Cuzco-Brand Mind Reading

I chose to read and respond to Deirdre Sullivan’s essay, Always Go to the Funeral. In her writing, Sullivan spoke about her experiences with death, and how her father shaped her life by insisting that she always attend funerals. She went on to explain how this developed into a personal philosophy, about getting over small inconveniences; because doing the things you really don’t want to and probably don’t even have to, could mean the world to someone else.

Talking or writing about death, dying, or suicide when these actions are out of the ordinary for the person

The common theme that I found throughout these three articles was our ability to handle the topic of death. People (at least I know I personally do this) tend to side step the topic of death. We use terms such as “passed away” or “aren’t with us anymore” in order to sugarcoat the true reality of the situation. “Die” to us just sounds so harsh and terrifying. Not only do we phrase death in certain ways, but we also tend to ignore the facts. Wolff talks about how we all know how we are going to end up: we all have subconsciously acknowledged that it is highly likely that we will end up in a hospital bed somewhere unable to remember our closest friends and family. However, we put this in the back of our mind and do not think about it. This is

My own loss sparked a desire to help others through tough times. I therefore began volunteering at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, where I consoled people going through those times, and let them disclose their feelings with tears and words the way I needed to when I was in their shoes. Unfortunately, I also met people who were dying and had no visitors to support them through their death. For instance, I visited a woman on several occasions and shared a few laughs and stories with her. She ultimately died from C. difficile over a period of three weeks in the hospital. At those moments, I was glad patients like her had someone with them, even if I was a stranger to them. Still, there were much happier occasions where families learned their sons and daughters and parents were alive, recovering, or asking for their company. Through all this, I recognized the fear and pain they felt, and helped them move forward. Care, compassion, and empathy are all

Their parents asked Johan and me to give the Eulogy at the funeral. A little part of me wanted to say No, because I felt that it was my fault that they were dead.

In this life, as humans, we have to face the fact that death will happen to everyone. It’s just something we have to deal with. Although it’s not easy, it’s possible. Everyone will have their own way in coping with it. But some people turn to their bad habits when in the process of mourning for their lost loved one.

I think about the new routines she developed, like how she would visit the cemetery on Sunday mornings. I think about how much they meant to each other and how they supported each other. I think about them sitting and having intimate dinners, joyous movie nights, and celebratory anniversaries. I assume these things because of how devastated she is from the loss of her husband. I can only hope that she continues to find comfort in the memories she shared and is able to hold them as part of herself and carry them as a form of strength. Any loss, it is hard to imagine it ever becoming easy. I use this thought to contextualize my future interactions with families of the patients I will encounter and reflect upon it to give me a glimpse of how I would want my physician treating me in such vulnerable

In addition, the patient has self-harmed and consumed alcohol. Therefore, it can be concluded that the family, possibly even the community, has gone into ‘sorry business’ (Thackrah, Scott & Winch, 2011). Sorry business is a cultural response to death, providing a process for the family and community to express grief, questions, answers, retribution and reconciliation (Thackrah, Scott & Winch, 2011). There are three phases in sorry business. Thackrah, Scott and Winch (2011) recognise phase one as the family coming together for support at a time of need. Phase two focuses on grief, this may result in doing harm to their bodies through cutting or stabbing themselves, drinking to excess, hitting their heads or fighting. Blood from sorry cuts flow to join with those who were lost (Thackrah, Scott & Winch, 2011). This is a normal grieving process for Aboriginal communities and paramedics should refrain from questioning these actions, Elders will give guidance and explain feelings, providing reassurance for these actions (Thackrah, Scott & Winch, 2011). Finally, phase three allows for mourning, this can last up to two weeks or longer. Black clothes may be worn and hair cut short, this can continue right up to the funeral (sometimes continues after, up to two or three years) until they ‘finish up’ (Thackrah, Scott & Winch,

I've never been good with grieving, as you can probably tell. Everybody's concered about me which pisses me off. Nobody was concered about him when he spent his birthday in the hospital. Nobody was concered about him when he went missing for three days.

(Page 135). One must think back and realize that the only reason the family is receiving so much money is because their loved one died. When they are talking about spending this money, it is like they are talking about spending Mama’s deceased

I had been asked to say a eulogy at the funeral, but I declined almost immediately. I can't go up there and talk about Laura when I know I was the reason she was murdered.

Clive explains that if someone were to call Lifeline while they were committing suicide, according to Lifeline policy, the employee “would respect that person’s right to die” (Davies 148). Clive declares this as impressive to him, although he is hesitant to agree. Lifeline trains him to not give advice to callers, including those who ask for it. Clive elaborates that Lifeline’s reasoning is “callers don’t want to hear about you, about your opinions or your troubles. They’ve got troubles of their own.

This is where Gilroy comes in. You've done your best to organise a succesful funeral vent, so that you can pay your respects to your love one, and that in itself is a milestone. The last thing you should have to worry about is forcing yourself to navigate through traffic, as you morn the loss of your loved ones.

Forget what you see on TV and the movies. Everybody reacts a little differently to news of deceased relatives.

My grandmother wanted to discuss how financial security and wellbeing matters for her family would continue to thrive after she went to heaven. I agreed with Kubler-Ross when she mentioned that this action not only served the interests of the patient (my grandmother), but of the whole family's defensiveness. My grandmother was fairly hostile when she was in the pain before her death. Kubler-Ross mentions that as the family reacts personally to this anger, they respond with increasing anger on their part, only feeding into the patient's hostile behavior (65). Another important quote from the section on anger states, Nobody can put on frosting when you are hurting (85). This is true for many people. It seems that if one is feeling angry and upset, surely enough the wheel of anger will revolve around to those around them. They show examples of the importance of our tolerance to others rational or irrational not only in dealing with terminal patients. Our ability to listen to others will help to express the needs (such as comfort) of the dying patient. Many times, the reason for dying is associated with bargaining for more time. I am certain that through the whole process my grandmother thought, if only I had done this differently, maybe God would give me more time to clean up my act and change my behavior. I feel we can learn a lot from this section in our day-to-day lives. We all ask our individual if only and if we are struck with an illness, we fight for