Something to Think About

Our body is programmed to die. We are born. We experience, and then we die...

support people who are dyingBeing involved with end of life care is not something most people want to do, so what brings you? 

Once we get up the courage to call hospice, we want to see you immediately.  Actually, we needed to see you, hear your guidance and advice, and receive your services yesterday. Families...

Our role models from movies and TV show us that dying is gentle, often poetic, certainly not scary or messy. Movies make dying look comfortable.

I knew all the signs of approaching death, of labor beginning. What I didn’t know was how much we don’t want to see those signs, and by not wanting to see them,...

We start off alone, then we have Mom and Dad, then family, friends, then the world of school, activities,and involvement in the bigger world around us. When we are leaving, we...

Dying patterns are centered around food, sleep and socialization. Assess those three areas and you can track the dying process.

In the months and weeks before death, medical intervention and medical tools are an active part of care. Pain management, skin care, mouth care,and bowel and urine care are all...

Most of the time this restlessness, this agitation is not destructive. It is not severe. If the movements become thrashing about or hurtful and become a danger to the person...

As for the “signs of what is to come” for someone who is young and dying, those signs are also the same for everyone, young and old. People dying from...

We human beings are complicated creatures. We approach death in the way we have approached living and according to our personality. Our belief systems are part of that living. Sometimes...

If you have a good, amicable relationship then get them together and say, with caring in your heart, "I am going to tell you some things I have learned about...

I want the medical profession, the medical model we find in doctors’ offices and hospitals, to do everything possible to help me not only regain my health, but to return...

How tragic that none can come forward and say, "Your father is dying. Let's stop all these extras and keep him comfortable”. Family as well as many individual physicians do...

Medicine and medical technology can prolong our life but not indefinitely and it is generally at the expense of our quality of living. Or we can reframe how we think...

We cannot put a number on how long someone has to live. There are so many factors that affect the time of our gradual death that the closest anyone can...

In those last five months I tried for us to live in the present, to build good memories, to love, give and live in the moment...

When life has run its course (however many years it is) our body begins to "wind down" much like it “wound up” in the beginning...

Life puts us in challenging situations. Often times it is not where we want to be. Sometimes it seems we don’t have a choice...

I’ve always said I can teach anyone how to take care of someone who is dying, the physical, communication, supportive skills. It is the interpersonal, empathy, and heart skills that...

I also thought as we get older that question tends to come out of hiding more easily. The older we are the more the question lies in the back of...