Green Christmas-Full Cemetary??

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

That was what an elderly pt of mine told me yesterday...yes an old wives tale I am sure--even though one I have never heard before. Well let me tell ya--we did have a green christmas (I live in the North and we usually have snow) and people are dying left and right!! Our small towns obit page was 2 pages yesterday--normally we have maybe 3 or 4--people/not pages!!.

So whats the deal---are you all having more deaths than usual this past week??

Have you all ever heard any other old wives tales that tend to be true---besides the full moon one!!

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

i heard froma elderly pt the other day , she lost most of her famliy during the christmas season ( over many years ). she told me she felt most people die during the christmas season because it is the most holey time of the year.

i found that comferting , because my cat passed away on dec 17th. it gave me comfort. i don't know how true it is , maybe just a comfort for her to. i had to give her a hug.

i'll be interested to hear responses and old wive's tales heard by others. thank you all in advance.

[FlyingScot, RN]

I think a lot of people subconsiously try to "hold on" until the holidays and then when they (the holidays that is) get here they "let go". Over the years I've noticed a bump up in deaths late on the 25th and into the 26th and then again on January 2.

[jnrsmommy]

I've never heard that saying before. I'm curious though, is this in regards to the elderly and the ill, or including general population. Suicide rates are up this time of year, unfortunately.

[ididitrn]

Wow, I haven't heard that saying in years! My uncle was an undertaker and used to say that...and he's been gone since 1968.

[teeniebert, LPN]

I think a lot of people subconsiously try to "hold on" until the holidays and then when they (the holidays that is) get here they "let go". Over the years I've noticed a bump up in deaths late on the 25th and into the 26th and then again on January 2.

My Grandpa promised my mom he'd stick around for Christmas but he wasn't sure about New Year's...he passed away on New Year's Day (years ago). I've also heard stories of people 'not wanting to ruin Christmas' and hanging on an extra day or week or whatever. If I'm ever in that situation I think I'll just let go--my family doesn't need to be worrying about 'what if' for the entire holiday season.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

My Mama died in December. Her Mama in December, Maternal grandpa in March.

My Daddy in February, paternal grandmama in April, paternal granddad in April, I believe you have something here.....

[iteachob, MSN, RN]

We have 12 obits in the local paper today (small city of 6500, plus surrounding towns)..........green Christmas.

12 seems like a lot; I think we usually average around 4 -6 / day

[*LadyJane*]

I wonder if the snow tends to isolate people during Dec. and so isolate sick people and keep viruses from spreading, and green christmas equals people being out and about and spreading viruses around?

[NeosynephRN]

4 Codes on Christmas day and at least one death every day since...well I do not know about yesterday, cause I was off....That is just my unit.....

[Shenanigans, RN]

Well, I've heard of rule of three, where if you loose one pt expect two more to pop off in the next few days or so, and I've found it to be true in especially rest homes and elder care facilities.

As for holiday deaths, I lost a pt yesterday 31/12 (Its 0146 on 1st Jan at the mo - happy New Year from NZL!)

But I find pts try to hold and let go after the hoildays in an attempt to spare their family members that aniversry. Looked after a guy who tried to hold on till Boxing Day but left on 11.57pm on Christmas Day!

[Tait, MSN, RN]

My mom once reiterated a statistic to me:

"Patients in hospitals tend to die mostly around 7pm"

I said yeah...that is when we are all in report and the patients crash because no one is watching.

Tait