. . . in his final days, sharing a room with another man, he was sad that he could not even watch Monty Python on television because his roommate who dominated the television only wanted to watch sports, which my friend detested.
Oscar Wilde couldn’t leave this world uttering dull last words, hence his last words “Either that wallpaper goes or I do.” and it would seem he probably felt the same way as he lay dying in an ugly crummy pension hotel.
No longer being able to exert any control over one’s environment as the final hour approaches must be distressful. Doing everything you can to make sure your loved one is surrounded by the things he or she find familiar, beautiful, and comfortable. Who needs a hygenic foam pillow with a plastic cover instead of a loved feather pillow when at death’s door? Why not enjoy the wine or the chocolate if one still can?
I would dread spending my last days in an ugly world of linoleum, plastic, and horrid colors, with no feather pillows on the bed and hateful stuff blaring from a television. My grandmother wanted to come home from the hospital to her beautiful bedroom and the bottle of bourbon in the wardrobe.
And remember, the last sense to go is hearing. Even after a person can no longer move or keep eyes open, he or she can hear. And being too far gone to take part in a conversation does not mean one would not enjoy hearing amusing repartee between or among loved ones gathered at bedside. That is another experience, visiting with a dying man and his long term partner in his last days.
People don’t stop having their likes, dislikes, and points of view because they are dying.