It Must Be Our Choice!

Brittany Maynard, an end-of-life choice advocate.
Picture credit: The Maynard family

 

On our news this morning was a story that needed to be shared.

As many of you by now know,  I am dealing with Cancer.

Mine is,  as far as I can see, likely under control.

The story this morning was about a very young girl,  whose was not.

She had stage four Brain Cancer and had been told by her doctor that she had six months to live.

This is news that no one her age should ever have to hear.

What she did after that point,  is why you must know about her.

Brittany Maynard lived in California and made the long trip to the state of Oregon to do, once again, what  no one her age should ever have to do, die.

California does not have the law that Oregon does called,  “Death with Dignity.”

In the interview this morning, Brittany expressed her feelings with enormous grace and courage.

Her strength in making this decision was way beyond her tender age.

I am not sure that in her position, I could have done it.

As a former Nurse in California,  I have cared for many Cancer patients and know the excruciating pain that they endure until they either recover,  or succumb to this ravaging disease.

My own mother in law passed away with the same disease, Brain Cancer.

She also did not live in a state with the law that Brittany used to choose her own path to dying.

My mother in law suffered terribly, had great pain and finally went into a coma from which she never recovered.

She lingered for a brief time and then she was gone.

Would she have, if allowed, have made the same choice that Brittany did?

We will never know.

When ever I spent time on the Oncology Ward, the sounds of pain were so very hard to hear.

Imagine how it must have been for those with the disease?

Someone who should know better,  this week told me that Cancer does not hurt.

I beg to differ with this person.

If it didn’t hurt,  why do nearly all of the patients in Oncology have Morphine drips?

But back to Brittany and her decision.

I may be in a minority here, what’s new, but my personal belief is that dying is each persons decision and no one should have the power to prevent,  or alter it.

Reaching the end of your life, whether as in Brittany’s case, or an elderly person who has had a long and full life, the decision as to when it should end,  should be theirs and theirs alone.

Anyone who disagrees with this,  needs to talk to those suffering with a terminal illness, or better yet, spend an hour or a day in an Oncology wing.

That should do it.

Dear Sweet beautiful Brittany, I did not know you, but I will support to my death,  your right to make that choice and you should not have had to,  in your time of suffering pain and illness,  have had to travel hundreds of miles away to another state,  to complete your final choice.

California and all states,  should recognize this situation and change it, now.

Every state in America needs to have a “Death with Dignity”  law.

I can nearly guarantee that it would happen instantly if and when,  any of those with the power to do it, had a beloved family member who was in Brittany’s  position.

America and  the world must admit that dying is extremely personal and how each of us does it, needs to be the patient’s choice.

We must each have the right to choose our own path to dying.

This is a Human Right and it MUST be our choice!

 

Places to learn more:

Brittany Maynard Could Revive the Stalled ‘Death With Dignity’ Movement

Brittany Maynard, terminally ill, takes own life

Brittany Maynard, 29-year-old right-to-die advocate with brain cancer, ends her life in Oregon

Brittany Maynard, advocate for ‘death with dignity,’ dies

Brittany Maynard – Wikipedia

The Brittany Maynard Fund

 

Enough Already!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I HATE Politics, all Politics!

So for me to be driven, forced and bullied into creating a NEW Blog about this abhorred, loathed and despised subject, something BIG must have happened.

Well it did.

It seems to me that we, the public, the common people, the ones who pay all of the bills for this Government that appears to have more time off, than any other employees in the world, have little, or no say in what Politicians do, or don’t do.

After more than a week of daily phone abuse, yesterday was the very last straw, I could take no more.

Can you say Political ROBO calls?

Spending hours  on the phone with various Government Agencies and our Phone Company yielded ZERO results, because you see, no one is breaking any laws.

So, yesterday, I vented my fury over the complete lack of any semblance of control in our own home and began this NEW Political Blog:   http://politicalpanderings.wordpress.com/

As you will immediately gather by the graphics and appearance, yes it is somewhat satirical!

My hope is, that if you feel the same way, you will come and lend your voice, to what will be a Word Press version of a Blogging Smack Down, until Election Day in November.

If we are truly a country born of Freedom and Democracy, shouldn’t that include our right to peace in our own homes?

Am I the only one who is tired of being the whipping post for a few powerful politicians, who it seems, answer to no one?

They fear no form of legal reprisal and are running amuck at our expense, literally.

Reading the first post on this NEW Blog, should explain everything.

But for now, Enough Already!

 

 

Nurse Napping

Nursing is not easy, you must be dedicated to serving.
Picture credit: Wikipedia

 

A new friend told me about this story yesterday and I did not sleep much wondering why it had never made the news here?

This was not the kind of story, that could have been forgotten, at least not by me.

If this had happened in the United States, it would have been on every Channel for days on end, as is every other horrific story.

We would have seen it, all day, every day, night and day.

But, there has been nothing on our local News here about this.

So, while I was not sleeping last night and dwelling on this story, something occurred to me.

Could racism possibly have been involved here?

Because these Nurses were all Indian?

God, I truly hope not.

These innocent women were Nurse napped from a hospital in Iraq, it is said, about the beginning of July, yet even though I have multiple Google Alerts arriving in my email daily, geared to Global Culture and Events, this story never came up once, not once!

The 46 Indian Nurses were taken from a Hospital in Tikrit, (Saddam’s old home town) to Mosul by the ISIS.

They were returned recently, apparently unharmed, to an International Airport in Kochi, to the as expected, great relief of their families and friends.

The Nurses were joined on their return home flight,  with 137 Indian National’s who had also been held hostage by the terrorists.

There is some inconsistency in the length of their captivity, but sources say that the Nurses had apparently been held for anywhere from a week, up to a month.

Later, a second group of about 50 other Nurses, with the assistance of Iraqi authorities, were quietly evacuated from the danger or conflict zone.

They were taken to a safe location, over a land route, in small groups.

Once again, has this happened to a group of American Nurse’s  anywhere, it would have been covered by every News Media Agency, Globally.

Why was this group of Indian Nurses being kidnapped, not made public knowledge here?

As a former Nurse, I can only offer this to end an unnerving story.

Nurses do one thing very well, they take care of those who are sick and need help.

Shame on everyone in the News Media for not making this a Top Priority story, everywhere.

Healers who only help others, have got to be as important as the legions of criminals who now hold our Planet hostage.

This Nurse Napping should have been front page News all over America and the World.

 

Places to learn more:

Nurses Kidnapped By ISIS In Iraq’s Tikrit

Another batch of 50 nurses evacuated from Iraq

ISIS snatches Indian nurses, MEA claims they are safe

Nurses return home, joy erupts among family members 

Indian nurses who were kidnapped cross into Iraqi Kurdish region

 

 

My Father

My father Robert M. Skirvin, Sr. in his uniform of the US Navy.

 

This is the first Memorial Day that I have known who my father was.

His identity was just learned this past Christmas Eve, after a lifetime of searching.

So on this day created to Honor all those who serve or have served this country in the military,

I am proud to,  at long last, be able to Honor him.

Robert Melville Skirvin, Sr. was born in Bloomington, Indiana and served in the United States Navy.

For all of you who put your lives in mortal danger, on a daily basis, while being separated from your family and loved ones for such long periods of time in service to your Country, we owe you everything, we owe you our very lives.

Memorial Day is not about hamburgers, it is about Heroes.

It is about those who proudly put on the uniform of a branch of our military every single day and who give everything, so that we may all be free.

It is terrifying to ponder what this country,  or even the entire world,  would be like today, without the sacrifices that each of you unselfishly makes for us.

To all who serve, or have served, we Honor you on Memorial Day everywhere in America and indeed, throughout the World, for what you do and have done.

May God Bless you all~

And to the father that I never knew, I am so very proud that your were a part of this and although we never met, I love you.