Download or read book Living Thoughtfully Dying Well written by Glen Miller and published by MennoMedia, Inc.. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most persons, especially as they are aging, wonder, “How will I die? Will I have a good death? Will I suffer? How will my family respond? How can we manage the dying process better?” Author Dr. Glen Miller, a retired physician, had his own wake-up call when he suffered a heart attack and determined to help himself and his patients go “gently into that good night.” Dr. Miller emphasizes that good preparation for the inevitable—by individuals and their families—will ease this transitional time of high stress and high emotion. The book brings a unique perspective related to the author’s professional career and personal medical history—doctor of internal medicine who cared for dying patients, healthcare administrator who understands how the healthcare system works, and Christian who thinks that dying can be a natural part of life. All of this is in the context of the author’s own healthcare narrative and his personal search for a good death. With compassion honed by serving overseas among poor and despairing people and the practical ideas gleaned from his medical practice, Dr. Miller provides rich guidance to aging persons to live more fully and to proactively plan for a good death. Born on a farm in northwest Ohio, Glen Miller’s vocation and motivations took him to more than 44 countries. Over 25 years, he played a key role in elevating the local hospital in Bellefontaine, Ohio, to the top rung of small hospitals in the state. Dr. Miller is retired and lives in Goshen, Indiana, with his wife Marilyn. Free downloadable study guide available here.
Download or read book The Art of Dying Well written by Katy Butler and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “comforting…thoughtful” (The Washington Post) guide to maintaining a high quality of life—from resilient old age to the first inklings of a serious illness to the final breath—by the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door is a “roadmap to the end that combines medical, practical, and spiritual guidance” (The Boston Globe). “A common sense path to define what a ‘good’ death looks like” (USA TODAY), The Art of Dying Well is about living as well as possible for as long as possible and adapting successfully to change. Packed with extraordinarily helpful insights and inspiring true stories, award-winning journalist Katy Butler shows how to thrive in later life (even when coping with a chronic medical condition), how to get the best from our health system, and how to make your own “good death” more likely. Butler explains how to successfully age in place, why to pick a younger doctor and how to have an honest conversation with them, when not to call 911, and how to make your death a sacred rite of passage rather than a medical event. This handbook of preparations—practical, communal, physical, and spiritual—will help you make the most of your remaining time, be it decades, years, or months. Based on Butler’s experience caring for aging parents, and hundreds of interviews with people who have successfully navigated our fragmented health system and helped their loved ones have good deaths, The Art of Dying Well also draws on the expertise of national leaders in family medicine, palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, and hospice. This “empowering guide clearly outlines the steps necessary to prepare for a beautiful death without fear” (Shelf Awareness).
Download or read book Dying Well written by Ira Byock and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1998-03-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Ira Byock, prominent palliative care physician and expert in end of life decisions, a lesson in Dying Well. Nobody should have to die in pain. Nobody should have to die alone. This is Ira Byock's dream, and he is dedicating his life to making it come true. Dying Well brings us to the homes and bedsides of families with whom Dr. Byock has worked, telling stories of love and reconciliation in the face of tragedy, pain, medical drama, and conflict. Through the true stories of patients, he shows us that a lot of important emotional work can be accomplished in the final months, weeks, and even days of life. It is a companion for families, showing them how to deal with doctors, how to talk to loved ones—and how to make the end of life as meaningful and enriching as the beginning. Ira Byock is also the author of The Best Care Possible: A Physician's Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life.
Download or read book The Lost Art of Dying written by L.S. Dugdale and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Columbia University physician comes across a popular medieval text on dying well written after the horror of the Black Plague and discovers ancient wisdom for rethinking death and gaining insight today on how we can learn the lost art of dying well in this wise, clear-eyed book that is as compelling and soulful as Being Mortal, When Breath Becomes Air, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. As a specialist in both medical ethics and the treatment of older patients, Dr. L. S. Dugdale knows a great deal about the end of life. Far too many of us die poorly, she argues. Our culture has overly medicalized death: dying is often institutional and sterile, prolonged by unnecessary resuscitations and other intrusive interventions. We are not going gently into that good night—our reliance on modern medicine can actually prolong suffering and strip us of our dignity. Yet our lives do not have to end this way. Centuries ago, in the wake of the Black Plague, a text was published offering advice to help the living prepare for a good death. Written during the late Middle Ages, ars moriendi—The Art of Dying—made clear that to die well, one first had to live well and described what practices best help us prepare. When Dugdale discovered this Medieval book, it was a revelation. Inspired by its holistic approach to the final stage we must all one day face, she draws from this forgotten work, combining its wisdom with the knowledge she has gleaned from her long medical career. The Lost Art of Dying is a twenty-first century ars moriendi, filled with much-needed insight and thoughtful guidance that will change our perceptions. By recovering our sense of finitude, confronting our fears, accepting how our bodies age, developing meaningful rituals, and involving our communities in end-of-life care, we can discover what it means to both live and die well. And like the original ars moriendi, The Lost Art of Dying includes nine black-and-white drawings from artist Michael W. Dugger. Dr. Dugdale offers a hopeful perspective on death and dying as she shows us how to adapt the wisdom from the past to our lives today. The Lost Art of Dying is a vital, affecting book that reconsiders death, death culture, and how we can transform how we live each day, including our last.
Download or read book The Art of Dying written by Rob Moll and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christians can have confidence that because death is not the end, preparing to die helps us truly live. In this well-researched and pastorally sensitive book, Rob Moll explores the Christian practice of dying well, giving guidance for those who care for the dying as well as for those who grieve. This expanded edition includes a new afterword by Rob's wife Clarissa reflecting on his life, death, and legacy.
Download or read book Living Well Dying Well written by Judy Stevens-Long Phd and published by Fielding University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-09 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attitudes to death and dying are changing in the United States. Today, we are living longer, yet with the acute awareness that what we do now will affect our remaining time. Prompted by a big push from baby boomers, our society is moving towards a culture that provides a greater array of positive choices in the final phase of our lives. This should inspire all of us to find new ways to create joy and comfort until the very last moment of life. Written by Social Sciences Professor Dr. Judy Stevens-Long, author of the bestselling book Adult Life, with Dr. Dohrea Bardell, a Fellow at the Institute for Social Innovation, this book contains all the information you need to ensure that the last years of your life, or the life of someone you love, will be as satisfying, comfortable, and as productive as possible.
Download or read book Things I ve Learned from Dying written by David R. Dow and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Book Critics Circle Award finalist David R. Dow confronts the reality of his work on death row when his father-in-law is diagnosed with lethal melanoma, his beloved Doberman becomes fatally ill, and his young son begins to comprehend the implications of mortality. "Every life is different, but every death is the same. We live with others. We die alone." In his riveting, artfully written memoir The Autobiography of an Execution, David Dow enraptured readers with a searing and frank exploration of his work defending inmates on death row. But when Dow's father-in-law receives his own death sentence in the form of terminal cancer, and his gentle dog Winona suffers acute liver failure, the author is forced to reconcile with death in a far more personal way, both as a son and as a father. Told through the disparate lenses of the legal battles he's spent a career fighting, and the intimate confrontations with death each family faces at home, Things I've Learned From Dyingoffers a poignant and lyrical account of how illness and loss can ravage a family. Full of grace and intelligence, Dow offers readers hope without cliche and reaffirms our basic human needs for acceptance and love by giving voice to the anguish we all face--as parents, as children, as partners, as friends--when our loved ones die tragically, and far too soon.
Download or read book Dem Dry Bones written by Luke A. Powery and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an age when the so-called prosperity gospel holds sway in many Christian communities or the good news of Christ is reduced to feel-good bromides, it would seem that death has little place in contemporary preaching. Embracing the vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 as a metaphor for preaching in the Spirit, acclaimed homiletician Luke Powery asserts that death is the context for all preaching. In fact, the Spirit leads preachers to the context of death each Sunday in order to proclaim a word of life that ultimately breathes hope into people's lives. Yet many preachers avoid death because they are at a loss of what to say about it and do not realize its vital connection to the substance of Christian hope. As a result the church is too often left with sermons that are fundamentally devoid of hope. Dem Dry Bones aims to remedy some of the theological and homiletical shortcomings in contemporary preaching by looking closely at the African American spirituals tradition. Through this study, Powery demonstrates how to preach in the Spirit so that proclaiming death becomes an avenue toward hope. In short: no death, no hope.
Download or read book We Know How This Ends written by Bruce H. Kramer and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nautilus Book Awards — Silver Award Winner 2010 had been a very good year for Bruce H. Kramer. But what began as a floppy foot and leg weakness led to a shattering diagnosis: he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS is a cruel, unrelenting neurodegenerative disease in which the body’s muscles slowly weaken, including those used to move, swallow, talk, and ultimately breathe. There is no cure: ALS is a death sentence. When death is a constant companion, sitting too closely beside you at the dinner table, coloring your thoughts and feelings and words, your outlook on life is utterly transformed. The perspective and insights offered in We Know How This Ends reveal this daily reality and inspire a way forward for anyone who has suffered major loss and for anyone who surely will. Rather than wallowing in sadness and bitterness, anger and denial, Kramer accepted the crushing diagnosis. The educator and musician recognized that if he wanted a meaningful life, then embracing his imminent death was his only viable option. His decision was the foundation for profound, personal reflection and growth, even as his body weakened, and inspired him to share the lessons he was learning from ALS about how to live as fully as possible, even in the midst of devastating grief. At the time Kramer was diagnosed, broadcast journalist Cathy Wurzer was struggling with her own losses, especially her father’s slow descent into the bewildering world of dementia. Mutual friends put this unlikely pair—journalist and educator—together, and the serendipitous result has been a series of remarkable broadcast conversations, a deep friendship, and now this book. Written with wisdom, genuine humor, and down-to-earth observations, We Know How This Ends is far more than a memoir. It is a dignified, courageous, and unflinching look at how acceptance of loss and inevitable death can lead us all to a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
Download or read book A Good Walk Home written by Larry Walkemeyer and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an inspiration message about dying well, based on the final seven sayings of Jesus' death.
Download or read book Mind of Clear Light written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Everyone dies, but no one is dead," goes the Tibetan saying. It is with these words that Advice on Dying takes flight. Using a seventeenth-century poem written by a prominent scholar-practitioner, His Holiness the Dalai Lama draws from a wide range of traditions and beliefs to explore the stages we all go through when we die, which are the very same stages we experience in life when we go to sleep, faint, or reach orgasm (Shakespeare's "little death"). The stages are described so vividly that we can imagine the process of traveling deeper into the mind, on the ultimate journey of transformation. In this way, His Holiness shows us how to prepare for that time and, in doing so, how to enrich our time on earth, die without fear or upset, and influence the stage between this life and the next so that we may gain the best possible incarnation. As always, the ultimate goal is to advance along the path to enlightenment. Advice on Dying is an essential tool for attaining that eternal bliss.
Download or read book Dying to Live written by Joanne Harvey Msw and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2010 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of empowering stories about real people living with a terminal illness; stories that help embrace life and release fear.
Download or read book The Good Death written by Ann Neumann and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the death of her father, journalist and hospice volunteer Ann Neumann sets out to examine what it means to die well in the United States. When Ann Neumann’s father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, she left her job and moved back to her hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She became his full-time caregiver—cooking, cleaning, and administering medications. When her father died, she was undone by the experience, by grief and the visceral quality of dying. Neumann struggled to put her life back in order and found herself haunted by a question: Was her father’s death a good death? The way we talk about dying and the way we actually die are two very different things, she discovered, and many of us are shielded from what death actually looks like. To gain a better understanding, Neumann became a hospice volunteer and set out to discover what a good death is today. She attended conferences, academic lectures, and grief sessions in church basements. She went to Montana to talk with the attorney who successfully argued for the legalization of aid in dying, and to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to listen to “pro-life” groups who believe the removal of feeding tubes from some patients is tantamount to murder. Above all, she listened to the stories of those who were close to death. What Neumann found is that death in contemporary America is much more complicated than we think. Medical technologies and increased life expectancies have changed the very definition of medical death. And although death is our common fate, it is also a divisive issue that we all experience differently. What constitutes a good death is unique to each of us, depending on our age, race, economic status, culture, and beliefs. What’s more, differing concepts of choice, autonomy, and consent make death a contested landscape, governed by social, medical, legal, and religious systems. In these pages, Neumann brings us intimate portraits of the nurses, patients, bishops, bioethicists, and activists who are shaping the way we die. The Good Death presents a fearless examination of how we approach death, and how those of us close to dying loved ones live in death’s wake.
Download or read book Dying Well written by Ira Byock and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1998 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the important emotional work accomplished in the final months of life and offers advice on dealing with doctors, talking with friends and relatives, and mananging end-of-life care
Download or read book Dying for a Living written by Kory M. Shrum and published by Timberlane Press. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: And you thought dying once would be hard... On the morning before her 67th death, it is business as usual for agent Jesse Sullivan: meet with the mortician, counsel soon-to-be-dead clients, and have coffee while reading the latest regeneration theory. Jesse dies for a living, literally. Because of a neurological disorder, Jesse can serve as a death surrogate, dying so others don't have to. Although each death replacement is different, the result is the same: a life is saved, and Jesse resurrects days later with sore muscles, new scars, and another hole in her memory. But when Jesse is murdered and becomes the sole suspect in a federal investigation, more than her freedom and sanity are at stake. She must catch the killer herself--or die trying. Dying for a Living is the first book in Kory M. Shrum's gripping urban fantasy series. If you like page-turning action, tough as nails heroines, and perfectly-paced suspense, then you'll love this "hilarious" and "supernaturally fantastic" ride.
Download or read book Top Five Regrets of the Dying written by Bronnie Ware and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide with translations in 29 languages. After too many years of unfulfilling work, Bronnie Ware began searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or previous experience in the field, she found herself working in palliative care. During the time she spent tending to those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote an Internet blog post, outlining the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed. The post gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than three million readers worldwide in its first year. At the request of many, Bronnie subsequently wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, to share her story. Bronnie has had a colourful and diverse life. By applying the lessons of those nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone, if we make the right choices, to die with peace of mind. In this revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide, with translations in 29 languages, Bronnie expresses how significant these regrets are and how we can positively address these issues while we still have the time. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying gives hope for a better world. It is a courageous, life-changing book that will leave you feeling more compassionate and inspired to live the life you are truly here to live.
Download or read book A Better Death written by Ranjana Srivastava and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful, timely exploration of the art of living and dying on our own terms by one of Australia’s most respected voices Of all the experiences we share, two universal events bookend our lives: we were all born and we will all die. We don't have a choice in how we enter the world but we can have a say in how we leave it. In order to die well, we must be prepared to contemplate our mortality and to broach it with our loved ones, who are often called upon to make important decisions on our behalf. These are some of the most important conversations we can have with each other - to find peace, kindness and gratitude for what has gone before, and acceptance of what is to come. Dr Ranjana Srivastava draws on two decades of experience to share her observations and advice on leading a meaningful life and finding dignity and composure at the end. With an emphasis on advocacy, leaving a legacy and staying true to our deepest convictions, Srivastava tells stories of strength, hope and resilience in the face of grief and offers an optimistic meditation on approaching the end of life. Intelligent, warm and deeply affecting, A Better Death is a passionate exploration of the art of living and dying well. Dr Ranjana Srivastava OAM is a practising oncologist, award-winning writer, broadcaster and Fulbright scholar. See www.ranjanasrivastava.com
