Achieving Peace of Mind and Dignity Through Expert End-of-Life Guidance

We set up some calls with Dr. Bob again, and explained to us all the different processes and possibilities. You know, he felt at ease, let's say, to understand how the process worked and what his options were and how he could end his life comfortably in the way that just alleviated the anxieties and fears in his body and his mind about going through the dying process. My name is Brett Crochet. I grew up in New Orleans, and I actually did not lose a parent yet. Actually, Dr. Bob has been advising my sister and I on the options for my father. So, um, my father was getting to that stage now where his quality of life has been dropping dramatically, and he was getting to a point where he was really ready to consider other options rather than just having a slow degradation of his quality of life and his physical functions and everything just keep getting worse and worse and worse, and it potentially becoming very uncomfortable for him, maybe somewhat embarrassing or feeling shame about it, or just feeling a burden on the family and everything. And he wanted to explore ways of not just waiting for death to take its own very slow course, and instead go out on his terms. And so that's why we found out about Dr. Bob, and he was really quick to have a conversation with us. Well, it's just really great at helping me and my sister very easily understand what all the options are, how the process works, and discuss with my father to see what my father thinks about it. And so he came out to the, uh, intensive care facility where my father was and was able to sit down with him one-on-one and just have a really good, heartfelt conversation with him that was just really beautiful. You know, he has a really, really nice way of having just very, let's say, heart-forward conversations with people that's really, really helped him feel more relaxed and understanding about it and at ease with the whole process, and gave him a lot more confidence to consider going down this path and process. Without that full-time advocate for you, if you're an elderly person like that going through the medical care system, it's just a nightmare. Absolute nightmare. They can only do so much. They're very limited in what they can offer as far as comfort and support throughout the dying process. They're limited to only being able to give you all the medical care possible to keep you alive without asking you or without you having a say-so about it, without giving you the ability to decide how you wanna live your life or not. Very frustrating process, just dealing with the traditional Western medical processes. And then you got insurance companies that get involved, and then it's a whole nother mess. There was no question about it that he was the only person to consider talking to in this field. He's the leading expert in every way, shape, or form in this field. We entered into very detailed discussions about all the procedures and processes and how it all worked and everything else. And at the time, my father started feeling a little better, and he wasn't quite ready yet, and Dr. Bob determined that after having a conversation with him. It scared us in some ways 'cause then once he loses his mental capacity and acuity and the ability to make these decisions, it scared us in that he might get to a place where he can no longer make those decisions, and those are no longer options for us. And so we caught him in a period when he was lucid enough and present enough to say that he wanted to explore going down this path with Dr. Bob. It actually enabled, first of all, some beautiful conversations with my father that we never had before, that was just powerful and meaningful and beautiful and loving. And Dr. Bob gave us some good guidance on what type of topics and questions or just some, you know, potential areas to cover with, and that was very helpful. Then that made my dad exceptionally comfortable and relaxed and less fear of the dying process. That's a really special, powerful feeling of knowing that you can live your life and leave this world and move on to the next world on your own terms, and there's nothing more powerful and comforting and empowered than that. First of all, it's a conversation you absolutely have to have and want to have. You really need to explore all options and really consider what the processes are of your traditional medical treatment, doctors, hospitals, and end of life versus this alternative way, which is, you know, alternative, but it should be normalized. It should be like, "This is us having control over our lives and how we live it and how we end it." Our life has come to an end. Now it's time to move on without having such an undignified ending of being so messy and out of our control and out of our mental capacity and physical capacities and just burden on our family and friends. If you're considering working with Empowered Endings, just know that they've got everything all figured out, and they know exactly how to handle everything through the entire process, and it made me and my family and my father and everyone else feel so comfortable. I can't think of any way that it could be handled more gracefully and professionally and thoroughly. Something I'm grateful for.