Comfort-care is the phrase hospices use to distinguish from curative-care. There is definitely a point at which ageing becomes dying and the dying phase can be pegged at least 3 months or even 6 months in advance.... with characteristics completely differentiated from the ageing process or even illness. It could be longer but hospices generally officially recognize six months with possible renewal. Their massive experience history should be considered seriously by cryos.
Crossing over into dying-phase is as big a step from illness as dying-phase is to death. In other words, there are stages that are set-points that can be targeted and worked with on their own terms. There are even set-points or transitional points in ageing that defy the common understanding of ageing as gradual deterioration. It's not gradual at all. It's about a three-stage step down process with sudden drops in function that are quite stunning to witness, in my personal experience and verified by literature I now see.
The primary problem involved in the process is our ability to recognize and acknowledge the DISCRETE and OBVIOUS step-downs in function, both in aging and dying. In my own case, I only discovered a step down in Dorothy's function after she died by looking back at my notes. It was as simple as recognizing that she was no longer asking for new colouring book pages to colour. I took as a gradual and temporary marker but now, in retrospect, she never got back to the level of her artistic ability after that drop.
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