Hi, this is Clayton Vandiver, your Lightkeeper,
and this summer we have a very special treat
for you. It's called Lightkeepers Podcast Shorts.
It's not a new clothing line, but that's a pretty
good idea. Actually, it's just shorter episodes,
under 10 minutes long, of our most popular episodes
that we keep getting requests to play again.
So here's part two of the Lightkeepers Podcast
Shorts. Hi and welcome to this edition of the
Light Keepers podcast. I'm Clayton Vandiver,
your Light Keeper, with the show dedicated to
everyone who wants to get the most out of life
that they can. Palliative care, hospice, it isn't
just for the end of days, it isn't just for the
last few hours. Also, we're going to be talking
about advanced directives. On this edition...
of the Light Keepers Podcast. Before we start,
I'd like to invite you to please leave your questions
or comments below. We love to hear from you,
and every week we answer those questions and
comments that appear online every Wednesday evening
at 7 p .m. Eastern. So before we run out of time
tonight, let's go back and talk about those advanced
directives that we mentioned at the top of the
show. What are those? How do they play into all
this? So advanced directives are documents that
people draft to outline what type of medical
treatment they would want should they become
seriously ill and in a situation where they can
no longer make their own medical decisions. It's
kind of like speaking for yourself before you're
in the situation where you need to speak for
yourself. Ah, because once they're in the care,
oftentimes their ability to communicate may be
diminished, may be eliminated. Correct. So you
need some form of document or legal form. Well,
how legal are these forms, these advanced directives?
So advanced directives come in a lot of... variations.
There's a lot of different documents that are
circulating out there and of course they're the
basic kind that you can download off the internet.
As long as it is signed and witnessed and notarized
it can be considered legally binding. There is
a document called the Five Wishes which is legally
binding in 48 states and that one is probably
the most common and it's a very simplified document
which basically just covers three scenarios would
you or would you not want life support in those
situations and advanced directives like that
including advanced directives drafted by attorneys
oftentimes will focus purely on end of life situations
do you or do you not want life support and these
documents can they're great to have but they
can be a little lacking for one simple reason
they don't talk about when you would want those
items to become active. So most people think,
not until I can no longer make my own decisions.
Okay, so you do not want life support if you
have no quality of life. Right. Who defines quality
of life? Everyone has their own quality of life
definition internally, but it's communicating
that to others that we run into the challenge.
Quality of life is very subjective, and that's
why I always recommend anyone who has advanced
directives, it's wonderful to state, no, I do
not want care, yes, I do want care, but it's
also important to identify that unless. Yes,
I want life support, unless there's no hope of
recovery. No, I don't want life support. unless
there's a chance that I can recover back to this
level of quality of life. What does quality of
life look like? That's an important item to define.
So before making these sorts of documents or
these sorts of decisions, that's one of the things
that I guess our listeners and our viewers really
need to think about a little bit. Work on defining
for themselves. This might be something that
families and caregivers can be involved with.
That's an open conversation. It's not necessarily
a comfortable conversation. No, a lot of people
don't want to talk about it. And it is an important
conversation to have, though, because advance
directives are great to have in place, but you
have to know that your loved ones are going to
follow those advance directives. When you can
no longer speak for yourself. Of course, of course.
Well, we know now a little bit more about advanced
directives, about hospice, that it's not just
for those last few days. It has resources that
can help as far out as six months. Is that true
in every state? So, yes, that is across the United
States. Six months or less is the standard. Now,
there is another part of that. I don't want people
to think that. Just because they're in hospice,
it means that they are going to die within six
months. I actually had a patient, when I was
working at an inpatient unit for hospice, I had
a patient ask me when he was going to die. And
I gave him a brief look over and I checked the
bottom of his feet and I said, no, it's not here.
And he said, what's not there? I said, an expiration
date. We don't know. We don't know when our time
is up. Of course. And I have seen people that
were on hospice for over a year. Over a year,
they were receiving hospice support because their
health continued to decline, but it declined
slowly. And for a year, they were able to get
the benefit of hospice support for them and their
families. And everyone's situation is a little
bit different. That's why we say that it's all
a highly personal choice. No conversation that
we have on the Light Keepers podcast should ever
take the place of your own medical care, your
own medical care team, your personal advisor,
who should always be consulted by you on your
specific situation. individual needs correct
but people should not be afraid to advocate for
themselves if it's something they feel particularly
strongly about and I can give you a wonderful
example of this a personal example okay my father
had lung cancer and he had already had part of
one lung removed and they found cancer in the
other lung and He didn't want any more surgeries,
and he didn't want to do the cancer treatment.
He wanted hospice so he could be comfortable
and actually have a decent quality of life for
his remaining time. And his physician refused
to sign the order. It does require a medical
order to get into hospice, to start hospice care.
His physician refused it. would not sign the
order for him to receive hospice care unless
he was willing to go through chemotherapy first
to give it a try. And we had to fight that. And
we did end up having to go to the surgeon who
had done the lung removal, the lobectomy, to
get that order signed so that he could receive
hospice support. A lot of doctors are so focused
on saving lives and preserving life that they're
not willing to give up. And they do so with the
best of intentions. They really do mean well.
They want to keep their patient alive. But that
may not be what the patient wants. Right. And,
of course, from a social work perspective, that's
exactly what you do. You advocate. for that patient's
rights and give them their options so that they
can make the best decision for themselves. And
that's what we try to do right here on the Light
Keepers podcast. Of course, it's always good
to talk about the quality of life and events
because every single one of us is likely to go
through some of these events at some point in
our lives, either not prepared at all or very
well prepared indeed. from watching us and joining
us here on the Lightkeepers podcast each and
every Wednesday evening at 7 p .m. Eastern. We
hope you found some information that was helpful.
On this edition of the Light Keepers podcast,
please leave your questions and comments below.
We love to hear from you each week. The Light
Keepers podcast is an exclusive production of
Vanimation Studios and is brought to you by A
Guiding Light, a 501c3 nonprofit organization
dedicated to education and information that allows
informed preparation for living the very best
life possible. The mission of A Guiding Light
is to provide education about life planning,
guidance, and counseling that eases an individual's
transition and guides them and their family,
regardless of their ability to pay, through options
that improve the quality of their remaining days.
The organization is committed to training professionals
who will help you find the best information and
options to meet your planning needs that are
available in your area so you can be aware of
your choices. confident in your decisions, and
at peace that you have made the very best decisions
to live life your way. For more information on
A Guiding Light, please visit the website at
aguidinglight .org, or to make a tax -deductible
contribution, please visit the donation page
on the website where you'll find tax information
and the address to send a check, which is also
on the screen right below me. We still have so
much more great information to bring you in the
coming weeks. We hope you'll join us. And your
questions and comments, we always love to hear
from you. Speaking of that, hit the like and
subscribe button right now while you're thinking
about it. Turn on that notify bell so you'll
catch every single episode. I'm Clayton Vandiver,
the Light Keeper. We'll see you then.