Final week!

Wow I can't believe the last week is upon us--this quarter flew! After reading this week I found myself really reflecting on my old job as a caregiver for seniors. The agency I worked for put me with many hospice cases so I had a lot of time to think about death and dying. I think the biggest thing that I learned working in the field, is that although no two people handle death the same, it is a process for everybody going through it and everybody effected by it. I had many clients who were ready to die and even looking forward to it in a way. I also had many clients who were fighting hard to stay alive even after doctors and nurses talked to them several times about the possibility of changing their advance directive to DNR because they were so sick...

Our society looks at death in a much different way than some other cultures. We don't talk about death unless we absolutely have to, and it makes most of us very uncomfortable. If we could change our views on death it may ease the pain for those affected.

I really had never given a whole lot of thought to ageism (especially dealing with the elderly), or the way our society appears to separates itself from elderly people, until I started working as a caregiver for the elderly. Also, I feel like a learned a lot from taking my Nursing Assistant course. The most alarming pattern that I have noticed is that it seems like when a person has nothing left but love to contribute to a family, many sons and daughters and loved ones seem to make themselves scarce. My uncle, a surveyor, is having an extremely hard time finding work as he is 63, and surveying requires one to be physically active.

I feel that we have a lot to gain from the elderly. I wish our culture revered the aging as the wise and experienced people they are.

week 8

This weeks reading material really made me think about WHEN I would like to have children. Recently I have been pushing the idea a little harder on my husband than I used to. We would both like to have children at some point but I can tell that neither he or I are ready. I am about to be in nursing school for the next few years and he goals that he would like to accomplish as well. I can completely see how accomplishing our individual goals would be important for our relationship post baby. Recently when visiting my sister in law and nieces (7 and 9), she talked about how many parents she knows aren't engaged with their families. She said that she feels like maybe some people aren't engaged when they have not been completely fulfilled pre-child. I definitely want to wait to have children until my husband and I both feel fulfilled to a certain degree in other areas of our life; however, I don't want to wait too long to the point where it is hard to conceive... hard balance to strike.

This weeks topic and articles really made me remember so many of the children I used to work with whose parents were separated or divorced. Two children in particular, they were brother and sister, had a very hard time in the midst of their parents divorce, while I was working for the childcare center they would stay at. Their parents would have screaming fights outside of the daycare, and their children would be crying and distraught. The brother was older and would sometimes cry and tell me that he didn't think he was ever going to see his mom again. I don't see how this can be easy on a child, or anybody for that matter. I know a girl, she's 22 now, who didn't graduate from high school because she was so distraught that her parents were divorcing. She ended up having to get her GED and was not able to walk with the rest of the graduating class.