Jan 14, 2008 03:49 PM - I really enjoyed this article. Well written!

Jan 14, 2008 04:04 PM - [quote=Irish339;2592698]
I ask him to tell me what he’s most afraid of. Tell me. Tell me so I know what I should fear. What scares you exactly….top of the list.

“I’m scared because I can’t go home anymore.”



..Irish..that quote, above all the rest of your excellent post, that is so heart tearing. What happens to us all, when we cant go home anymore? That terrifies me, it's the last right of a human, to be in their own place, with their own familiar smells, things and feelings, with their family...(if they have one), to die in an unfamiliar place must be so scary, to look at unfamiliar surroundings as your last outlook on life must be so soul destroying. Please, we all know that the inevitable will happen to us all, but I wish for peace for anyone's passing.
Your post was so thoughtful,

Jan 14, 2008 06:36 PM - My neighbor passed away today. My kids are mourning the loss of a parental figure. I pray I know what the comforting words are to the neighborhood families he left behind. Thank you for sharing this site.

Jan 16, 2008 07:41 AM - I have been aware of the impact that a loss of a home can bring. As a med/surg nurse I admitted many persons who a few days before were living happily in their homes. Then suddenly they had a fall, a illness and a trip to the hospital. They go from the hospital to the nursing home never to see their real HOME again. How shocking I realized. When I took care of elderly in nursing home they would talk about a home that was not theirs anymore(usually sold to pay for nursing home stay) like it was waiting for them. I am not a person who has moved much, I form powerful attachments to my home. However, the few times I went from one home to another I was always able to make that last walk around and say goodby. Truth of the matter is anything, any person even your life can be taken from you at any time without advance warning, just gone never to be seen again. Just one more of life's terrible truths.

Jan 16, 2008 01:27 PM - It is seems to take death or a near death experience to make people stop and realize that those Channel boots and the Dior sunglasses are not what life is all about. Life is exactly what you expressed - love and the relationships we have formed during our time. It's sad that most people don't realize this, but it just gives a greater appreciation for those who do and the ones that use their time left to express it.

Thank you for your beautiful article! You give great inspiration!

Jan 17, 2008 06:17 PM - I must agree with you completely. I have worked with Hospice for 4 years now and it is a wonderful experience. The patients and their families are a true inspiration. Most people do not understand hospice, however, it is still a part of the process and I am grateful that I was able to assist families with their loss.
Coco

Jan 18, 2008 10:45 AM - SOME OF MY FONDEST AND HEARTFELT MEMORIES OF MY NURSING CAREER IS REMEMBERING TIME SPENT WITH THE DYING. GREAT ARTICLE!

Jan 21, 2008 09:43 PM - This is a wonderful article which brought tears to my eyes. I work as an oncology nurse. My mother and sister both died at an early age of colon cancer. So many times I had wanted to ask my sister what she was most afraid of, but didn't. I just couldn't face the fact that she was really going to die. This was a very well written article. Thank You !

Jan 23, 2008 05:38 AM - Thank you so much for the emotional insight towhat we all must one day face. I lost my wonderful mother 6 years ago at the age of 63. She had been a smoker from the age of 15, and lung cancer was the end result. It was so hard to watch this beautiful, vibrant woman be the victim of such a preventable, ugly disease.
When mom passes, I was there. She was in so much pain, the cancer had mets to her brain and bone, and watching her lie there in agony, was more then any daughter should have to face. Between the Roxinol and Ativan, we eased mom home. My two children had the chance to say goodbye, and during her dying, I kept telling her over and over again how much I loved her, how much I thanked God that she had chosen to adopt me, not knowing that I would need a life saving heart operation at the age of 4 months. I thanked her for all the nights she stayed up with me, all the times she spent walking the floors with me, so that if I cried, my incision would open.
I thanked her for her chocolate chip cookies, for her fried chicken and her apple pies.I praised her for her ability to turn a run down little home into a beautiful place to call her own. She taught me how to love, how to share my love and how to love my children in a way that they would respect my decisions and know that I made these decisions based on my love and concern for them.
She collected angels. When she passed, we took all of her angels and set them around her casket. My daughter played her flute for grandma one last time.
Mom was a nurse, I am a nurse, my daughter is working on her music therapy degree.
Dying is as much a gift as it is a blessing. We trade this body for a heavenly one.
No more pain, no more tears. Spending eternity in the presence of our maker.
Reunited with ones that have gone on before us.

Bless all of you that work in hospice, holding hands and sharing your hearts

Jan 23, 2008 07:18 PM - I just wanted to extend my codolences to all of you that have offered the stories of your losses. So many heartwarming stories. Thank you all for sharing.