Life & death decisions.

Annual checkup day. My doctor discussing my 'do not reuscitate' order and I'm asking to remind me of the details and probabilities. Paraphrasing here : "Well, if your heart stopped while you were in hospital, of course they'd restart it. But if it happened at home, by the time we got you in, it would be a bit late. Not saying you couldn't possibly be brougfht back but you might not be in good shape. Even if it was a relatively good recovery most people wouldn't last more than about a month; so what d'you think?"

Of course I left the DNR in place.

Doesn't later life get a bit surreal !

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

Ontheroad · M

Been there and done that. Living Will, DPOA, and DNR in place. I just looked at it another piece of business and something I didn't want left to question.

The living will and DNR are important for a few reasons. Mostly for me, it was knowing how I wanted to go out and to not put the burden of making the decisions on my children.

Next step was to setup the funeral home, cremation, a jug to put the ashes in, and the cemetery and internment... again, not wanting to leave all the hassle to those I leave behind.

Last step I took was to give my POA (in my will), instructions to pay for airline tickets for my kids (from my banking account) to come to the funeral/internment.

I didn't find it surreal, just something a guy needs to do, but I get what you mean.