I know, it isn’t manly to cry and it certainly isn’t manly to admit that you cry. But, you know what, I don’t care. I do have reasons to cry and I don’t care how you respond because crying does help me feel better. OK, I admit it, I’ve been crying a lot recently, but [...]
An article in today's New York Times about obtaining drugs under the compassionate use clause boiled my blood. I am not usually one without words, but this story has left me speechless, or wordless. I can not add anything to the story, it speaks for itself and makes me cry. Joel T Nowak MA, MSW
A lot has been written about the need to identify better biomarkers to both assist in the initial diagnosis of prostate cancer and then to help determine which cancers are potentially dangerous from those that are actually indolent. Finding these markers is vital, I too have written about the great need for them. However, in [...]
Wesley Smith who is a lawyer, associate director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute has published an article in the Telegraph of the experience of Oregon and its "assisted suicide" law. "Imagine that you have lung (or prostate cancer, I know it is rare, [...]
How does the song go- "Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.” That is a feeling that I have experienced and that I believe we all will experience. Nevertheless, we have to continue to plow through our treatments, pills, endless doctors appointments and, of course the co-pays. I do find that it [...]
Keith showed up at one of our weekly support groups and was greeted warmly by a number of the longer-term regulars. Once the group started, the leader Darryl turned to him and asked how he was doing and what brought him back to the group. It seemed that Keith was again in trouble with his [...]
"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service [...]
There has been a lot of press around the recent announcement that Senator Kennedy has brain cancer. The papers I have read and news reports have been good (very surprisingly) about not making any predictions pertaining to his future. Of course, there have been veiled allusions about what the cost of his death would mean [...]
Will you be prepared to enter hospice care when the time comes? Will your spouse and your children be prepared? Tomorrow, March 18 there is a web cast on how to deal with end-of-life care. The web cast will focus around choosing a hospice program and how to build a hospice care program. They will [...]
As we become end stage many of us find that our spiritual needs increase, but they are not being adequately met. Part of the problem is that we, ourselves, often cannot actually define what are our needs. As a matter of fact, we may even have trouble defining the word spiritual. If you causally ask [...]
