I joke a lot about how I almost died. It makes some people uncomfortable. Oh well!

elaborate.

It's not interesting. I had a routine surgery (gallbladder removal) and after a week, I went to sit up and something that felt like a spring popped inside me. Within a half hour, I literally couldn't move on my own. I was awake, I could talk, but I wouldn't have been able to reach for the phone. I was alone too, but my sister was on the way coincidentally. She called an ambulance and off I went for emergency surgery. One of the clamps had popped and bile (?) was spilling into my insides. I'd also developed an infection inside my body, around my belly button. I was in the hospital for a month to recover from that. Most of my joking comes from the way I acted on the pain medication, with the hallucinations and all. Once in a while my sister will say that she was really scared at the time, and I know I've gone too far.

go on...

I'm a home care social worker for older adults. Death and dying comes up a lot. People grieve in many different ways. Some people need to joke about it, other people can't handle any kind of joke about it for awhile or ever. There is not a right way to grieve. As long as you aren't trying to kill yourself or others or hurt yourself or others, do what you need to do.

Also-EVERYONE should have a living will/advance directive. It is a document that specifies who you would want to be contacted to make health care decisions for you if you ever become medically unable to make those decisions yourself. The living will specifies whether or not you want life sustaining treatments in certain situations. A lot of states have the forms online, you don't have to have a lawyer to fill one out; you will have to have it notarized/witnessed.

The one thing all human beings have to do at some point is die. It is not an easy conversation, but it is better to have the conversation versus having your loved ones trying to guess as to what you would want.


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