We recently had a family member pass away. She was in her early 80's and had been having serious health problems for the past year or two. One of the complications from her problems was that her ability to eat was compromised. Earlier in her decline, she and her husband made the choice *not* to inject nutrients through a pump to be inserted within her stomach. Instead, they chose the more labor intensive route of making all of her food (solids/liquids) a consistency somewhere in-between. Ultimately, this contributed to her health demise, because she lost considerable weight and nutrition consumption.
What struck me about this was that she and her husband *chose* this path, knowing it would further hinder her decline. They did so with the understanding that inserting a pump and having the husband inject liquid nutrients was 'no way to live'.
The funeral services for this woman were pleasant in the sense that everyone seemed to know/appreciate that her passing was coming and indeed, everyone was grateful that she was no longer suffering.
This highlighted for me, the powerful, powerful presence of choice in our lives and how fortunate we are if we can maintain that choice throughout our lives.
AES
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