u/GotSomethingToSayNow

My cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago. She decided not to go with western medicine options like chemo and decided to go with some sort of alternative treatment. Fast forward to last year from her diagnosis and she now has terminal cancer. She started having breathing difficulties and a constant cough which made her go to the ER where they told her the cancer had metastasized. She kept trying the alternative treatments up until maybe 5-6 months ago when her health has deteriorated so much she could barely do anything on her own. Now she can’t walk and recently fell on hardwood floors at night. This fall was worrying to us so we convinced her to come to the hospital. This time there was no pushback because she is in a lot of pain. I was also given power of attorney by her when she was diagnosed with the terminal stage. It is hard to see her struggle to breath and it seems she’s just awake to feel pain. I am also her health directive and she asked me to prolong her life as much as possible and it is very hard to think I’m doing her a favor by doing so when I just see her suffering every wake hour. Any of you experienced something like this? She also hates the term hospice as she, and many of us, has heard they just basically help you die. They will tell you that not everyone on hospice dies and that it isn’t fully true but considering her condition it is very likely we would just be making her last days more manageable while also getting her closer to the other side. What should one do? Do people really want to suffer or are they at this point so out of it that they wouldn’t know the difference?