The time is set.
Mrs. Jackalope has had two independent medical assessments as required by law, and has been ruled eligible to receive medical assistance in dying. She will have the procedure on Tuesday, after the mandatory 10-day waiting period has expired. The consulting physicians were kind, empathetic, and caring beyond our expectations. They are doing everything in their power to ensure her a peaceful, pain-free death. The home care nurses who have come every day are similarly dedicated to her comfort. The entire palliative care system has performed in the highest traditions of compassion at every turn.
She and I have been meditating tonight on the amount of horror and misery that exists in the world. In contrast, the degree of privilege represented by our experience is breathtaking and humbling. That it is available without cost or question to an ordinary, impoverished middle class couple scrubs away the grimy crust of cynicism, to reveal the best of humanity.
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no words good enough, but hope you are surrounded by much love this week and beyond...
my father chose to go his way last month -July 31... hospice and all people concerned (here in Vermont and at Dartmouth Hospital in NH) were wonderfully supportive...
and wishing you both peace.
I often wonder what I'd do, and how I'd feel, if something like this was taking place in my life. Good luck to you, and to your wonderful, caring, unselfish wife. Please don't forget about your DU family. We'll all be with you at that final moment, at least in spirit.
