Grief During the Last Stages of His Life
From the moment of a diagnosis of a life threatening illness we begin grieving. We grieve not just the eventual losses that come with serious illness but the approaching death...
Something to Think About: a blog on end of life
Time
Telling A Loved One They're Dying
...not telling a person they can’t be fixed is taking away their opportunity to do and say that which is important to them. It is taking away their ability to...
Taking Charge With An Advance Directive
We must talk about end of life issues NOW while we are healthy, and our thoughts are not clouded with fear. Right now when emotions don’t affect our thinking. When we can...
Unexpected Death of a Child
Dear Barbara, Please talk about unexpected youth death. In our minds we understand, that as sad as it is when an older adult dies,they have lived their life and death...
Dying From VSED ~Voluntary Stopping Eating & Drinking
What do I personally think? If we want to die, VSED is a way of having total control. It is not illegal. It doesn’t involve others (which is illegal). It...
Distancing From The Dying
...There is no perfect relationship. There are good times and difficult times. Sometimes the difficulty we have with the person that is dying keeps us from being at the bedside....
Faith and the Dying Process
If we did not relate to praying in living then we will not necessarily relate now. We die the way we have lived. We don’t change who we are just...
A Chemical Straight Jacket, Dementia at End of Life
Dear Barbara, Will you talk about a chemical straight jacket at end of life? My mother is a dementia patient in a memory unit. Hospice now. They are giving increased...
Support For A Hospice Nurse Who is Yelled At
Most families are stressed, tempers can flare, nerves get frayed. It is up to us, as professionals, to use our communication skills to ease the tensions...
Worker Bees, Watchers & Talkers~ Which Kind of Caregivers Are You?
Sometimes when we think that others think we are not doing enough, it may actually be us thinking that the others are not doing enough. When the worker bee caregiver...
Tears on the Job for End of Life Workers
Death for those who work in end of life is not failureor the enemy. It is the ending of the work we do. Our satisfaction in thedeath of a patient...
When a Dream is Shattered
It is not too late to examine the lesson, to rethink your reaction to it and to put all those tormented thoughts and feelings to rest. I am not expecting...