Review of Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying
by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley
Can you imagine how you would feel if your death were
imminent? What would you fear? Look forward to? What would you regret? Need?
Not many of us could anticipate our answers to these
questions. Plus, everyone’s answers would be somewhat different. Yet it’s likely
we’ll be attending a loved one whose death is near. How can we empathize? Since
the loved one has not experienced this before, he or she is not practiced in
communicating all the above feelings, so how can we interpret what he or she
does say?
In Final Gifts, experienced
hospice workers Callanan and Kelley help us read between the lines of our loved
ones dreams, odd-sounding requests, and nonsensical utterings. They warn us not
to dismiss such communication as simply confused. And they educate us in the
language of nearing death awareness and help us understand the manifestations
of grief in others and ourselves. Through stories of compassionate interactions
of family, hospice workers, and dying people, we learn how to make our dying
loved ones’ last days with us more meaningful.
Posts
