![]() I often think about the walk I’d take in the morning before my mom woke up each day. My mother lived in Tampa, FL. In 2005, she was taken to the hospital on Mother’s Day and was dead the Wednesday before Father’s Day of cholangiocarinoma. We found out Mother’s Day week that she had this cancer. I went to stay with her 2 weeks later. It happened to be the last 2 weeks of her life. I thought I was going to be staying much longer than that. So back to my walk … I had to have it. I had to have it alone. I didn’t want to chat or share my feelings or hear what someone was doing, try to have a positive attitude or make conversation. I didn’t want to spend any energy on anyone but my mom. The only thing I knew would happen each day was that I would take my walk along Bayshore Blvd, and my mom would lose more of her life. When I’d get back home, I’d make her coffee and breakfast. She’d come downstairs and read her paper and do her crossword puzzle. Each morning
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![]() Regarding medical care, we are in technological wonderland in some areas and in others we are still behind. Regarding the management of dyspnea, (dyspnea is shortness of breath), we haven’t done so well in end-stage diseases which are not yet terminal. Research is showing that morphine and like drugs (opioids) are effective in its management so that people, no matter what their disease process, can live and have a quality life as well. In this discussion we are referring to the person who is not classified as terminal. ![]() Several years ago I went to a sweat lodge. Due to a fluke in circumstances I got to drive out to the land with the ceremonial leader (called the water pourer) of the sacred American Indian ritual. There are many things I’ll remember about the drive but the most notable was a phenomenon I began to notice the closer we got to the land. It was gradual yet profound and the stronger it got, the more aware I was of a gentle yet powerful feeling of peace. I told him what I was noticing and ![]() Dr. Kellerman, clinical professor of pediatrics and psychology at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, wrote his opinion about the people organizing and growing the giant industry of health insurance being like the mafia. I loved reading the article which was in the Wall Street Journal April 15th. My thought is what if the mafia actually is running the business of health insurance? Nah, if they were, I don’t think it would be as callous. Or maybe the mafia would shoot people who used it. Who knows. What always disturbs me about health insurance is they get rich off of our fear and from not paying for healthcare needs. Here is the link to his article, “The Health Insurance Mafia.” ![]() by Special Guest: Nancy Manahan, PhD “Nancy, I love the Mary Oliver poem that you sent me last week. ‘In Blackwater Woods’ is so beautiful, and so true. Would you read it at my Life Celebration?” We were sitting on the sofa in my brother and his wife’s living room in mid-June. Diane Manahan, my beloved sister-in-law had her legs stretched across my lap. I was scratching her thighs and shins as we talked. ![]() Have you ever seen someone struggling to breathe as part of their illness? I’m referring to people living with ‘end stage’ lung or heart disease or advanced cancer with breathing difficulties. Living with end stage illness or late stage cancer does not necessarily mean you are terminal. Often, a person is not. People, especially those with the various chronic lung diseases struggle for several years like this. The anxiety that accompanies these attacks seems to be written off ![]() by Special Guest: Kristi Curry If someone asked you if you have your affairs in order, what would you say? Do you sit back and relax in your favorite chair knowing that you have met with your attorney and your instructions are clearly mapped out, signed and notarized. Take notice, you may not be as prepared as you think. Many people think that they have done all they can with their legal documents in place. What they don’t realize is that the administration of an estate can be extremely taxing on their executor and/or families if details have not been documented or communicated. Lives today are complex and working through the details of settling an estate can be ![]() Article: Pregnancy Care: An Apprenticeship for Palliative Care? ” … The family physician that has provided maternity care can apply his or her experiences to their care of the dying. The reader is invited to consider this possibility as part of an intentional transition to palliative medicine… “ ( J Am Board Fam Med 2008;21:63– 65.) This article, written by W. David Clark, MD, shows the sensitivity and compassion of doctors who take care of a person throughout their life, the ![]() way it used to be done.–not body part focused but encompassing the understanding of the mind/body/spirit connection that is palliative care. I loved the way he connected the natural process of birth and death. After all, birth and death are how we get here and how we exit—no pathological process going on here. He talks about the similarities in the emotional and spiritual realm, in the art of accompanying a person through these two times, from a physician’s point of view. He states that ” … palliative medicine physicians often find |
AuthorIn fall 2014, I moved some old blog posts here that I had written years ago from 2007 to 2010. Hope they are helpful. Archives
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