Something to Think About

Afraid to Talk About Dying? Why are we so afraid to talk about dying, our own or someone else’s? I have a booklet about living with a life threatening illness....

QUESTION: Talk about dying at home, in the hospital, or in a hospice care facility. I think it is fair to say that most people, given the choice, would like...

QUESTION: “Life sustaining vs. comfort care, where do you draw the line?” This is a question everyone faced with a life threatening illness and their significant others asks themselves. We...

Many physicians are reluctant to recommend hospice. It is sad and confusing why they would not give their patients the guidance and comfort that trained hospice professionals can offer. Maybe...

Write something to the living who are young and dying. Signs of what are to come ect... I put these two questions together even though they came from different sources...

Question: Is there anything a person can do to help family members break through denial? Boy, is it unpleasant to be the truth-teller to a person who isn’t ready to...

Question: How do you grieve a suicide as a result of terminal illness and for no apparent reason? But there is a reason and that reason is the terminal illness....

Question: I have been diagnosed terminally ill with lung cancer and liver cancer. I am not at this moment yet, but wonder, how long? No one can be specific as...

People with unpleasant personalities while living will still have unpleasant personalities while dying. It is just that the closer to death they get, the less energy they will have to...

What does a dying person look like in the hours to minutes before death? Generally they are non responsive, their eyes are partially open, the skin color is palish often...

While individual differences may be seen in the time of days to weeks before death, everyone who is dying will have the signs of approaching death that occur hours to...

Most religions of the world teach us that when we are dead we are in a better place. I add to that that being dead is easy while being alive...

Question: “I would like to share my Hospice frustration with you and my culture. I am a Jew. I am an 11th Hour volunteer and a bereavement counselor in a...

QUESTION: Can you talk about dis-ease and how we bring this upon ourselves? Another great controversial question. Although there is more and more research which points to stress being related...

Death is not accidental. We die when it is our time to die, no sooner, no later. Everything happens for a reason. We most often just don't understand the reason....

I received the question, “What happens when we die and do I believe in reincarnation? I’m going to interpret the question to be asking what happens at the moment of...

From the web site I received a request asking me to tell how I first began my job at Hospice Care of Mid America in Kansas City Mo. In 1981...

We die a gradual death according to our personality and if that personality is protective then we may protect a person we care about by dying when they are not...

A question from B.D.: What to do when a dying daughter who has had radiation treatment to the brain and turns on you. Won't let me see her. Sends her...

Hi Nurse G,I think hospice care and the role nurses play has changed considerably and wonder if that is why you are not feeling the fulfillment you once did. Over...

We will meet the challenge of a gradual death in the same manner we have met other challenges in our life. Dying a gradual death is just one more challenge...