Grief | Grieving | Death of a Child

For the past few days I’ve been walking around feeling like there’s a big weight hanging over me ready to fall at any moment. Getting things done has been a chore. Making plans beyond the next day has taken all of my willpower. It feels as though my life is on hold and that I’m just waiting. Read the rest of this entry »

In this article, I will outline key points my fellow hospice team members and I have observed in our day to day work.. I have worked over 12 years as a Spiritual Counselor in Hospice Care. Each person teaches me something, though it is I who is supposed to minister to them in the final moments. For my colleagues and I, working in hospice is an ongoing challenge and learning experience, that presents us with learning of the deepest kind - on a soul level. In this article, I share with you the perspectives of my colleagues and myself, at a Hospice Center in Read the rest of this entry »

Many, many questions arise in our minds when someone close to us is seriously ill. It takes a while to realize that these questions do not have one answer. They have many answers, appear in different ways, and may have different impacts on us at different times. In a sense a finger is being pointed in our direction. These questions are demanding a response.. We cannot be free from answering. Life itself is demanding a reply. Read the rest of this entry »

Recipient of 2003 Pediatric Nursing’s Humanitarian Award to be interviews by “Healing the Grieving Heart” Hosts, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley on November 30, 2006.

New York, New York and San Francisco, California (PRWEB) November 26, 2006 – Deborah Dokken, MPA, co-investigator with The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC) will join Drs. Gloria & Heidi Horsley on their nationally syndicated talk radio program “Healing the Grieving Heart” November 30th, 9 AM PST/12 Noon EST.

“End of life care and anticipatory grief are so important to our audience. You can’t ever really prepare for losing a child, but you can educate yourself about the process, the resources available and hopefully ease the strain on everyone involved. We feel fortunate to have one of the country’s foremost experts joining us on this important topic,” said Dr. Heidi Horsley, co-host of Healing the Grieving Heart.
Since the losses of two infants and the premature birth of her son, Jeremy, Ms Dokken has been involved for several years in programs and projects to improve family support and family participation in health care. Ms. Dokken was the co-founder of a nonprofit community-based organization, Partners in Intensive Care, and was a founding member of the Parent Partners Group in the neonatal intensive care unit at The George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Read the rest of this entry »

Ask most people what they know about Palliative Care and they will inevitably reply that it is intended for those who are dying. Undeniably, Palliative Care is available to support families at this sad time, however their services are equally intended to provide physical, emotional and spiritual support to the patient and their families as they journey through terminal illness. Read the rest of this entry »

My father died from lung cancer on January third, 2005. After entering a nursing facility for rehab, we soon discovered that he had stage four small-cell lung cancer. He lived for three and one-half weeks after his diagnosis.

While January third never had any signficance before, it now holds signficance for me that I would never have imagined.

The words to the poem describe how one often feels about the anniversary of a person’s death. Read the rest of this entry »