Tag Archives: living will

Your Living Will

Do you know what a living will is and more importantly do you have one? As I mentioned in my last entry I made mine as soon as I heard the cancer diagnosis. I had discussed it before with my husband and my mother when it was in the news about that woman in Florida. At the age I was (only 35) I had not ever written that or my will. Now I know that is not being a good mom because I should have done that as soon as we had children but the idea of contemplating dying and … Continue reading →

Legal Documents

This week I have found myself sitting in a hospital room with my husband and I have had a great deal of time to think. Yesterday I was asked to be a witness for another patient’s medical power of attorney and living will and it made me think. Do you have your medical power of attorney? Have you talked about how you would like your last days to be? Have you written out your living will? A few years ago there was that case of the Florida woman that was in a vegetative state and her husband wanted to remove … Continue reading →

Do You Have a Living Will?

Many people don’t like to think about — or talk about — death. But it may be wise to think about the shape you’d like the end of your life to take now… before someone else has to make the decision for you. In the summer of 2001, my paternal grandmother passed away. It was somewhat unexpected — she had been living with Parkinson’s disease, but was largely stable. It was my paternal grandfather who had been very sick that same summer, and he was the one we were worried about. When Gramma died, we started making plans for her … Continue reading →

Preparing for a Sudden Death

Have you prepared for the sudden death of yourself and/or your spouse? This is a topic that most people shy away from. It is difficult to plan for something that you do not want to happen, especially when you have young children, but it important to have these plans in place. There are a few simple things that you must do in order to protect your family against this happening. 1) You need to have life insurance policy large enough to pay off your existing debt and to create a nest egg, which will provide money to live on through … Continue reading →

Resisting Medical Care

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One of the biggest challenges in helping to take care of my grandmother is when she refuses to get tests or take medicine prescribed by her team of doctors. My grandmother’s memory problems have become a major concern for the rest of the family. We asked her general practitioner about what we could do about it. He requested an MRI before he would prescribe any medicine — he mentioned Aricept as a possibility for halting the memory loss where it was. She refused to get the MRI. A year later, the prescription is still hanging on the fridge. Another doctor, … Continue reading →