A few days after thanksgiving my grandmother fell and broke her hip and her wrist. She's almost 95 and we're into winter, which is not a good sign. It's hard to wait and see what happens. We thought we were going to lose her in the days after her fall, but as the true trooper she is, she's pushing through. She's holding on, and NOT letting go. The doctors are surprised she's held off as long as she has, now that it's 20 days later.
Going through this process has introduced me to the challenges that people go through at the end of their lives.
I read this article, and immediately thought of watching my helpless grandmother in the ICU. All I wanted is for her to be at peace, and without all of those IVs going into her (there must have been 14 bags hanging around her that first day). It was scary to see, so I'm certain it was scary for her to experience.
"We are not helping these people by providing intensive care. Instead, we are turning their bodies into grotesque containers, and reducing their lives to a set of numbers monitoring input and output, lab values and vital signs, which we tweak to keep within normal ranges by adjusting our treatments, during the weeks and days immediately preceding their death. This is the opposite of what should be prioritized when a person is known to be nearing the end of their life without the hope of getting well."
Going through this process has introduced me to the challenges that people go through at the end of their lives.
I read this article, and immediately thought of watching my helpless grandmother in the ICU. All I wanted is for her to be at peace, and without all of those IVs going into her (there must have been 14 bags hanging around her that first day). It was scary to see, so I'm certain it was scary for her to experience.
"We are not helping these people by providing intensive care. Instead, we are turning their bodies into grotesque containers, and reducing their lives to a set of numbers monitoring input and output, lab values and vital signs, which we tweak to keep within normal ranges by adjusting our treatments, during the weeks and days immediately preceding their death. This is the opposite of what should be prioritized when a person is known to be nearing the end of their life without the hope of getting well."
