Hi Kathy, we’ve got the two letters from your mom’s doctors, so you can come in and sign the DNR.

Oh, great. OK. What time? Noon? OK, I look forward to it. I mean, I’m not looking forward to it. Um, you know what I mean.

And that is how I made the appointment to sign my mother’s death warrant. Over the past eight years, I have had to make many incredibly difficult decisions on behalf of my mother……………………. some are more difficult than others, some can leave you curled up in a ball in the middle of an ER. Signing the DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) was an easy decision to make, by easy I mean, I would remain upright as opposed to curled up in a ball crying……………………….. of course, my mom already had a legal document stating that she did not want extreme measures to be taken to prolong her life………………… what she did not have was an actual DNR, an orange piece of paper that the paramedics look for before going above and beyond to save a life. It took me a couple of months to actually get this taken care of…………….. yes, I knew what to do, I knew what needed to be done, but getting it taken care of………..well…………….asking her doctor to write a letter stating that she has a terminal disease with no chance of ever recovering can kind of fuck you up………………. psychologically speaking, of course.

So, I made an appointment for myself instead.

Great to see you…. you look good. What’s can I help you with?

Well, you know I still have that weird pain on my right side; I’m still constipated, but that’s probably stress; and I need you to write and sign a letter stating that mom’s dementia is terminal and stuff. It’s for the DNR.

Sitting in his office, making my request……………. it just struck me as funny………….I don’t know, the whole experience was sort of Seinfeldesque in nature.

Finding the humor in my suffering, our suffering, is, I suppose, a survival skill……………. it’s what helps me cope with my walking grief………….I actively try to seek out the funny. I have to; it’s what keeps me sane, because to experience this kind of sorrow day-in and day-out, with no relief in site, no source of comfort, no regular family support, no hope that she’ll one day be cured, well, that dark, depressing vortex can appear inviting after awhile…………………… because face it, getting out of bed to watch death dance around my mother as she languishes in this life is neither healthy, nor is it how I like to start out my mornings………………..

But I do.

You do.

It’s what we do because it is the right thing to do.

Even though we’re all on the verge of folding our hands.

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Hi Kathy, good to see you, come on in…………………. I walked into her office and sat down, ready to sign the DNR. It didn’t feel like a big deal, after all, I’ve signed plenty of documents absolving the medical community of all responsibility should they accidentally kill my mom……………………….. it was just another piece of paper. Until she started reading the paper and telling me what would happen if (and when) something happens to my mom. There will be no cardiac compression, no endotracheal intubation, no artificial ventilation, no life support drugs or emergency medical procedures……………… the words sit in your gut for a while.

She handed me a tissue.

I signed the document.

She signed the document.

The witness signed the document. She touched my shoulder and left the room.

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I am convinced that we confuse compassion for pity……………… compassion is something else; compassion takes time…………. pity, however, is much easier to dole out. Compassion is a rare quality which few possess and I now understand why. People don’t want to talk about this disease; they don’t want to witness it; they don’t want to walk in your shoes; and they don’t want to take the time…………… this is compassion as I know it: A former colleague sent me an e-mail after learning that my mom was being housed at the psychiatric unit last February. Although he had never met my mother, nor did we keep in contact after I left my job, he offered to sit with my mother. He said, “I have an extra set of hands and if it is in my power, I would like to help.”

That is compassion.

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