I wrote a small piece on planned death
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I wrote a small piece on planned death
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Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#2I'm in the metro, crying. Fuck.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#3I've chatted with friends about my desires should I get a cancer that is more likely to kill and not be treatable, to refuse chemo, and to live what remains of my life qualitatively rather than quantitatively.
I would plan how best to handle my death, and aim to enjoy every moment before a quick and severe pain takes over and does the job.
Some have said this is a selfish viewpoint, that I should stay around longer for the ones I love. But the reverse is true, it is selfish of those that love to demand quantity over quality, especially when it slowly strips away the very being of a person.
All we can do is live a life fully, but that isn't "as long as possible", it is "as much as possible".
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#4The only reason why I may ultimately move back to Western-Europe: the right to arrange a peaceful death on my own terms. Sad news nonetheless.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#5Pieters calmness as he wrote these two last pieces is admirable. As an existential thanataphobe[1] I'd love to understand a bit more on how he's come to this level of serenity and acceptance.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_anxiety_(psychology)
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#6I can't fathom how it must feel to live each day while a cancer grows inside of me. Pieter is definitely a man of much greater fortitude than I.
I also can't get over the fact that 1 in 2 people develop cancer in their lifetimes. One would think curing cancer ought to be amongst humanity's greatest concerted challenges.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#7We strive to have a high signal to noise ratio on HN. There's nothing wrong with what you wrote, they are your emotions. However, please make an effort to tell us more about how you feel or your thoughts and comments on the post.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#8I've chatted with friends about my desires should I get a cancer that is more likely to kill and not be treatable, to refuse chemo, and to live what remains of my life qualitatively rather than quantitatively. I would plan how best to handle my death, and aim to enjoy every moment before a quick and severe pain takes over and does the job. Some have said this is a selfish viewpoint, that I should stay around longer f…
Everyone's choice is personal, and while it is not fair for people to say your hypothetical choice would be selfish, I would also ask you to be careful about your judgements on others who are actually facing this and have made a different choice.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#9We strive to have a high signal to noise ratio on HN. There's nothing wrong with what you wrote, they are your emotions. However, please make an effort to tell us more about how you feel or your thoughts and comments on the post.
Yeah, sorry, you are right, but that was probably the most sincere reply I could post, put in a very straight form. I had to stop reading, because it was too much.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#10I've chatted with friends about my desires should I get a cancer that is more likely to kill and not be treatable, to refuse chemo, and to live what remains of my life qualitatively rather than quantitatively. I would plan how best to handle my death, and aim to enjoy every moment before a quick and severe pain takes over and does the job. Some have said this is a selfish viewpoint, that I should stay around longer f…
Why would you let that pain even take over, why not gently increase Morphine as you go? That is how it's done here in the Netherlands and, I guess also in Canada now.
A friend of mine (then 24) went home to die even though doctors still wanted to treat him. But as everyone else he didn't want to die alone, in a hospital. He went home, had a cigarette, stared over the sea, drank a beer with his soccer mates. Within 2 weeks he died. His way. those two weeks were a lot more valuable than the 2 months just spend in isolation because of the absence of an immune system.
I'd definitely choose quality over quantity, it sounds bizarre to me that you yourself would not be the person allowed to make that choice in some countries.