life, death, both

Wow -- 47 degrees this morning. Still haven't admitted that fall is barrelling down on us, so I haven't started closing the windows at night. I will admit to a small bit of decadence, though. I turned my floor on this morning. I have a heated floor in the new bathroom and I'm very much looking forward to taking a shower in a few minutes and stepping out on warm tile. Toasty toes.

Daniel is still with us, "stable," as my correspondant calls it. I assume that means that he's still unresponsive. But they're giving him platelets and dialysis. There's a plea for blood and platelet donations, but even though it's for Daniel, I'm not sure I can do it. I often think of other things to do (besides feel massively guilty) around blood donation time, so maybe I'll think of something this time too.

Oh, and I hope NOT speaking of which, there was a great article in the paper yesterday about hospice, an institution I think a lot about. Traditionally, hospice has been reserved for people who have gotten to the point in their disease that they can turn away from healing and move toward dying. So entering treatment typically means no longer receiving treatment except for comfort care. But it also means that people often don't get a lot out of hospice services because they sign up so late in the process -- often in the last week of their lives. (I actually knew someone who was in hospice for just a week, another person who was there for just a few days.)

The new trend is to allow some overlap -- some treatment along with preparation for possible end of life. I think this is a healthy approach; I remember long conversations with one friend about living his life on two paths -- preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. This approach seemed to help a lot. He could work on getting better while still putting his affairs in order. Toward the end, he didn't have to scramble; everything was in order.

I hope this new trend takes off. We rarely see things in black and white. It's too hard to predict the future, for one thing. Miracles DO happen, and hope is such an integral part of living a full life, even at the end of that life.