Mrs ERJ and I are thrashing through our "Advanced Directives". I will be Mrs ERJ's decision-maker and she will be mine. We have a second person, an alternate, lined up in case the primary is not available. That can happen, for instance, if we were both in the same auto accident.
One of the difficulties is providing the alternate with some simple, clear-cut questions to ask the surgeon or attending doctor and communicate what the GO-NOGO criteria will be.
So, the picture in my head is that if I can sit in a wheelchair and hold a fishing rod or a shotgun 60 days after the surgery or intervention then I want the intervention. If there is a 50% chance that I will have that level of capability, I want the intervention. If there is a 25% chance that I will be able to reach that capability in 60 days, I want the intervention. If there is only a 20% chance that I will reach that level of capability in 60 days...I think I don't want the intervention.
Critical to this process is that the medical caregiver who is providing the information not be aware of what the cut-off values are.
I need to have some tasks on "the other side" that give me a feeling of being productive, whether it be catching bullheads, carp or bluegills, or whether it be slaying bunnies, woodchucks and red squirrels intent on ravaging the garden and orchards.
Studies on how the human brain calibrations for various probabilities are pretty consistent. Most people are fairly well calibrated for 50:50 probabilities. The calibration gets shaky at 25:75 events and goes totally into the weeds at 20% probability.
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| May 31, 2022. Mrs ERJ was out-of-town and the tomato plants weren't going to plant themselves. That is precisely 31 days after I got whacked as I was crossing a street by a Malibu going 35 mph. |
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| I got a big assist from Belladonna. She moved the trays of pepper plants to the garden for me. And she didn't rat-me-out to Mrs ERJ. |
A physically-fit person in a wheel chair can probably run a zero-turn mower if there are not too many obstacles. If he is sufficiently motivated, he can probably do some straw-bale gardening and grow tomato seedlings, brew small batches of beer and, with a little bit of help, run a still. He might even be able to do a little bit of blogging on the side.
He can shake a bucket with corn in the bottom of it but he cannot chase cows and probably cannot close the gate.
Any thoughts?
Don't let the alternate know where he/she is situated in your will--ken
ReplyDeleteToo late for that. They already know that each heir get 20% of our outstanding debt.
DeleteAlready done. And my paramedic daughter has my medical POA. And we've discussed 'options. Good idea, and you won't know until you are IN that situation what you will do.
ReplyDeleteHaving to had dealt with this for both of my parents, planning all this ahead of time prevents a lot of headaches and heartaches.
ReplyDeleteAs we age and deal with various infirmities for most of us I think it’s important to be useful with those around us. Between back surgery and arthritis I’m chained to a cane and walker at age 76. I’ve had one of those “rotator” walkers for outside for a couple years. I’ve got two 12 by 24 hoop houses and a 12 by 24 green house that I can manage pretty well. I have had to let others do the fire wood except for making kindling and hauling wood with the tractor to the shed for them to stack. I say don’t give up, do what you can do and let others share the things you can’t do.
ReplyDelete