The picture is both hideous and hilarious, both silly and scary.
When you are fighting brain cancer, however, it is important to have a sense of humor, to just two weeks after you finished two weeks of brain radiation for cancer you simply could not resist wearing your mask for the spookiest holiday of the year. Looking like the inspiration for Mike Meyer in one of his most frightening roles, you decided to get a little more yardage out of the gruesome accessory that allowed doctors to direct the radiation to the targeted spots.
Cancer certainly is no laughing matter, but it is important to make sure that you find a way to stay a little light hearted every now and then.
As individual patients with their own personal stories battle cancer across the nation, there are doctors and researchers who continue to look for the best possible way to make sure that these patients receive the best possible options. From the latest targeted therapy approaches to different medicines for traditional chemotherapy and radiation, there are many progresses that have been made.
Planning for the Inevitabilities of Life Requires Patience and Control
Even before the cutest of Halloween ghouls don their costumes for a night of collecting candy from neighbors, there are others who have already created their Thanksgiving menus and guest lists and even some who have closets full of gifts already purchased to put under the Christmas tree. There are plenty of people who complain about the retail stores putting out Christmas decorations before Halloween. In spite of this, however, the fact of the matter is there are many times when days slip by so quickly that both consumers and retailers can find themselves scrambling to get everything done.
No matter what holiday is your favorite, there is plenty to be said for taking the time to celebrate every event you can with your family. Perhaps this is why there are so many parents who take the time to plan family vacations to coincide with the holidays. Taking kids away from their busy school and sports schedules and creating an environment where technology is not needed, parents can plan vacations that will create lifelong memories.
If you are willing to plan for the holidays and other family gatherings, does it not make sense that you should also plan for the eventual end of your life and prepaid cremation plans? Instead of putting your children and spouse in a difficult and vulnerable position when they may spend more than they to in the middle of their grief, it often makes sense to prepaid cremation plans or other kinds of funeral arrangements. No one wants to focus on the end of their life, but when you take the fear and stigma out of death with prepaid cremation plans and details about your wish for veterans funeral services, you are giving your loved ones a real gift.
The Last Days Are Not Always Easy
Nursing homes are places where many transitions take place. From the initial move from a home into a space that is much smaller to the health transitions that occur, a nursing home staff is tasked with many challenges. Eventually when patients die nursing homes have the task of contacting families, funeral homes, and attending to many other needs. When funeral directors come to remove a deceased person from a nursing home, most of these facilities have a “hide the body” mentality or a “back door policy” that ushers the deceased out the back door where no one sees it.
Increasingly, however, there are nursing homes that are adjusting their policies to include what many consider a more respectful “front door policy” where the death is acknowledged and the dead honored by the nursing home and its staff. Some of these experiences with this “front door policy” include the nursing staff creating a walk of honor, where the staff lines the hallway walls as the funeral home representative leaves the nursing home with the deceased, acknowledging the life lived and lost.
This act, in the eyes of many, is a beautiful step away from death denial and a move toward death positivity.
Another act that moves away from the denial of death is making sure that your family knows about your prepaid cremation plans and other details.
