On Becoming a Doctor - from May 29, 2014
So you’ve just graduated from medical school. Your face aches from smiling for countless photos and there’s a large, rectangular, official-looking piece of paper in your hands that says in fancy...
View ArticleWatermelon - from December 12, 2016
At 11:29 pm, four minutes after the helicopter landed, we knew she was going to die. She had what most people think of as the “flesh-eating bacteria” infecting her right leg. The tired-sounding surgeon...
View ArticleFinding Purpose between Power and Helplessness
I write this post a day after delivering a public talk, Inside My Head: A Story of My Personal Walk with Brain Cancer, and a day before my next eight-week MRI scan. In this post I report the strange...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Life of David Gale
David Gale (Kevin Spacey) is an anti-death-penalty activist and professor in Texas (in Austin, Texas, actually, which happens to be where we’re headed this week for SXSW, but that’s just a weird...
View ArticleThe Path of Least Disruption
“You don’t have time for perfect,” reminds Elizabeth Gilbert in her book, Big Magi
View ArticleCycle of Life
I sit and think life’s like a stream All bubbling and clear In early days when youth burns bright Before the middle years When brook turns into river broad With depth and span from all Experiences that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reflections
For fifty years less one short month You’ve been there by my side Protector, comforter and friend In whom I could confide With whom I shared my highs, my lows My hopes, my loves, my dreams, My fears...
View ArticleForever Free of PSP
Now take him death where he will be Away from what this PSP Stole from him here upon the Earth His freedom to the rights of birth The liberty to speak and eat His right to walk on steadfast feet To...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blue Butterfly
Fly sweet butterfly. Fly fly! Away into the blue Midst azure wisps amongst the clouds The essence that is you And flap your cerulean wings Until you blend as one With heavens mist high up above Towards...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Death and Dying
In the tragic loss of my grandson, I am mixed in my emotions. Torn between the Word of God that declares we are to go out heal the sick, blind, deaf, lame, raise the dead and set captives free and...
View ArticleInside My Head, Now on YouTube
On May 13, 2016, Adam was ordered to a “stat” MRI by his primary care provider. The scan revealed a 71mm primary brain tumor that would be diagnosed as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a deadly and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Lesson After Dying
My world has always revolved around the Holy Trinity–Anita, Edna, and Carmen. My grandmothers are tightly stitched into my heart’s fabric, but my mother, Carmen, has always been my Christ. I was the...
View ArticleOn Death & Dying
Dr. Ross takes us on an adventure with many research and interviews, opening our eyes to the world where, let’s be frank, most of us do not wish to think about, let alone deal with. What can you do or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The House of Ruth.
Dear Ruthie: Today, I miss you so much. I am thinking of so many things that I long for about you; and the parts that I love in you the most. So many things. So many beautiful, warm memories. I miss...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Summerlost by Ally Condie
Summerlost by Ally Condie. March 29, 2016. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 272 p. ISBN: 9780399187193. Int Lvl: 5-8; Rdg Lvl: 4.6; Lexile: 600. It’s the first real summer since the devastating...
View ArticleReader Letter: Don't use faith to deny death with dignity
Re: Dying patients are being ‘left without options,’ by Anne Jarvis, March 3 The word hypocritical entered my mind when I read about Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and the Hospice refusing to provide...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Funeral and Burial Rituals from Around the World -- Infographic
Funeral and Burial Rituals from Around the World …in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes. — Benjamin Franklin Death is inevitable and, as Franklin states, so are taxes. Here in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Legacy
Life is the incubator of the spirit. A chrysalis nurtured in the body until it is released as a butterfly in the final breath into the blue. The essence, the soul, the spirit, fluttering through...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ep. 81 Let's Talk About It: The Conversation Project with Dr. Jessica McCannon
Find out how The Conversation Project is helping families talk about planning ahead for the end of life. https://lessonsfromdying.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/podcasteoluconvprojected.mp3 In this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book Review: A Tale for the Time Being
I think some stories are best read aloud. For me, this was one of them. I came to this conclusion before I knew that the author herself reads all her work aloud as she writes chapter to chapter. And...
View Article