The Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Medicine
This morning, when I come in to the bedroom to change Bea, she tells me her knee hurts. She is in such excruciating pain that moving the leg is agony.
As I remove the comforter and cover her upper body with the lovely shawl my sister-in-law knit for her, the overwhelming odor of a bowel movement slips out from under the sheets and quickly engulfs the room.
“I wish I were dead!” Bea exclaims in a very unhappy voice.
“There, there. No, you don’t,” I could have said but don’t. All I utter are a few words of comfort.
If Mother is still alive at 96 ½, her meds are responsible, along with a successful angioplasty in 1995.
I do not think people should have to continue living if they do not want to, once their quality of life has deteriorated so completely, impacting the lives of caretakers.
Before breakfast, I give Bea a painkiller.
Modern medicine prolongs life. Luckily, it also relieves pain.
As I remove the comforter and cover her upper body with the lovely shawl my sister-in-law knit for her, the overwhelming odor of a bowel movement slips out from under the sheets and quickly engulfs the room.
“I wish I were dead!” Bea exclaims in a very unhappy voice.
“There, there. No, you don’t,” I could have said but don’t. All I utter are a few words of comfort.
If Mother is still alive at 96 ½, her meds are responsible, along with a successful angioplasty in 1995.
I do not think people should have to continue living if they do not want to, once their quality of life has deteriorated so completely, impacting the lives of caretakers.
Before breakfast, I give Bea a painkiller.
Modern medicine prolongs life. Luckily, it also relieves pain.
posted by Alexandra Grabbe at 7:31 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home