Back to discussing the end of life

After viewing photographs of AJ’s grandfather this weekend, I found it truly sad that such a robust character resembled a living, breathing skeleton by the time he passed out of this world and into the next. My question as a human being – and a caregiver – is why do people have to suffer so greatly after living 80-90 years and working hard to maintain some semblance of life as we know it during that time only to fail miserably and end up resembling something quite frightening indeed?
The best thing is that many times the mental abilities of these individuals is already lacking, so actual realization may not even be determined by the person suffering the downfall, but those that love them fully realize it. With that realization comes sadness; deep and true.
This sadness can affect both living relatives as well as the caregiver, too. If you are close to someone that is dying, you will want to know how to comfort them – and to live through the pain yourself.
You never want to do the wrong thing. Sometimes people present during the dying process are afraid for themselves, too. They want to do everything right – and nothing wrong – as they don’t want to be remembered in the negative! This is especially true for those that only want to display that With Age Comes Respect.
Even though you are the day-to-day caregiver of this individual facing death, you will want to make the dying process that much easier. Any good caregiver just needs to be themselves and to follow the guidelines pre-established by the dying individual themselves!