Choosing a Quality Hospice

You matter because of who you are. You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can not only to die peacefully, but also to live until you die. Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement Don't count on treating your chronic disease indefinitely, or that it … Continue reading Choosing a Quality Hospice →

Nurses Not Calling Doctors

In my time there went a woman begging about this Cittie, who had a Coffin carried with her, and oftentimes she fell into those Hystericall fits, and would lye so long in them, nothing differing from a dead carkasse, till the wonted time of her reviving. Hence it may * be came the Proverbe, Thou … Continue reading Nurses Not Calling Doctors →

Blankets: Our Need For Comfort

One of my guys in hospice seems to have retreated further within himself. Today he barely acknowledged me in this noisiest of urban nursing facilities specializing in mental health. He seems to be busy or preoccupied now, trying to concentrate. Perhaps he's let go of all volition and has something to teach me. I sit. … Continue reading Blankets: Our Need For Comfort →

Pain: Some Notes On the Suffering of Suffering

Stepping from my bed the morning after a sedentary holiday Feste, my left foot ached with three successive footfalls. That was new for me. In an instant I imagined the pain's cause: my indulgences? Pain and any physical breakdown is inevitably, initially determined to be our own fault. American medical and religious culture at least … Continue reading Pain: Some Notes On the Suffering of Suffering →

Some Icky Sounds, and Silence

Here's a sound for you: gurgling. It's the frequently misnamed, so-called "death rattle". Does that involuntarily raise your hair follicles = make your skin crawl? Do you feel queasy on hearing or remembering the sound? If your scrotum involuntarily contracts (what's the female equivalent?), then you'd agree with me when I call it the creepiest … Continue reading Some Icky Sounds, and Silence →