In last month’s column, I mentioned that a cancer diagnosis will change one’s perspective on their directives. I personally made sweeping changes to my legal documents literally 24 hours before getting on the plane for my stem cell transplant.

When I was in my twenties, as a financial planner, I knew I needed to have a power of attorney for business and for health care as well as a living will. My husband and I were newlyweds and it was time to have our documents drafted. Our attorney, Bert Whitmire, took us through the process (one I had been through many times with clients). It was strangely different to go through it myself making these tough decisions about living and dying.

With the stroke of a pen I easily chose not be nourished or resuscitated. I made every choice for myself from a young twenty-something perspective. Not wanting to leave the burden of such choices with my husband or even my parents, who I figured would be long gone before these documents were ever presented. There it was on paper, my wishes to pull the plug.

Ha, in retrospect how brave or naïve was I? So when the day came that these decisions were potentially in the very near future, I realized I needed to make some serious changes to my documents. I DO want nourishment and assistance breathing, whatever it takes to stay alive. I have a child (he was three at the time of my diagnosis) and that changed how I felt about everything.

I went from controlling everything to putting it all in the hands of my husband and my parents who were not only alive and well but also major participants in my health care. I wanted them all to make informed decisions knowing that I did not want to be in a coma for years and years, but that I was open to reasonable care with life sustaining methods. These are all very personal choices, but it is so important to revisit these decisions at the time of any major life change.