Something to Think About

Most people don't know what to do or can do in the final hours before death. Here are gentle ways families and caregivers can create a meaningful goodbye and bring...

Food becomes a major concern for families when special person is dying. This article explains why the body naturally stops eating and how caregivers can respond with less frustration.

Years ago, a 3 a.m. hospice call changed the way I thought about caring for families at the bedside.It led me to write down what I wanted families to know...

In the final days and hours, a person may “wait” for someone to arrive—or let go when everyone is out of the room. Hospice nurse Barbara Karnes, RN, explains the...

Guilt is part of love’s shadow — the echo of what we wish we’d done differently. Healing begins when we release that burden and let how we live now be...

Most of us imagine dying will be quiet and peaceful, but real dying often looks different. Nothing bad is happening — the body is doing the natural work of letting...

Relationships are challenging. We don’t always get from them what we want or need. As death comes, the yearning for what we didn’t get or have with this person increases...

It is hard to comprehend that our special person will die no matter what we do. No matter how many treatments, how much medicine, or how much food we give,...

Why do we hang on to life so desperately? Because it is all we really know. Yes, some of us have spiritual beliefs, that talk of “another life."

Doctor’s office visits for health issues are scary, often confusing, and too often complicated with medical terms we don’t understand. And we are generally ill or have health issues that...

I’m going to share with you the thoughts of last night so you can get a picture of how this daily review works for me. Hopefully you will think it is...

What do you say to someone to get them to accept hospice? Well, one thing to say after explaining the services hospice offers is to ask what they think will...

It will never be “okay” for someone we care about to die, to leave us. We will always want those we care about to stay in our lives...

Death from disease and old age doesn’t just happen. There are signs and changes that begin occurring months before death arrives. You can use those signs as a reference indicating...

If I could sit beside you at the bedside, this is what I would place in your hands. Whether you’re a family member, a friend, a caregiver, or an end-of-life...

Other people seem cheerful, happily planning holiday delights, and we, the grievers or caregivers, are reminded of what we don’t have, of what we’ve lost or are losing...

My hope in writing this blog is to draw our attention to the “unsung heroes” caring for their special person as end of life approaches, as well as to those caring...

I think a big part of grieving is loneliness. Loneliness for our person who has left us but also aloneness in our day to day activities...

...That caregivers put so much energy, time, love, and concern into taking care of their person that they can become blind to or just plain don’t want to see the...

We tend to live our lives like gerbils on a wheel, going round and round but really going nowhere. Day in and day out, same old, same old, fall into...

Why is the patient being discharged, you ask? Is it because the patient just didn’t decline as rapidly as expected? Yes, that can be the situation...