Mourning Grace

By Maya Angelou

If today, I follow death

go down its trackless wastes,

salt my tongue on hardened tears

for my precious dear times waste

race

along that promised cave in a headlong

deadlong

haste,

Will you

have

the

grace

to mourn for

Me?

(This is one of my favorite poems by Maya Angelou. I thought it would be a good idea to put this poem here, as it is about death.)

The other four "Cards of Life and Death" art cards

Again these cards were created by the artist Kornel Ravadits from Budapest Hungary. These are the other four cards that I found that he done. I do not believe he did anymore of these cards.

Speakers in Class

Some days ago we had some speakers come to our Death and Dying class. All the speaker were from Hospice(McLeod Hospice). The speakers came in three groups for three days. I learn a whole lot of things about Hospice that did not know or misunderstood. I could have done without hearing the second group of speakers. The two people did say alot of things that was good to know about, it just that they made me feel sad that day in class. These two people are over Spiritual needs, Psychosocial needs and bereavement care at the Hospice. So, yea I did not care for that group of speakers that much. They just made me think about my aunt that had pass away five years ago. Was not in my happy mood that day.


Side information: What is Hospice care? Hospice care provides medical services, emotional support, and spiritual resources for people who are in the last stages of a terminal illness, such as cancer or heart failure. Hospice care also helps family members manage the practical details and emotional challenges of caring for a dying loved one.The goal of hospice treatment is to keep you comfortable and improve your quality of life while you are dying. This philosophy is a shift from usual medical treatments, in which health professionals strive to cure your disease. Hospice services are not intended to speed up or prolong the dying process, but focus instead on relieving pain and other symptoms. Hospice caregivers are concerned with enhancing the quality of remaining life by keeping you as alert and comfortable as possible in a familiar environment with family and friends. (for more information you can go to this website http://www.webmd.com/balance/tc/hospice-care-topic-overview)

One thing that will stick in my head that I learn from all the speakers is that Hospice does nothing to hasten the end of a person life. They goal is to make the patient comfortable and give support during their illness..

Do they have a death wish?

I know this is a crazy thing to think about, but I am in a death and dying class so its not all that crazy. So, I'm thinking do animals have a death wish? Everywhere I drive I see dead animals on the road. I have even road over an animal or two. I know they see the car when it is coming but they still try to cross the road. I just do not understand that. I know I'm wrong to say this but I sometime think they need to be hit. If they going to make that decision of crossing then.....you know. It's like they do not care about their lives.


(I can't believe I am writing about something like this. Sorry, had to think about something to write *_*)

The Five Wishes Living Will

For a class assignment I have to make up my own Five Wishes Living Will. The Five Wishes Will was created by Jim Towey. It is wishes that addresses what you things to be done if something should happen to you in the present. I should had been done this but I am lazy:p Here is how I answer the wishes:

Wish 1) The person I want to make care decision for me when I can't: From some reason my grandmother on my mom side is the first person to pop in my head. Along with her my dad comes to mind also. If I can I would want both of them to make decisions for me.


Wish 2) The kind of medical treatment I want or don't want: I want the best medical treatment I can get. I want everything that can help me sustain my life if I am aware of things around me. I do not want to be kept if I am brain dead. If there is no way and I mean no way for me to be cure(check three time with different doctors) from brain deadness. I do not want to be kept alive.


Wish 3) How comfortable I wish to be: I want to be so comfortable that it will feel like I am at home. I want the right medications giving to me. I wan t daily interaction with people so that if feels like I am not really sick.


Wish 4) How I want people to treat me: I want people to treat me like it is just another day. I really do not want to be treated like I am sick. Do not get me wrong, I want to be treated right in giving care for my sickness. I just do not want to be treated like a sick person all the time. I want it to feel like a normal day when I get a visit from someone.


Wish 5) What I want my loved ones to know: I want them to know that I love them and still will love them when I pass away. I want to be bury and not cremated. I really do not want my body to be on show at the funeral home. My thought is, if you could not come to see me when I was alive do not come and stare at me when I am dead. Also I want my close family members(list of names) to check on my body at the funeral home. I want them to see if things okay with my body there.

Card Art

I find some cards on the internet that had a death theme to them. They are called Cards of Life and Death. I like how they were done. They were created by the artist Kornel Ravadits from Budapest Hungary . I'm only going to put up four of them right now. I put the other four up later.

Five Stages of Dying

Some days ago, we talked about the five stage of adying that a person goes through when he or she is dying from our textbook. These stages were outlined by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying (1969).

First stage, Denial: the patient attempts to deny that the condition is fatal. This is a period of shock and disbelief.
Second stage, Anger: The patient may vent anger at a number of individuals---at the physician for not doing enough, at relatives for outliving. They are looking for a scapegoat.
Third stage, Bargaining: my include promises to God in exchange for an extension of life, following by the wish for a few days without pain or physical discomfort. The promise is rarely kept.
Fourth stage, Depression: the patient begins to realize that a mistake was not made, and the prognosis is not good. The patient realizes that meaningful things of life will be lost as death approaches. They become sad.
Fifth stage, Acceptance: the patient accepts death as a sure outcome. The patients is not happy but he or she has accept it.

Her five stages do have critics. One reason is that not all patients go through the stages in the order she said they will. While we was reading the stages I started to think do the people around the dying patients go through the same stages too. I ask this because when my aunt died I believe I went through about two or three of those stages myself.

Death "Causes" Death?

When I hear this, I wonder does it really happen? I have never seen a person die just because another person had die. Sure I seen it on television or read it in books but I have never seen somebody I know did this. So, I wonder do it really happens? Some classmates in my Death and Dying class have said they have seen it. As I am write this I start to wonder do I really want to know if this can happen. It just be too sad to see a person die like that, but there is that little voice in my head saying to me you still want to know. -__-

Personified Death

Soon in class we are going to talk about how young people personified death. How they represent death as a living person or some variation such as an angel, a skeleton, or etc. It is believe that only younger children would believe this but there are studies that the personification of death is present to some extent through all ages of people. Here are some examples of pictures that I think personified death:

The first drawing is from deviantART.com by Jarling-art call Mister Death and the second drawing is from Macky J. Gallego multiply.com page.

Good Death,tombstone,and Obituary

What would be a good Death for me?

I know everybody says this but a good death for me would be to just died in my sleep. I do not want to died in a exciting way. I would liked to just have a good time with my family or friends the day before and than pass on in my sleep from eating something bad.

______________________________________________________________________

What would my tombstone say?

Here lie

______ _______

Beloved Daughter

and Sister

_____________________________________________________________________

My Obituary:

______ _______, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. _______ _______, was born in Florence County on August 5, 1986, in the Effingham Community. She departed this life on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at her home.

She recived her formal education at Dewey L. Carter elementary and South Florence High school, in Florence,SC. She was attending Francis Marion Univerity for her higher education. At a early age, she became a member of Pamplico Holy Church of Hyman,SC.

She leaves to cherish her fond memories: her mother and father:______ _____ and ______ _____;one brother and sister:______ ______ and ______ ______; grandparents: Mr. and Mrs.______ and Mrs.______ ______; and a host of uncles, aunts, other relatives and friends.