UMTravels

Last week I got a note from my mother continuing a discussion started at Christmas when I was there, but never finished. It started when we were headed to Trader Joes for last minute items (and booze for me). There was ice and snow on the ground and her comment when something like “If I crap out on this errand I have a Do Not Resuscitate Order in my purse.” Merry Christmas.

So, when the letter came, it was no surprise that it spelled it all out for my Dad, by brother and my sister-in-law.

• Stroke/Heart attack — would rather be allowed to die tan come back and face something worse later
• Cancer — no chemo, radiation, ventilator, no nothing
• If caring for me becomes a problem — find me a nursing home

This is the verbatim last paragraph and I couldn’t agree more:

“I hope this does not sound to macabre, or as if I am depressed and determined to die. That is not the case. On the other hand I don’t really want to live to be 102 either. Surely there is some happy compromise between the two. I know you’ll help me find it.”

WOW was my first reaction. My second reaction was to order her a Do Not Resusitate necklace for Mother’s Day (they take about a month unless you want to pay rush charges). This is what I got:

So, Mother’s Day is in mid-May so I’ll get it in plenty of time. Now if I could get the same information out of my reticent father. He has already nixed the idea of moving to a “community” saying…

“You’ll take me out of here (the house) in a pine box.”

How’s that for a Sunday post? This all started years ago during the Terri Schiavo case where the US Government got involved in decisions that weren’t theirs to make. For more information on the case, click here. It got our whole extended family to get their living wills, and legal wills updated. Is yours up-to-date?

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