Wrapping It Up!!

Well, I guess it's over. I must admit that when I first heard that we would be blogging this semester, I was a little worried. I had never blogged before and had no idea what I was doing. However, throughout the past ten weeks, I have figured out that blogging can be therapeutic. I have also learned to think critically, more with this assignment than any other assignment in my past. While I have never had anyone close to me live with a terminal illness or die of a terminal illness, I have learned so much more about it than I ever thought I could. At the beginning of this assignment, it was my goal to tell different aspects of my neighbor's story each week and then introduce everyone to him at the end. However, due to his terminal illness, he became very sick after the first week and is now struggling to stay alive. However, while writing this blog, I have tried very hard to think critically about the different aspects of terminal illness that I thought he may have faced, paying particualr attention to middle adulthood. So after thinking about terminal illness in middle adulthood, almost daily, for ten weeks, I have made some conclusions. First, terminal illness does not discriminate. There are people of every race, age, gender, culture, socioeconomic class and religon affected by terminal illness. Second, terminal illness affects everyone involved, not only the person with the illness, but also their family and friends. The list goes on and on but these are the two most important lessons I learned while writing this blog this semester. I want to thank everyone for thier comments and for going through this learning process with me. Take care and see you all next year!!!!

Emotional affect of Terminal Illness in Middle Adulthood

So, what I chose to write about in this blog kind of snuck up on me again. I was talking to my mother about how I wrote about her friend that died of cancer in my last blog. She was telling me that the most difficult part of watching her friend go through cancer was how much it changed her. My mother said that her friend, Faye, was one of the strongest, most determined people she ever knew in her life. She said that throughout the majority of her illness she knew without a doubt that she would "beat it". My mother was saying that Faye was very optimistic about the illness and about her ability to come out of it on top. Faye was one of those people that succeded at whatever she put her mind to. She was always very successful at everything else she attempted in her life and had no doubt that this obstacle would be any different. My mother told me that until three weeks before she died, she maintained this attitude. When she finally knew the fight was over, she was so upset and viewed it as a battle that she lost. My mother was saying that watching Faye go from the confident, successful, optimistic person that she had always been was so hard. She said that it was like the illness broke her down piece by piece but it never prevailed until it broke her spirit. When I was listening to my mother talk about this aspect of terminal illness, it really got to me. For the family, it has to be so hard watching someone you love change, not only on the outside, but also lose parts of their personality that make them who they were. For the person living with the terminal illness, it has to be horrible to know that you have fought as hard as you possibly could and to no avail. I wanted to write about this because it was a part of terminal illness that I had not even thought about yet. I am beginning to think I could write about this subject forever and never cover every aspect of it.