hw 21

-Symptoms included loss of weight, severe coughing, foot growth, walking difficulty, difficulty laying down or sitting up, and eventually they got worse to not being able to eat or talk and could not even hold his own head up
-Wanted everyone around them to constantly be optimistic
-She stopped working and were supported by their family
-Whenever it seemed as if he was recovering he would just end up getting worse
-Despite his poor health, the time that she spent with her husband and their family was great and she valued the experience of being so together
-He was always the healthy one and she was concerned about her health, however the health issues occurred in the person that expected it the least

Her husband wanted everyone around him to be optimistic. Because of his strong personality he did not want any negativity or doubt about his health and that he will die as a result of this disease. It interested me that the Wood family used both allopathic and holistic methods as they attempted to cure the man of the house. His being sent to many hospitals and receiving many treatments provided the allopathic methods and the constant optimism was the holistic method. I agree with the approach that they took to his dying to an extent. I would want to be optimistic about it however I think it is not the brightest move to rule out the possibility. As she stated, he was in denial. He did not want to accept death just yet, which may seem like a good thing, but his willingness to die could possibly make the loss less painful when it happens. It seemed as if at least one of these things was effective since there were times where he got better, unfortunately he could not remain that way.

It would seem like an emotional roller coaster to have one of the people I love most in life be dying and getting better over and over again. The relief and joy of his better health would make me so happy but when his health declined again it would bring even greater sadness that the last time. It would make me feel like he would not survive another attempt. It also intrigued me that he was always the healthy confident one and she was more worried about death. I am thinking that it is possible that since he was never unhealthy, he cared less about his health and may have put less effort into staying healthy. The opposite applies to the mother, where she likely took better care of herself given her fear of death and poor health. This may have lead to his poor health and tragic fight with death.

I was also interested in how things would have been different without the same kind of support from their family. What if their family was not able to assist them the way they had? Would that caused her husbands life span to be shortened or lengthened? Maybe he will fight harder to be with his family after not being with them even while he is dying. Or, maybe he will not had recieved enough support during his fight and will have given up.