"Write Your Best Chapter"

Palliative is from the Latin word pallium, which means cloak. When patients receive palliative care, they are cloaked with care and comfort as they receive focused pain and symptom management. I think there is another way we can cloak ourselves: To practice gratitude. In this Thanksgiving episode, I share with you two ways you can live a more grateful existence. It is my appreciation for your presence in this space. Mahalo!

'Name is Bond. James Bond'. Who does not get goose bumps when they hear those words? Yet when Sean Connery died last month, I had to ask myself: Did I know if he was still alive? There certainly was no mention or sighting of him. His wife released a statement that said he had dementia and it took its toll on him. "It was no life for him. He was not able to express himself in any way." She was happy he died in his sleep. Just how he wanted to die. Peaceful. At home.

As physicians, we often talk about 'Do No Harm'. We also know that culturally we associate feeding loved ones as loving them. Can these two ideas go against one another? Are there situations when inadvertently we feed our loved ones to death? When patients with end stage dementia are unable to swallow their food, how do we help family see that they are getting to the end of their road? Talking about the benefits of pleasure feeding by mouth, as opposed to artificial nutrition by tubes, tackles these emotional situations.

Hear the story of a patient who loved life so much that she wanted to live it her way until the very end. In this very special episode, we will listen to Dr. Deming from the last episode with her patient's daughter talk about Patsy. She was a fiercely independent woman who was very clear about her wishes. She was clear as to how she wanted to end her last chapter. Listening without judgment opens our minds.

I am very excited to share my special guest's story on the podcast: Dr. Katie Deming, who practices radiation oncology in the Pacific Northwest. As a doctor treating female patients with breast and gynecological cancer with radiation, she makes deep connections with her cancer patients. Listen to her story as how having volunteered in a hospice home led her to where she is today. We ponder whether the right questions are being asked during medical school application process to get the correct candidates care for our humanity. She shares her unique story with us on this podcast.

Patients with serious illness often want to know how much time they have left to live. It helps them plan. How to live the rest of their lives on their own terms. Do they want to keep coming back and forth to the hospital? Or do they want to spend the rest of their lives at home instead? We talk about prognosis discussions when it is not a timed based focus but rather functional or unpredictable prognosis.

We are sometimes asked by our patients about their prognosis. How much time do they have? While we may never know the exact answer to that question, we often have an estimate. Is it helpful to share that information with the patients? Can we assume that they actually want to know? In this episode, which is the first of two part series, I will share with you how to best approach those questions so that patients get to choose the right options based on the information at hand. I also share what not to do to protect our patients' fragile state of mind.

We often make assumptions about people. People often make assumptions about us. How do they make their assumptions? Are those right or wrong assumptions? Could it be because of how we live our lives? Is there a disconnect between what matters to us and how we live our day to day lives? Is it possible that if we lived our life on purpose and mindfully, when our time comes, we would be more ready to leave this world? Do we struggle to connect with other people because we misread them altogether?

Can you pause to learn what's most important even in the Emergency Room? My first guest is an ER physician who is also a board certified palliative care physician. Dr. Kate Aberger tells us her story of how she came to practice medicine the best way she knows how. She tells us how you can always have a medical pause when stakes are high.I am very excited to let her share her highs and lows of life in the front line caring for the living and the dying.

Can you pause to learn what's most important even in the Emergency Room? My first guest is an ER physician who is also a board certified palliative care physician.  Dr. Kate Aberger tells us her story of how she came to practice medicine the best way she knows how. She tells us how you can always have a medical pause when stakes are high.I am very excited to let her share her highs and lows of life in the front line caring for the living and the dying.