We have the power to direct it yet most of us don’t use it.

Most people when asked about how they would like to die will say “I just want to close my eyes and not wake up”. Actually, that is how people die. They sleep more and eventually don’t wake up, but what I think people mean by that statement is that they don’t want to go through the agony of disease, pain, and months of dying.

We can’t see ourselves as being dead. Other people die, not me or anyone close to me is what we think about end of life. Also, if I think about my death or dying then that means I will die, maybe it is a premonition, maybe thinking about it will make it happen! We have all sorts of fears around dying and death so we keep thoughts of end of life at bay. We are like ostriches who bury their heads in the sand thinking no one will see them; we don’t address end of life issues. We think death will not happen to us.

What will happen to us if we don’t outline how we want our dying experience to be (detailed in an Advance Directive) is that we will probably die in a hospital, with broken ribs from having our heart stop and CPR given, on a ventilator breathing for us, our body probably non responsive to what is going on around and about us, food being given to us through a tube in our stomach or an IV in our arm, a catheter in our bladder and someone cleaning the poop from our behind.---Not a pretty picture. Not how most of us envision the end of our life.

If doctors can fix my ailing body, can return me to some semblance of activity and quality then by all means lets try BUT don’t get me to the place I described above. That is why I have an Advance Directive. With an Advance Directive if my body can’t be fixed I want to go home to my bedroom, with my cats on my own bed, my family coming and going, the activities of living all around me until I close my eyes and don’t wake up.

Something more about Close My Eyes And......

Death Cafe's and Death with Dinner organizations are popping up all over the country. They help make "the talk" with family and friends less challenging. The Death Cafe here in Portland, Oregon is hosting me as their speaker on November 24th. They will show my film NEW RULES FOR END OF LIFE CARE and there will be a Q & A afterwards. I encourage you to look into these organizations. They're quite helpful.