Last Months of Life

The last months of life can be some of the most meaningful if you plan it and are able to carry out the plans (“Decide Now How You Don’t Want to Die,” by Drs. Neil Wenger and Martin Shapiro, Commentary, May 29.) Like Jackie Onassis and President Nixon, we were given options three years before and we made the choice--we chose quality over quantity. We knew when the time had arrived to cut out all the community, volunteer and social activities (we had been retired for 15 years and led very busy lives) so that the last three months belonged to us--wheelchair and all. He educated me to his desk work, we had time to enjoy patio lunches, we remembered and we laughed and cried, we picnicked at the ocean, took rides in the evening to get ice cream cones, we read to each other and, at the last, I to him. He died at home, with dignity and grace, surrounded by his family and all the love that could be lavished on him.

Those last three months are some of the most precious of the 58 years we had together.

DORA FREESTONE

Laguna Hills