“We’ve done the best we can and we can’t fix you...”
Someone has to have the courage to say “We’ve done the best we can. We can’t fix you. Let us help you have some quality time”.
Something to Think About: a blog on end of life
end of life
Would You Rather Die At Home Or In The Hospital?
Most people, if they had their choice, would want to be in their home with family and the dog or cat on the bed when they die. YET, most people...
Professional Boundaries With Our Vulnerable Patients
We enter peoples’ lives as professionals. We are knowledgeable, supportive, caring, and personable. However, we are not best friends, we are not even friends, really.
The Part of Grief You Don't Know -- Until You Do
Now I have to learn how to be a widow. How to create a new life, a new way of being. I am truly alone.
Who Are You Remembering This Holiday Season?
Death has touched us all, some more recently than others. Grief has no actual timeline, no end point where we are suddenly “fine”. Each of us responds to our loss...
The Words We Use When It Comes to Death
Our job as end of life workers is to educate. We walk a thin line. Our words can be heard and misunderstood so easily. They can be interpreted differently than...
Continued Sporadic Breaths After Mom Was 'Gone'
The heart is still beating even when our less sophisticated machines don’t register them. The breathing will get slower and slower and the time between breaths will get longer and...
Putting Our House In Order
In the days to weeks before gradual death occurs a person realizes, at last, that they are dying. They may not share that realization with anyone, but they know. If...
Do You Know About The Gems of Dementia?
I know that dementia doesn’t play by the rules of approaching death. The guidelines relating to food, sleep and sociability don’t fit with dementia. I know that I am seeing...
"Believers" and "Non-Believers" Facing End of Life? Is There A Difference?
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...
What Do You Do When Words Become Meaningless?
I think we healthcare workers rely on our words as our offering. Explanations, suggestions, instructions, even using words to offer condolences and trying to comfort. And yes, words are a...
Helping A Family Decide Whether to End Life Support
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...