Something to Think About
a blog on end of life
As we get older, life presents us with different challenges. We adapt to them in the same way we have lived our life and dealt with all the challenges in...
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...
There have been many changes in hospice care since it began. Some for the better, some not so much. What I am suggesting as representing a “good” hospice is becoming...
When we die we work to leave our body. That work begins months before death from disease actually occurs but we only really see the work happening when death is...
...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...
What do I mean by being "gentle" with yourself? I mean forgive yourself forall the things you feel guilty about. Remember we always do the best wecan with the information...
It is because end of life care is different than caring for someone who is going to get better that we think the care being provided is causing harm. It...
We need to look at the promises made, evaluate them as to: can it be done, should it be done, and am I willing to do it?
Many years ago I attended a workshop at The Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The topic was about when a clinician enters the administration work field. I don’t remember much...
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...
What happens at the moment of death or in the hours before death, is generally just normal body actions. A tear is natural -- the eyes are partially open and...
Have a conversation with those people that are closest to you about your ideas of “the perfect death”. “If I can’t speak for myself, here is what I want you...
I used to say I could teach any nurse the skills needed for end of life care, but that it was the nurse's ability to be supportive and their people...
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...
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...
...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....
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...
I do not think there is a need for narcotics just because death is approaching. Dying is not painful. Disease causes pain...
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...
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...
In normal grieving, time begins to lessen the intensity of the emotional pain of our loss. There is a process to grief (see My Friend, I Care) and although we never forget...
