It was intake day at the Pulmonary Rehab Clinic which is located at UPEI. The respiratory therapist and the physiotherapist had a raft of medical questions and as well as taking down my answers they also took a couple of vials of my blood. Among the doctors, the hospital, and now this clinic, my blood has had more analysis than Sigmund Freud’s first three patients. The exercise part of the clinic work begins next Tuesday afternoon and happens two days a week. These folks will design an exercise program which we hope will help me recover some of my strength. I’ll not only have access to a respiratory therapist and a physiotherapist, but a dietician as well. I’m looking forward to this and unlike Amy Winehouse, I want to go to rehab, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The afternoon started with a consultation with a doctor who evaluates people applying for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). It was a conversation that lasted over an hour and explored my attitudes, my passions, my hobbies, my reasons for wanting to have this as an option.
Here are the basic criteria for an individual to be eligible to receive medical assistance in dying:
- be at least 18 years old and capable of making health care decisions by themselves;
- be eligible for health services funded by a government of Canada;
- have an irreversible, grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability) that cannot be relieved under conditions that the patient considers acceptable;
- have made a voluntary request that was not influenced by external pressure; and
- give informed consent after having been informed of the means that are available to relieve their suffering, including palliative care.
This process requires two doctors to independently review my request. I’ll meet with the second doctor in the middle of next week. Given the above criteria, I’m expecting to be approved.
This does not mean I’m at the point where I’m ready to pick a date. I just want this option should everything else not work out. I was with my mother during the last few weeks of her life. She too had pulmonary fibrosis. She suffocated to death. I know if Mom had had the choice of MAiD, she would have taken it.
I’m also continuing to push towards a lung transplant, but if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t think I’m in good enough shape to be eligible for the operation. But never say never, right?
**Photos from Pulmonary Rehab Clinic
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