Dear Denise, I’m writing to you on behalf of my neighbors. We have walked together in the mornings and have played euchre together for 18 years. Now one of these fabulous women is caring for her mother who is battling breast cancer. The prognosis is not good and our friend has moved in with her [...]
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Dear Denise, First of all I want to share with you the good news. I am now into the 4th month of my pregnancy. I also am caring for my dad who is ill. Yesterday my dad had a doctor appointment that did not go well at all. His heart is slowing down and his [...]
Dear Denise, My mom has cancer and the end is coming. I have been with her over the past year and even though the main adrenal tumor is over 18 cm and all of her lymph nodes are cancerous, she has not had ANY pain or really any symptoms. I put this in the true [...]
Dear Denise, Just looking into online support to help my sister and I deal with taking care of our father who is in hospice in his home. We have been alternately living with him for almost 3 months. Some days it is so easy and others no so. His long time girlfriend left him and [...]
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Dear Denise, I don’t know where to turn. I have tried talking to my husband’s hospice workers but no suggestions were given. Maybe I am looking for no more than a shove. When my husband was diagnosed with advanced cancer, his son came into town…leaving his wife behind and announced he was staying until his [...]
We have so many options when we bring children in the world. We can determine the environment (home or hospital), the help (midwife or physician), the drugs (some or none)—almost everything about the child-birth experience can be our call. But, the other end of the spectrum, our death, seems to be at the mercy of [...]
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If you face an end-of-life decision while your care recipient is hospitalized or resides in a nursing home, you can ask for the assistance of the facility’s Ethics Committee. Many hospitals and nursing homes have created such a committee to assist both health care professionals and family members with moral, ethical and legal decisions involving [...]
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A few years ago, I heard about a case of assisted suicide involving a caregiver and his wife. The case continues to haunt me; when it first received national attention, I diligently followed it. Recent articles and news shows about death and dying in national magazines, and on network television stations makes me believe it’s [...]
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