Wow, I almost forgot I had a blog! I totally forgot about my last entry even... but looking at the date, I can see it was not long before my friend found out her lung cancer had returned, and she chose to have no further treatment. She was 87, and as she put it, "she'd had a good life."
And I asked her if she'd like me and my partner to stay with her, and be her home hospice caregivers, and she said "yes." And she died at home, peacefully, in her own bed, with her cats, on August 22. And now it's November.
The message I have for you, first, is "you can do it." I had no experience with hospice. I was kind of nervous about that. Could I do it, help someone to die at home? But dying is just a part of life we're all going to experience. It's quite universal despite our ignorance and denial about it. It was a real honor and a learning experience to go through that process with someone. "Draw back the veil" and all that.
If you have the opportunity to walk that road with someone, I am here to tell you, with the support that today's hospice programs provide, "YOU CAN DO IT."
Here's the tree at her graveside. There were squirrels and crows nearby. She is at rest. And I have a much better understanding about death and the dying process.
And I asked her if she'd like me and my partner to stay with her, and be her home hospice caregivers, and she said "yes." And she died at home, peacefully, in her own bed, with her cats, on August 22. And now it's November.
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