http://www.free-clipart-pictures.net/education_clipart.html
Advice, take it or leave it: We all need to have our wishes set out in writing: our wills, healthcare surrogate, personal representative, executor, etc.
This includes teenagers and young adults too.
It’s not fair to those left in charge to make your decisions and to feel guilty about them because they don’t know your true wishes. Funeral arrangements should always be arranged and paid ahead for all older adults. Not only does the cost of a funeral change after a death, but the emotional trauma that occurs when these decisions have not been made and the financial distress is tremendous and can cause family distention. Bob, my husband has helped several of our friends handle these things and also we’ve had to do it for three family members this year.
When they said my son was dying in 1994, I had no idea what he would have wanted.
Project Grace Advance Directives are honored in most states especially Florida, but it is best to check your state or whichever state to which you traveling.
Print Advance Directives: http://www.projectgrace.org/print-a-directive.aspx
▪ Make sure you get copies of all tests, X-rays, CTs, MRIs, EKGs, reports, surgeries, etc. so that if something changes you have a baseline for your doctor to work with. Hospitals get rid of all their records anywhere from 5-7 yrs after the date of test or procedure. I never obtained Marcus’ MRIs and CT scans from 1994. I didn’t even think about it. When we recently had his new CT scans and MRIs they had nothing to compare them with. I never even thought about it. I was too overwhelmed at that time. Now we can’t tell if he has had any further damage since 1994 or was the brain damage noted the original damage rom 1994.
Everyone should have a health notebook so a doctor can follow the trail. You should especially have one on a child if something should ever happen to yourself as parents. Or depending on the parents age, one on the patient so the child can handle their care.
▪ Keep a notebook with all your personal information, medical history, meds, doctors, dentists, and etc.
This information is especially important for a person that ends up with a brain injury and must be done ahead of time. If the patient is taken care of appropriately according to their likes and dislikes, allergies, meds, and so forth, there will be less anger, distress or incidents.
Plus, whoever cares for them will think of the patient as a person with feelings, thoughts, likes, and dislikes. Most important, write the type of music they like and TV shows. This is very important for retraining and the recovery period.
Music helps the brain-injured or stroke persons relearn their words. Just remember the stroke or brain-injured person may not be able to say their words but most times they do understand what you are saying to them.
I just had to put in my $.02.
Hope, Health, and Happiness,
Vickie
