Something to Think About
a blog on end of life
How do we get beyond the social conventions of strangers meeting and getting to know and trust each other in a very short time? From the time we ring the...
From the time we turn 18 until our last breath, we should have an advance directive in place. Once a person turns 18, parents have no legal standing. Most physicians...
...That caregivers put so much energy, time, love, and concern into taking care of their person that they can become blind to or just plain don’t want to see the...
I see Death Cafes as the start of a conversation; the start of opening ourselves up to exploring end of life issues; the start of breaking the belief that if I talk...
We used to have grandma’s body “laid out” in the parlor and family and friends came to our home with support and food. Grandma died in the home and we...
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...
My husband Jack has been dead eight months. In processing the five months from his diagnosis to his death, what stands out most for me is the tension that surrounded food....
I am hearing stories about the lack of professional staff training for new hires, which led me to wonder about volunteer training...
When working with families who ask me not to tell mom, I say that I won’t bring the subject up, but if she asks, I will talk about it.
What do I, the sufferer, want from you then, if “how are you?” doesn’t work?
By not writing out our end of life wishes, organizing our material affairs, and talking to those involved, we are putting ourselves and those close to us in the hands, minds, and...
Because of knowledge we’ve lost when people began dying in places other than home, we judge approaching death by the treatments and procedures used in getting people better...
It is a challenging part of life, both emotionally and physically, to figure out how to live productively when this person is no longer with us...
Unfortunately, as death approaches none of us will be able to take care of ourselves. There will come a point when we will need assistance. We probably won’t even be aware we...
For many people, nursing facilities have become their home. It is therefore reasonable that Hospice services be available in facilities. BUT care in a facility is not the same as...
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”.
If we don’t legally make our wishes known in writing and generally notarized, healthcare professionals will make those decisions for us...
It has been almost six months since my husband of 62 years died. As an end of life educator I have taught about loss and grief, and even wrote a booklet about it. BUT...
Our body is programmed to die. We are born. We experience, and then we die...
In the ideal picture, the goal is the patient’s death. Everything that is done before the death is preparation for the actual moment death occurs. Everything after the death gradually eases...
We tend to live our lives like gerbils on a wheel, going round and round but really going nowhere. Day in and day out, same old, same old, fall into...
