Physical Caring

Tonight I sat on the floor and watched a beautiful video from a woman who has worked in Hospice for over 20 years.  Her view on dying was so amazing that it touched me to the core.  She stated "10 out of 10 of us are gonna die."  She spoke with such kindness and compassion about dying and some things she said were exactly what I feel.  (which again, leads me to this service)  She spoke of the olden days when we had generations in the home and people died in the home, one generation after another taking care of the dying.  Showing the rest of us how to die.  She talked about all of the symptoms that people can face when they are dying, pain being the big one that is most feared.  Most people that get Hospice involved in their care admit that they waited to long.  They thought that they needed to get their life lived and things done before "committing" to dying.  When actually, the hospice focus is on alleviating the annoying, distracting, and sometimes debilitating symptoms that accompany the dying process.  They want to enhance your life so that you can live out what is left with comfort and peace.  Uncontrolled physical symptoms can also produce an inordinate amount of fear in the patient.  This fear often creates a state of increased tension that exacerbates pain, restlessness, nausea and other symptoms, which in turn causes more fear.  It can be a vicious cycle with no end in sight without intervention from health care workers.

So other things that the dying experience is restlessness, pain, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, fear, anxiety, loss, grief.  One thing I learned was that not all dying people have physical pain.  Wow, I thought everyone had physical pain, unless they were medicated.  Emotional pain is another story.

With all of this said about the dying person, I can't help but put all of this to the person left behind also.  I can't think of one person left behind who did not have pain.  Emotional pain.  That is where I want to serve.

There are as many ways to volunteer for Hospice as there are people.  Tonight I learned that I can use my coaching, hypnotherapy, massage and listening skills.  I am so excited to start and make a difference in the last moments of peoples lives and to the families left behind.

People dye as they lived.  "What does that mean," you may ask.  Think about it.........we will come back to this one.