by Kathryn Norcutt email author
I saw Agnes, one of my first hospice patients, die before
my eyes. It sounds more dramatic than it
actually was, but there was no last minute speech peppered with coughs, or a
slow death. It was more like one minute she was there, and the next you could
just tell she wasn’t. She had terminal
breast cancer, which she had beaten six years earlier and then it resurfaced, all
too quickly. She decided not to go through with any treatment and enjoy what
life she had left. I was there in her last of month of life to handle her
quality of life, and it disappoints me to know that such a wonderful spark of
humanity had been snuffed when she still had years left.
It was because of her that I became acquainted with the same phrase I now see many hospice organizations use on their sites: "When you cannot add days to your life, add life to your days."
For entire essay see:
Download The Role of Hospice Nurse-C2S
Photo credit: will add later