Disappear

“I just don’t understand why! It’s like I have been abandoned. Like me dying has made all the people who said they loved me turn their backs on me. I am not a leper. I am still here” Heartbreakingly true words that are more commonly spoken by hospice patients than anyone realizes. A patient and…

The Whispers

I’ve gotten kind of used to it. Sometimes, when I enter a patient’s room, I notice some family members turn and whisper. It’s almost like when I tell people what I am lucky enough to do and they give me the heartbreaking face while lowering their voice to a whisper. Maybe it is because of…

All The Time

Leave it at the door Don’t bring your work home with you That might work for a garbage man or maybe a tree cutter, but those rules don’t apply to a hospice nurse. I am probably thinking about you from the moment I shut your door behind me. I am probably still thinking of you…

Thank You

It’s a little chilly in your bathroom, but, you are sweating and have the fan strategically blowing in your face. Your color is pale, almost like a pre tanned vacation photo except you have look that alerts others you aren’t well. Eyes are sunken, the brightness that once was there is no more. The dark…

A gut is not always a bad thing

Intuition.  A sense.  A feeling.  Gut instinct.  God’s way of talking to you.  The Universe trying to point you in the right direction.  Nurses are particularly keen to this sort of thing.  For the most part, we can probably eye a patient up and get a sense of things to come.  That’s part of the…