I think one of the most helpless times in life is sitting at the bedside watching death slowly approach. So often I have walked into a room when family is standing at the side of the room, watching. Watching their special person dying. They don’t know what to do, what is okay to do, not […]
I was thinking about my day after I turned out the light tonight. I always ask myself these questions and thought I would share my thoughts with you to plant the seed of what life is about. While I lay in the dark waiting for sleep to come I asked myself: Where did I have […]
Hospice takes care of people the doctors are having a difficult time fixing; people the doctors probably can’t fix. What does hospice do? Hospice helps people live with the greatest possible comfort during the limited time they have left. It is interesting that a person who can’t be fixed, who is approaching death through disease, […]
Over the years, I have given inservice trainings on a variety of hospice-related topics to various hospitals, Grand Rounds, or monthly physician’s meetings.I talked about end of life care and the ways hospice does and does not fit into the medical model. It was always a hard sell. It seemed at every meeting a physician […]
It seems it isn’t until we are told our life may be ending that we begin to appreciate what we have generally taken for granted. I suppose working with end of life situations all these years gives me more awareness of what a gift having a working body and mind is. I’m aware of the […]
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 is very hard. SO why do we have such a hard time letting a loved one die when treatment is not working? When extraordinary measures are […]
Dying a gradual death, as opposed to dying suddenly, has certain patterns that tend to accompany it. There are similarities that can be found in most people as they approach death from disease or old age. Our personality and how we have lived our life up to this point are major factors in how we […]
By the time a hospice referral is made and/or the family and caregiver are thinking about hospice services, it is already well past the time guidance is needed. Waiting too long before calling hospice can happen for a couple of reasons. Some may be in denial of the signs of approaching death. Others simply don’t know what […]
On one of those 3:00 in the morning, “I can’t sleep so I’ll think instead” nights it occurred to me that there are actually three kinds of diseases. There are diseases that are fixable. You go to the doctor, receive medicines or treatments, and you become well. There is no question that you will get […]
The word “hospice” alone, to say nothing of the actual care hospice provides, is widely misunderstood. Most people generally know that hospice takes care of people that are dying. But as to the details, there is much that is gotten wrong. Here are four hospice myths that people hold and some clarifying information to dispel […]
