Have you Thought about 'What If?'

I recently had a social event along with  my neighbors. We got around to talking about ‘What If’ scenarios because we were discussing our age.  It seems everyone thinks nothing is going to ever happen to them that is bad unless we are very old.  Of course, bad things happen to good people every day.  I mentioned to my neighbor. ’If only we had a crystal ball!’  Well, we don’t.  I asked if they had a Living Will, or as some call it, ‘Durable Power of Attorney.’  My friend said, well, it’s terrible!  We don’t even have a will!’  Of course, we all believe nothing ever will happen to us so we put off these things.  And we take life for granted!  And...we're busy.

I asked her, ‘What if your husband here got into a serious car accident and was paralyzed, needed to breathe on a ventilator for life and get fed with a feeding tube?’  She shuddered and said she didn’t like talking about it. I also asked: ‘What if he was comatose in an ICU and was not likely to survive, would he want to continue to live, even though we may have no idea the pain he might be in?’   This seemed to give them food for thought.  Well, they are not alone.  Her husband acknowledged that these discussions are probably valuable to have.  I supported him on that thought.

So if you have not given thought to things like these, today is a good day to start thinking about it.   Think about this:  You are the patient in the bed, in pain,  not likely to survive, and you cannot tell anyone.  Nor have you ever talked about these things to any of your family.  You think it can’t happen to you?  It happens every day to good people.  Think about it.  Talk about it.