Something to Think About

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...

 90% of end of life care is education. People don’t die like they do in the movies, yet movies are our current role models. This leads to unrealistic expectations...

When the terminal illness, the disease progression, has been a pain filled experience and all comfort management options have been unsuccessful, then sleep is our friend...

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.

Not everyone who is dying has pain. Disease causes pain. If pain is not present, a narcotic is not appropriate (except a tiny bit can ease labored breathing is present...

Taking care of someone at the end of life is different from taking care of someone who is going to get better—-but most people don’t know that either. Unless we...

Fear, lack of knowledge, lack of being able to really hear and understand the knowledge being given, lack of trust, living in a country where opioids (identified under the word...

If you are not satisfied with the conversation with your hospice nurse, if you are not completely comfortable with the nurse’s explanations, then call her supervisor and explain what you...

Their body is trying to keep going even while it is shutting down. The body's defenses are doing whatever they can to keep the body functioning THAT is why there...

 Know that all of these signs of approaching death, whether indicating months or weeks, are just guideposts. Some people will show all of them...

There are many of the same circumstances with today’s coronavirus as we faced with  HIV/AIDS in the early years— lack of medical knowledge, lack of guidance, and fear. I think...

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...

In todays culture with the opioid crisis rampant, fear of narcotic use is everywhere. That fear hinders our ability to provide appropriate comfort management and is leading to misconceptions about...

It is certainly not within our role to act if a person, in the pain of the moment, wants help in ending their life. In the “pain of the moment”...

The use of Morphine is one of the most misunderstood practices I encounter with families and end of life issues. Our society is so drug conscious we tend to equate...

What we have learned that seems to be more helpful than administering oxygen is to give a small amount (the operative word here is “small”) of Morphine. The morphine can...

If you teach your families well about the approaching end of life there will be no problems with them understanding the labor of dying. Having someone you care about dying is...

Many families fear that dying is painful and that narcotics are always needed. In my experience, dying itself does not cause pain—disease does. When we understand the difference between pain,...

Being active helps us poop therefore the less active we are, and people approaching the end of their life through disease or old age gradually have less and less energy...

Morphine is one of the most misunderstood medications in end-of-life care. Let me explain when it is used, how it relieves pain, and why its purpose is always comfort—not to...