is the way he wanted to go. I believe there is something greater, that we all go to a better place.
-
This is a very interesting discussion! Everyone has their own perceptions (truths) about what death is and all we can do is share them and maybe, just maybe, they will help and comfort others. My personal truth is that I died for a couple of minutes when I was a teenager. No, not a diagnosed thing, though I have a minor heart valve irregularity. I was well rested and sitting in Spanish class and my head fell on my desk. Next thing I know I'm being guided by a man (angel) through space towards a light, decreasingly sad about leaving my family and increasingly happy to be going. I was not afraid. Then I'm sitting next to Jesus at a table and He turns to me and says to the angel "It's not her time. Take her back." Then BAM! My head jerked up from my desk and I'm breathing hard, like I'd just been born and was taking my first breath, and, oddly, a bit depressed that I was sent back. The following Sunday I was switching TV channels looking for some cartoons and all of a sudden the Kathryn Kuhlman show was on. She is/was an evangelist. Anyway, she and her guest were talking about near-death experiences and it got my attention. What they described exactly fit what happened to me. So I try to hold on to this memory and all the feelings.
For me, before diagnosis (March 2009) I felt I was at the end of my rope and my life. I was tired of feeling rotten, being unable to get out of bed to go to the toilet, and I just didn't care anymore. I found out that when you reach that point, that ultimate rock-bottom, you can hold your breath and just die despite the autonomic nervous system reflex that normally keeps you breathing. I have read that Wegs dulls that reflex, and it is probably a similar experience in the elderly when the body no longer works properly. What made me breathe again? The sudden thought that I had finished selecting funeral music for what I thought was my very, very, distant death the month (June 2008) I started to come down with (Wegs) symptoms! The black humor of it just had me laughing, and still does! The Divine, however you perceive Him/Her/It, has one helluva sense of humor!
Finally, my personal truth. I feel that life is a journey that does not end with the death of our physical body. When we die we just change forms and continue on our journey.
-
Last summer I was so sick, so uncertain of why my body was self-destucting. Once I started taking the drugs and things settled down, I took this as a reality check that I am mortal. Yes, for the forseeable future my quality of life is not what is used to be, since I cannot get out and enjoy the great outdoors like I used to. Hopefully over time the Neuropathy will heal to the point that I can once again hike for hours and stand on the edge of a sheer cliff and enjoy the ocean views.
Will my life expectacy be shortened? Only time will tell. There is no point in dwelling on that, so I am taking the attitude that I had better relish each and every day! Enjoy Life!
One practical thing I did do however, was write a new Will. I realized I never had one, and it was important to me that my loved ones be looked after. I sure hope that Will stays locked away in my lawyers Will Safe for a long time!
Interesting topic for sure.
-
This is such an interesting thread. Thanks for resurrecting it, Jack-- no pun intended?
-
Speaking of Resurrection........LOL
Phil Berggren, dx 2003
-
Post Thanks / Like - 1 Likes
-
Sorry, it was entirely intended! 
-
-
I try not to dwell on it too much.
Before I was diagnosed for 24 hours they thought I may cancer and sent a very doom and gloom cancer specialist to see me.
I'll never forget the horror I felt when I really thought I was going to die very soon. I was terrified and shocked that I was so scared - in those 'what if' scenarios I never thought I'd react like that but I suppose it's because I'm not religious so I don't have the comfort of thinking there is something else after we die...
-
I don't follow an organised religion, but I am still fairly comfortable about dying. If there is nothing to follow after death, then what's the problem? You'll know nothing about it anyway. If you are wrong and there is a whole new existence, then it will be an adventure.
My main concern is for my family and how they will cope, but everyone does somehow and at least they will be reasonably well provided for.
Likes: 
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks