Healthcare – Deciding to Fight or Not?

Life is funny sometimes. We are in the midst of so much fabulous technology. Around every corner there are new theories about how nutrition and lifestyle affect our health and longevity. The news and the internet share healing miracles of those that won the war. And yet, when faced with our own mortality, what will our own personal choice be?

At some time most of us have all judged someone about their smoking, drinking, addiction, eating, … When someone has the big heart attack or the nasty “C”, we say of course that would be motivation enough to make better choices. We assume that we can wait til the finish line and try a desperate save. But not always so. In fact, I think quite frequently not.

My question is why don’t they fight? What does it take to get the strength to love yourself and change for the better? What happened to that person? Where are they coming from? And if they can’t do it for themselves, can they let someone else do it for them until they are ready? Will that work in the end? Are they too tired? Do they not have the physical or mental reserves? Are they too sick? Is the fog too thick to see or walk through? Do they think it’s too late? Are they frozen in fear?

There are many many questions. And to date I think that this is my biggest challenge. I am willing and able to help in some areas. After making an offer of help, I want to respect their decision. Yet how do we know that they are making an informed choice? Do they understand all of the resources that are available? Do they know that many people are willing to help them? Do they know that there is a good chance that they might get better if they can just get over that hurdle?

If in fact they are fully informed and can say that’s not for me or I’m just not interested and I’m ready to quit, I can live with that. Let’s be grateful for the journey and facilitate that decision. It’s the inability to communicate what they think or feel that creates the awkward in-between place. Is it fear or denial? Is it lack of awareness? Is it a mechanism within us to protect us from the pain of knowing? It seems like they are being cheated out of grace; the grace of giving it their best, or getting things in order and having closure. Perhaps that is not necessary? Perhaps continuing on in indecision, is an equally good choice? I invite your questions, answers, or theories on this. I still have questions!

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Tags: health motivation, healthcare, life lessons, patient advocacy

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