We plan our vacations. We plan for our retirement. But we don't plan for dementia.
Maybe we should. I haven't looked it up, but it seems as if more and more people are suffering from this disease. Twenty years ago I didn't hear anyone talking about someone in their family with dementia. Now, it's hard to think of a family who is untouched by it.
Of course, we don't want to plan for it. We don't want to think about it. We don't want to think, "This could happen to me." We don't even like to think about the end of our life, much less an ending that we may not even be aware of.
One of the most loving things my dad did before he died was to go through all his files and clean them out. He put all his affairs in order. He did everything within his power to make his passing easier for us to deal with. It probably helped that he was an obsessive-compulsive kind of guy. But, at the end, as difficult as it was, at least the difficulty was minimized by his loving action of "cleaning house" before he left us.
I'm not sure how one would plan for dementia in a way that would make it easier on the people we love. But one thing I know...for sure...is that in order to deal with it, we have to face it. Acknowledge it. Accept it. Even if every fiber of our being is screaming, "Run away! Run away!" We don't always know what is around the bend in the road, but when we get there, whatever is there is still there.
No comments:
Post a Comment