Topics About 'Death And Dying'.
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Found 25 results
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How much time?
She looked up at me with pleading eyes, her head resting on a freshly laundered pillow case and her hair, still damp, laid out against the white expanse to dry. Her voice was firm as she asked the question that was on her mind. Tak...
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The call came in while at work. My mom's brother Steve had been rushed to a hospital. He was dying. I decided to go on the weekend when I was off, as my partner at work was out sick. I flew into Canada and made my way to the hospital. My aunt, a reti...
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This is the story of "Baby", the nickname his family gave him so affectionately. He was born in the month of September 1995. He was born with Myotubular Myopathy; he was very "floppy" and had difficulty breathing on his own. He was immediately shippe...
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This essay has turned out to be one of the most difficult ones I’ve ever written and, hopefully, will ever have to write. It has been difficult not only because it requires ruminating on the devastation that is the Coronavirus Disease 2019, but also...
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They sat huddled outside the room, three chairs facing the glass doors, an isolation cart as a makeshift table for the boxes of tissues. We had turned his head to face the door side of the room before the scheduled two hour head turn, so they wouldn'...
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When I finally called and told my in-laws that I was six-and-a-half months pregnant with a baby boy, they were over the moon! I had lost two babies as miscarriages before my son and daughter were born, so I was wary of breaking the news early. We dec...
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This is something that’s been on my mind for a little while now. I’ve been hearing recently how what nurses are being exposed to is just part of the job. Death is part of the job that’s true, but that doesn’t change the toll it takes. Seven years lat...
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Eighteen days. That's how long it took to lose you. Surrounded by four walls, no windows. No healing touch from loved ones. No last kisses or hugs. Unable to hear your infectious laugh because it was covered by a mask. Your family anxiously waiting o...
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Death came to visit Friday, it was not kind, and it was not peaceful for my friend's mom-it was hard, she struggled so much, her mind was ready, but her body fought her to the bitter end; causing trauma to her loved ones who stayed by her side so she...
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I took a seat on the kitchen chair that the daughter brought in. Pulling it up to the double bed, I tried to get close to my patient, a woman nearing the end of her battle with gastric cancer. She tried to return my smile, and I squeezed her hand as ...
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George and MarthaNight time briskness slapped me in the face as I climbed in to my car for the familiar trek to work. It was my third scheduled night shift but only the first I had felt half way healthy enough to attend. I had called ahead to prepare...
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Reflecting back one year, many of the healthcare workers deaths could have been prevented in my opinion if adequate PPE was available, covid testing sped up and covid tracing ramped up.
Thanks to all the bedside nurses for providing outstandin...
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The question I ask is why would a healthy 44 year old get a newly created vaccine rushed to the market for something that has a 99.997% survival rate in her age group. She isn't high risk and does not work in healthcare so why would she do this?
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"If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." James 3:2 I reach down to touch Anne's* hand, my own fingers still chilled by the outside morning air. Her eyelids flutter, letting me know she ...
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The First Patient
I arrived in the unit the other day and got my assignment. First patient is COVID positive on the ventilator, about a week into the intubation. A gentleman in his 70s who was vaccinated in April. He was intubated at another hosp...
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Backstory
When the Western counter-culture of the 1960s sought to radically protest dominant societal paradigms on so many fronts, the over-medicalization of the birthing process was included. Home births attended by "direct-entry" or "lay" midwi...
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When first admitting a patient and their family into the hospice care experience, it is important to know that they are fearful of the unknown. Some view it as a death sentence and want to know what to expect. Common questions are, "How long do I hav...
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Baby Cherish arrived at the unit on a Winter afternoon via medical transport in a flat car seat bed belted securely to a gurney that looked way too big for tiny 5-pound little self. We had been preparing for her arrival to the unit well before her bi...
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The term "actively dying" has always struck me as amusing, because in the end, we're all going to die. So in a sense, no matter how healthy, we're all actively dying. Of course, when we say it at work, we mean that the patient is probably going to di...
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Family members of patients in the intensive care unit are an intricate piece in the end of life decision making process. However, families are not always as informed or involved as they would like to be. There are a multitude of articles relating fam...
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To my Mom and sisters: I love you with all my heart. This reflection is that of my own. We each have our own memory of the worst day of our lives.
What started out as a small insect bite, or so we thought, became a diagnosis of leukemia; Prognos...
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Sobering Covid-19 news from Brazil
ABC News: 3/27/2021
As daily deaths near 4,000, worst may lie ahead for Brazil
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One year ago today we lost our first COVID patient. It was 8:08am. I was holding his hand. His wife had left about 30minutes earlier, knowing that we couldn't do anything more and not wanting to watch the end through the glass doors. She stood outsid...
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This week, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that home is now the most common place Americans die of natural causes. For centuries, death was viewed as a natural process and those dying were cared for at home by family and community member...
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Oncology nursing is the overall general care of the patient diagnosed with cancer, care for those who choose treatment, and the support of the patient who is in remission. Cancer is no longer the death sentence that it once was. With new discoveries ...
