Death Then And Now
Increase Mather, one of Puritan New England’s foremost ministers and scholars, died in 1723 at his home in Boston. As he lay “feeble and sore broken” upon his death bed, he faced his life’s end with...
Read MoreCategory: Stories
The Art of Waiting
To paraphrase the writer Viet Thanh Nguyen – the death of each of my patients is lived twice: once in current time and once in memory. Some of my memories of patients are intensely vivid, as if they were shot in...
Read MoreReviewing a Life
A while ago my husband and I began reviewing and editing 50+ years of videotape we recently digitized. There was footage of grandparents, parents, friends and family, births and celebrations that I had long since forgotten. Who...
Read MoreWhat Do the Suffering Really Want to Hear?
Recently I came across an article entitled “How to Talk to the Angel of Death,” by Kate Bowler (New York Times, Jan. 26, 2018). In this poignant article a woman with stage IV colon cancer discussed what to say and not say to...
Read MoreDon’t Tell Me When I’m Going to Die
Prognoses are more of an art than a science. Deborah, a trim 55-year-old female, was hiking with her husband when the coughing started. She brushed it off, but as the cough became more severe, she had it checked out. The exam...
Read MoreHalloween: Remembering the Dead
Halloween is one of the world’s oldest Holidays and is celebrated around the world. For us here in the states it is a night of dressing up and going door to door to collect treats. But for many cultures it is a time to...
Read MoreWhen You Become the Disease
Buddhists have a saying…whatever befalls you do not succumb to it. Have you noticed that when you stub your toe or injure a part of your body all your focus and attention go to that injury? However, most injuries and illnesses...
Read MoreA Father’s Love
A father’s love is demonstrated in so many different ways: Throwing a baseball after a long day of work, reading one more bedtime story, handing over the keys to the family car and helping that young person become an...
Read MorePalliative Care and it’s Impact
“But I felt like I failed her because, for all the time I knew her, I never could figure out her wishes, her goals, to determine if the treatment I was prescribing was what she really wanted. Did I give her time on this earth...
Read MoreThings I Will Miss
While recently giving a seminar on End of Life Challenges I asked the class this question, “What will you miss when you die?” The question lent itself to an interesting array of answers, each person’s responses being very...
Read MoreAutobiography of Dying
I just finished reading another book about death and dying – Autobiography of Dying by Archie Hanlon. I was touched by its practicalities and its realness with respect to death. At the age of 46, Mr. Hanlan finds himself...
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Terminal Lucidity
Susan had not eaten for weeks by the time she entered the hospice facility. A 75-year-old editor,...
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Talking Death Cards
Talking Death Cards provide you with engaging questions that inspire deep and meaningful conversations among family, friends and colleagues in an easy to use playing card format.