Welcome to the Light Keepers Podcast. I'm Clayton
Vandiver, your Light Keeper, with a show dedicated
to everyone who wants to get the most quality
out of life that they can. My co -host, as always,
is Charlene, our very own licensed clinical social
worker certified in the state of Florida, who
is going to be talking with us this week about
chronic, critical, and terminal. What they mean...
and so much more on this edition of the Light
Keepers Podcast. And before we start, as always,
please leave your questions or comments below.
We will answer them next week on our next edition,
which airs every Wednesday evening at 7 p .m.
Eastern. The Light Keepers podcast is an exclusive
production of A Guiding Light, and we'll tell
you more about A Guiding Light at the end of
the podcast. But right now, we don't have much
time, so let's get right into this week's discussion
about chronic, critical, and terminal. What in
the world do those mean? So those are terms that
are frequently used in medical conversations,
and a lot of times people don't have a full understanding
of the difference between them, and it can be
a little confusing. I'll say I have absolutely
no idea how to define those terms. Let's start
with chronic. What does chronic mean? So chronic
is a condition that doesn't go away. It lingers
and it comes back up and it continues on with
or without treatment. So, for example, arthritis
is a chronic condition. Oh, I can relate to that
one. Okay. A lot of people can. Yes. Okay, so
critical. Critical is when the house cat comes
up during a taping and decides she wants to be
part of the show. Yes, thank you. Thank you,
Izzy. But what is critical? So, therapy cat aside,
critical is when you have someone who's very,
very sick. This is someone who is, another term
that you may hear, acute. Someone who has an
acute condition, which means critical, which
means it's a very bad situation that might be
recoverable. Might not. Okay, I see. Well, then
what about terminal? So terminal is probably
the worst one that you want to hear when in a
conversation with a medical professional because
terminal means that the illness has progressed
to the point that there is no recovery and you
are now looking at a life -limiting situation.
This is usually when hospice is called in. Okay.
Well, why is it, I guess it's sort of obvious
why it's important that these be distinguished
from one another. A chronic situation, much lighter,
much something that you can live with, I guess.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Chronic illnesses, they
can be bad. I mean, lupus is considered to be
a chronic illness because it doesn't go away.
It's not life -ending. You know, it may be a
nuisance and it may be affecting quality of life,
but it's not going to end your life in the near
future. I see. So things like, well, where do
things like, you know, Parkinson's or that, where
does that sort of... of an issue fall in the
chronic, critical, and terminal range? So these
are things that actually progress. So Parkinson's,
dementia, Alzheimer's, these are chronic illnesses
that can reach a terminal stage. So in the beginning,
when they progress slowly, you're looking at
a chronic illness. It's not something that can
be cured. It's not something that's going to
go away. It's just going to progress over time.
As these progress and they get worse and they
get to the point where they're now interfering
with one's ability to live. For example, with
dementia, when you have someone who's maybe no
longer able to swallow. Now you're looking at
situations that are becoming more critical. They're
in the critical range. Because they're creating
scenarios where life could be threatened. I see.
And when they become unmanageable, I suppose
that's when they reach the terminal stage? When
someone is terminal, they've reached a stage
where their life expectancy... is usually not
much beyond six months to a year. Like I mentioned
in a previous episode, someone who is admitted
to hospice has a life expectancy of six months
or less, along with a terminal diagnosis. I see.
This means that they have an illness that's going
to take their life within the next six months,
most likely. Like we also talked about during
that podcast, that's not guaranteed. of us are
born with an expiration date. Nobody knows for
sure, but if the disease progresses as it normally
would, that is the expected timeframe. Right.
But everyone is different. Everyone is unique.
And, of course, consult your own health care
professional that has a much better idea of what
your individual needs might be, always. But we
do welcome you to join the conversation and leave
your comments, leave your thoughts and questions
down below, and we will see them. We will address
them in upcoming episodes. What is the important
takeaway whenever you hear the words chronic
or critical or terminal from your health care
professional? So the key takeaway there is to
keep in mind that these are determining factors
in terms of the plan of care. And by plan of
care, I mean the course of medical treatment
is going to be determined by whether the doctor
feels you have a chronic illness. a critical
illness or a terminal illness. Of course, this
is all a highly personal choice and no conversation
that we have on the Light Keepers podcast should
ever take the place of your own medical care
team or other professional advisor who should
always be consulted by you on your specific situational
needs. And it's always good to be willing to
talk about quality of life because every single
one of us faces some of these issues some of
the time. either not prepared at all or very
well prepared indeed for joining us here every
Wednesday at 7 p .m. Eastern for the Light Keepers
podcast. This is an exclusive production of Vanimation
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and information that allows informed preparation
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best information and options to meet your planning
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can be aware of your choices, confident in your
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Vandiver, your Light Keeper. We'll see you next
time.