You may visit funeral homes serving the area of Blaine, WA because your loved one is facing impending death. They may have a serious chronic disease that is worsening with time, or they may have been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Some diseases, like lung cancer, breast cancer, and other types of cancer, may go into remission several times and then reoccur several times during your loved one’s life.

Other diseases, like congestive heart failure and cardiac myopathy inch over years toward death, with a mixture of good and bad days until the very end of your loved one’s life.

Liver and pancreatic diseases, which are often not diagnosed until they’ve reached advanced stages, usually end in more rapid deaths.

Some terminal diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease or ALS) that can appear gradually and with very few severe or noticeable symptoms. However, as the diseases advance, more symptoms appear. Although your loved one may be partially or completely incapacitated, they may continue to live for a while in that state.

However, even though you know your loved one is going to die, it can be very hard physically, emotionally, and mentally to live with the uncertainty of when their death is going to occur.

Uncertainty in any situation creates stress. But stress from the uncertainty around long-term diseases where we know our loved ones will die is much more severe.

Severe and chronic stress is damaging to your health and it may lead to you developing serious health problems or even dying prematurely.

Because you are experiencing stress about the uncertainty surrounding your loved one’s death, you may start overreacting to every health nuance that your loved one experiences (even if some things that happen are normal in life).

You may become obsessively worried that what you’re seeing in your loved one’s health means that their disease is worsening, which means that they are going to die sooner. This, in turn, may make you insist that they seek immediate medical care every time they say they are hurting or they look like they’re in pain or they express anything that seems negative about how they are feeling.

This obsessive worry can affect your own health. You may experience changes in your blood pressure and heart rate. You may produce more cortisol (the stress hormone), which can cause your blood sugar to be elevated. You may not be able to sleep much or sleep well.

However, not only does worry and fear begin to creep in when we’re dealing with the impending death of our loved one, but we are also experiencing other mental and emotional processes that we may not be totally aware of.

When we know that our loved one is going to die, we internally start grieving. We can experience intense sadness over the past we enjoyed with them, the present that is changing, and the future that won’t happen.

This sadness can be so pervasive that it removes the quality time you have left with your loved one. It can also make the present memories less happy than they can be if we can try to enjoy each day our loved one has left.

As hard as it can be to do, this is the wisest and healthiest approach to the impending death of your loved one. You and they can live with the knowledge that they are dying, but you can both living in a way so that you have no regrets when they die.

For additional information about planning funerals at funeral homes serving the area of Blaine, WA, our compassionate and experienced team at Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory – Greenacres Memorial Park is here to help.