He had such a good day, or so it seemed. So many little moments of improvement and heightened hope that he might really pull through...

As I write this, my brother has been in the ICU for two weeks, and to be honest, I was afraid he was not going to make it. I had prepared...

About a week ago, on my sisters birthday (who has been gone seven years), I received a phone call from my other sister that our brother...

I was talking to someone recently who shared the struggles she was having on the first anniversary of the death of her husband. She said...

When I am supporting a family or caregiver for a patient who is dying, I often say... meet them where they are, not where you think they...

Today I followed the gurney of a young woman who died, out to the car. We scattered pink rose petals on her as she was rolled out, and we...

One morning about 5:30am I was woken from a deep sleep by what felt like a touch on my shoulder. At first I thought it was one of my cats...

A woman who recently lost her mother, reached out to me to ask how she can help a friend who was trying to navigate the impending death...

Someone asked me what grief feels like... I told her that some days it will take everything you have to get out of bed. You might go days...

One of the things I am realizing people struggle with most is not being at the bedside when that last breath is taken. Some people are...

I often joke that no one asks me how my day is because they are afraid I might actually tell them. The truth is, most people don't want to talk about what I do every day because what I do requires us to acknowledge something many of us spend our lives trying to avoid: death. It remains the elephant in the room, not because it is rare, but because it is universal. Yet I have always believed that if we talked about death more openly, it would lose some of its power to frighten

I was going through a few boxes of old photos that also included cards and notes I felt compelled to save for thirty-plus years, and came...

Forgive me for the rant you are about to receive but I find myself continuously frustrated when I see that people are not being cared for...

I am often asked whether I experience my own grief while watching others anticipate and go through theirs. The answer is yes. Anyone who witnesses someone navigating the reality of losing a loved one feels something. For me, it often awakens memories of my own losses. Whenever I am at the bedside of someone with a dying parent, I ache a little inside. I am envious of their relationship because I didn’t have that. When both of my parents died, I was across the room from them,

When someone is given a terminal diagnosis, with a life expectancy of six months or less to live, they find themselves with questions...

I had a conversation with a friend, also a hospice nurse, who just came back to work after taking the last few months off to care for her...

I do not have a lot of memories of my childhood, but there are certain things that have stayed with me my whole life. When I was very...

I received a message this morning from a woman who said goodbye to her mom in the middle of the night. I was with her yesterday, and one...

We all wish for a “beautiful” death, for ourselves and for the people we love. And thankfully, many times, it happens, or at least it comes close. I feel fortunate to have witnessed countless deaths that were peaceful, quiet, and even beautiful. But I have also been present for the ones that weren’t, the ones filled with struggle, distress, and sounds that echo in your mind long after the room has fallen silent. Death and the dying process are as individual as fingerprints. N

There is absolutely no rhyme or reason why one person goes quickly in their sleep, while another holds on for days, and days, and days. I...