I was talking to my therapist yesterday about assisted dying and we agreed how unfortunate it is that our civilisation has forgotten how to talk about death. One hundred and fifty years ago, it was common to have your loved ones and your children die. You had no choice but to talk about it. But now everyone is afraid to talk and we make up euphemisms to avoid even saying the word out loud. It was a relief just to have someone to talk freely with. We wondered if, maybe, they should teach it at school.
I wonder what it is like to be the person having that final conversation. I wonder where the conversation goes and how it ends. We told our oncologist of our fears about dying and she told us how, for most people, it’s peaceful and I will most likely just slow down, getting tired and sleeping more until, one day, I won't wake up. We walked out of her office with big smiles and were practically skipping all the way home. I wonder if all her conversations about death are like that.
Our conversations with my oncologist are filled with joy and sadness, laughter and tears — or just tears. I wonder how it is with her other patients and if the sad conversations get hard to bear after a while. I’m filled with admiration for her and for you. It’s an angel’s work.
It’s great you’ve got an oncologist who is open to talking about death. Unfortunately there are some around who still avoid talking about- I think they think it’s some sort of failure or something.
Sounds like you’ve got one of the good ones though, which I’m glad about! I mean, it’s still a shitty situation, obviously. But I think it’s so important for people to be able to show up however they want to show up in the moment. If that’s cracking jokes, no worries. Tears, well that’s cool too.
I was talking to my therapist yesterday about assisted dying and we agreed how unfortunate it is that our civilisation has forgotten how to talk about death. One hundred and fifty years ago, it was common to have your loved ones and your children die. You had no choice but to talk about it. But now everyone is afraid to talk and we make up euphemisms to avoid even saying the word out loud. It was a relief just to have someone to talk freely with. We wondered if, maybe, they should teach it at school.
I wonder what it is like to be the person having that final conversation. I wonder where the conversation goes and how it ends. We told our oncologist of our fears about dying and she told us how, for most people, it’s peaceful and I will most likely just slow down, getting tired and sleeping more until, one day, I won't wake up. We walked out of her office with big smiles and were practically skipping all the way home. I wonder if all her conversations about death are like that.
Our conversations with my oncologist are filled with joy and sadness, laughter and tears — or just tears. I wonder how it is with her other patients and if the sad conversations get hard to bear after a while. I’m filled with admiration for her and for you. It’s an angel’s work.
It’s great you’ve got an oncologist who is open to talking about death. Unfortunately there are some around who still avoid talking about- I think they think it’s some sort of failure or something.
Sounds like you’ve got one of the good ones though, which I’m glad about! I mean, it’s still a shitty situation, obviously. But I think it’s so important for people to be able to show up however they want to show up in the moment. If that’s cracking jokes, no worries. Tears, well that’s cool too.