End Of Life Care

Wondering around on the internet I came across this opinion article on CNN regarding end of life care.
End Of Life    Although it lost me a bit with the war talk it seems to make a point about choices at the end of life.

I am a dialysis social worker in addition to my private practice and one thing that often is frustrating is seeing how little time and effort is put into sharing with individuals their prognosis, realistic goals and the possibility of hospice or other appropriate care.   Like most of us I want my family and friends to live a long life and have them around to share the journey as long as possible.  I want to stay on journey as long as I am able and wouldn't want someone to decide for me what should happen if there was a serious medical issue. However,  not talking about death and avoiding taking measures to have a good end of life does not stop the inevitable.  In dialysis (and really for most medical treatments) I believe one good question to ask is if the treatment is prolonging your life or merely prolonging your death.

One saying that I think can be comforting and that I just googled and found is attributed to Patrick Overton is

“When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on or we will learn how to fly.”

(And apologies to Patrick Overton because there seem to be a ton of variations on this saying!)

Siblings

I was thinking about sibling relationships and serendipitously had this short little blurb about sibling relationships.e-mailed to me.

Siblings and Depression

It basically says that having a loving relationship with your siblings can fend off depression. It also notes that sisters seem to be better depression busters than brothers that brothers are good too.

Do you have siblings? Your siblings have know you longer than anyone else and probably are the only individuals you have that understand where you came from because they were there too. Your siblings have known you the longest of anyone. As I age I believe more and more that it is important to have people in your life who knew you when you were young. We mature and grow and struggle so much we sometimes lose characteristics and dreams of our youth. That doesn’t make them any less a part of us and it is comforting to have someone who remembers the good parts of the old you.

Take a moment and call or e-mail your sibling today. Just say hi – especially if time and distance has separated you. You may just find another way to fight depressing feelings.