I have mentioned earlier and in other writings that I do not intend to hold on until the "bitter end" with all that I fear that entails, and will avail myself of a new law in New Mexico that allows physician-approved means to peacefully and gracefully end my life, when that becomes appropriate, in my opinion.

​

I am a part of an excellent health care system, Christus St. Vincent, and am privileged to be a part of that system.  Their management, as one might expect, was not in favor of the passage of the law, for obvious reasons, and getting a referral to a physician who will implement the process is exceedingly difficult on New Mexico.   There are private organizations, such as "Compassion and Choices" as well as other ones, which I support and which provide access to appropriate practitioners.  

 

I do have an advance directive (aka "pulling the plug") so that my wishes are known.  Quite often, I have learned recently, the directive is not always implemented by the next of kin, since very few people want to be responsible for another's death, which can be fraught with emotion and guilt.  So it is an issue that will need to be addressed, and I have no idea what will happen. 

 

It is said that most human fears never come to fruition, yet this is one certainty that we all face, and I am attempting to be as responsible as possible, given the understandable terror of just the idea of death.  How can the world survive without my raucous humor, piercing insights, and Neanderthal opinions, I ask?  Right now, death is simply a concept.  That will change later, of course.  I likely will not have the opportunity to extend this website to write about it, but I certainly shall try.  I'll likely have another website to describe it should I figure out a way to implement it.   Once an engineer, always an engineer.

​