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My mother is living the life I do not want under any circumstance

By Georgia
Posted on

I had the conversation with my family members.

It is time that we seriously consider the cost of making us all endure what my mother does.
 At 73 I am beginning to experience some forgetfulness and two Brain scans over a period of 4 years have found that I have more white matter than one would expect of a woman my age and more recently, a shrinking brain, both of which may or may not be the norm. I have taken the step to have a neurologist assess these films and give me his findings of what shown may portend for my future. This is because, with my 96 year old mother hospitalized with dementia, I realize that she is living the life I do not want under any circumstance. As a result I want to fight for the right to have my own way out as others choose or accept to being cared for beyond their brain’s ability to allow them control or independence.

I have animals I love and have always thanked God that he/she and the law grant me the privilege of letting them go when they are in extreme pain or unable to control their own actions, as I would want others to allow me to slip away. This has been a losing battle for years but I think we, as a country, may be closer to accepting the right to allowing a choice, one being euthanasia, meaning a painless happy death, while others wanting to be cared for have it.

Our country can no longer continue covering the cost of requiring that everyone live beyond their ability to care for themselves. I may be the only one out there that thinks this way but I doubt it.

It is time that we seriously consider the cost of making us all endure what my mother does. The pain of continuing bed sores of heels and buttocks and back as she cannot eat enough to keep her bones off the bed, and the indignity of having strangers, to her, cleaning her and making her do what she no longer desires to do. That is not living that is existing but for what purpose? I am not questioning her care but am questioning the right of others to make me endure what I do not care to look forward to. Is there anything we can do to work toward allowing me and others who so wish to escape such a sentence. I want to be able to attest to my desire that when a certain documented time comes I will be allowed a “painless happy death.”? Is that asking too much? Not everyone accepts or agrees with me but as an American, I should be offered this option for the end of my life.

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