http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog Compassion, reassurance and genuine answers Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:06:29 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The LDOW blog will be starting up again at lastdayofwinter.com using WordPress instead of Blogger. Our old site has been imported - older comments could not be imported however the blogspot site will remain for older articles comments archiving. Pleas feel free to add your new comments. Pam & Jerry ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2007/06/17/hello-world/ As complex and wrenching as loss and grief are to us adults, it is even harder for children. Part of this is because children just don't have the same emotional make-up that adults have. Kids grieve deeply, but often their grief does not present as sorrow in the ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2005/06/23/when-a-child-loses-a-parent/ From Self-Care to DependenceEvery caregiver knows that the day will likely come when your loved one will no longer drive, will have to be in a wheelchair, or might be bedridden. You might move a hospital bed into the house and place a commode nearby, or perhaps a bedpan is ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2005/05/08/painful-losses-and-powerful-blessings/ The story of Terri Schiavo has been on the forefront of our national consciousness for several months. Terri's death today marks the end of the longest and most heavily litigated end of life case in American history. Fifteen years of law suits and counter suits. Bitter accusations ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2005/04/01/terri-schiavo-and-the-right-to-choose/ Many people have asked over the years why I decided to go into hospice social work. It is often a difficult profession and sometimes acutely painful. In searching my heart for reasons and motivations, I keep returning to my father's death when I was a young woman of ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2005/03/15/the-night-my-father-died/ Losses Come EarlyIf I can keep this pain alive the outrage will sustain the hope and I’ll survive. But if I learn to softly sigh at your indifference, then I’ll die --Carrie HydeThe changes and losses brought about by declining health include social and financial losses, as well as loss of family role and changes ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2005/03/14/somethings-lost-and-somethings-gained/ Getting a diagnosis of a life threatening illness is always a shock. To everyone, even to the doctor . It doesn’t matter if it was preceded by scores of medical tests, deep apprehension over time and a warning from the doctor that the results ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2005/01/26/after-the-diagnosis/ The time has come, The walrus said To talk of many things … Lewis Carroll Through the Looking Glass There is nothing harder, sadder or more solitary than being the caregiver for a loved one who is failing. Whether it is the seemingly interminable suffering of a cherished husband or wife who struggles with ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2005/01/18/welcome-to-our-blog/ Hospice is a relatively recent concept that originated and gained momentum in United Kingdom after the founding of the first modern hospice, St. Christopher's Hospice in 1967. Dr. Cicely Saunders is regarded as the founder of the hospice movement. Since its beginning, the hospice movement has grown dramatically.The first hospice ... http://lastdayofwinter.com/blog/2004/11/21/hospice-history/