The "Do Over"
Then one day I got a phone call saying the baby was found dead in its crib---SIDS Only we didn’t call it Sudden Infant Death Syndrome then. It was just...
Something to Think About: a blog on end of life
Fear
Labor
QUESTION: Please expound upon the "Labor of Dying" mentioned in this blog. Dying from disease and old age has a process to it. That process begins two to four months...
Telling Bad News
No one wants to be the bearer of bad news. Americans are a death denying society. We view death as the enemy and a failure: something to be feared and...
Why Write an Advance Directive Now?
If we talk about dying, death or even make our advanced directives and a will then it must mean that we are going to die---soon. My husband and I were...
Pop's Letter- End of Life Inspiration
Shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer this letter was written to family by Truette Wayne Frank (March 6, 1919 to July 27, 1998). I have asked permission from his...
What Does The Future Hold For Mom With ALS?
ALS is horrific disease, not that there is a “good” disease but ALS traps a good mind in a slowly deteriorating, non functioning body affecting not only the ability to...
Overmedicating As Death Approaches
I received the following comment on my Blog. "They are overmedicating Mom” (The family said of hospice professionals). “Following a brief rally, she slept most of the time and died...
The Gifts Dying Can Give
QUESTION: Can you write about the beauty, the strength, the gifts that death can sometimes bring? I have had the honor of being near a handful of loved ones in...
Fear of Hospice
QUESTION: Could you write about the fear of dying from the perspective of a patient not willing to go on hospice due to his fear of death and dying? It...
Should I Tell? Discussing Terminal Prognosis
There are pros and cons to telling a person they can’t be fixed. I've touched on some of them. I don't know the "right" answer. I do know that we...
Suicide Thoughts and End of Life
QUESTIONS: Suicide Obviously this is a very big subject and I can’t begin to cover it so I will just address suicide in relation to end of life issues. I've...
"Talk About Denial"
QUESTION: Talk about denial. All of us deny the realities of life to some degree. The operative words here are “to some degree.” Some of us rely on denial more...