Recent Articles
04/25/2018
By Dr. Colleen Arnold, as told to Karen Mulder As a family physician, emergency room doctor and hospice doctor, Colleen Arnold is no stranger to death and dying. But her experience took a personal turn when her husband Neil was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer at the age of 57. Colleen offers us these three […]
Just a few days after learning that our dear friend Jim had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, the calendar informed us that his birthday was coming up. Larry and I wondered what kind of birthday card to send him. All the funny or sarcastic cards seemed totally inappropriate. The flowery positive-thinking cards seemed […]
10/03/2017
Submitted by: Lisa Barker The following story is from Lisa, who offers advice from her own experience of a month-long stay in a hospital. Lisa says, “After gallbladder removal surgery, at the age of twenty-five years old I was unexpectedly diagnosed with a rare liver condition. Within eighteen hours I was in liver, kidney, and […]
05/16/2016
How can you help someone take a “mini-vacation” or take a break from suffering?
06/20/2016
Is there a negative side to positive thinking? Letty Cottin Pogrebin in her book, How to be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick, says, don’t pressure a terminally ill person to practice positive thinking. Positive thinking cannot cure Huntington’s disease, ALS or inoperable brain cancer. Telling a terminal patient to keep up the fight […]
11/24/2015
Editor’s Note: One of the most caring things you can do is to prepare meals when a friend has an extended illness. We’ve always thought the website Take Them a Meal is a brilliant way to coordinate that act of caring with friends from across your community. We found the story below on the Take […]
10/19/2015
We all know the power of a good story, but did you know that a good story is a powerful painkiller? Helen Mullen, a librarian, tells the story about visiting the pediatric wards of hospitals and telling stories to the children, many of whom were in severe pain. While the children were listening to the […]
