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Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll
notBastet:
Been doing some thinking... (always scary, I know)
One of the reasons Ennis moving on is important to me -
I'm a veterinarian. I mostly work with families who's pets have cancer, or are otherwise very ill. It is quite an experience bonding with my clients and my patients, helping the family reach a decision about what to do. Treatments are sometimes available, and are sometimes prolonged. Sometimes there is no treatment. For every patient and family there is a relationship with me. As you would imagine, it usually eventually comes time to let the patient go. Euthanasia is a wonderful thing, but for me, it can also be a horrible thing. It is a wonderful gift for me and the family to let the pet pass peacefully without suffering. But I lose something every time I take a life away, and I grieve. And then, of course, there are the patients that die unexpectedly while you are trying to help them. Sometimes there is time to feel the grief, other times there are too many other patients to try and help. If I was to let my grief overwhelm me, I could not survive. So I have to believe that Ennis has it within himself to heal and move on.
Okay sorry to be depressing. I'll repost a delectable picture after I read the chapter.
notBastet:
--- Quote from: Lucise on July 23, 2006, 12:36:44 pm ---A repost in honor of the boys earlier fancy activities...
:o
--- End quote ---
louisev:
--- Quote from: notBastet on July 30, 2006, 05:51:36 pm ---Been doing some thinking... (always scary, I know)
One of the reasons Ennis moving on is important to me -
I'm a veterinarian. I mostly work with families who's pets have cancer, or are otherwise very ill. It is quite an experience bonding with my clients and my patients, helping the family reach a decision about what to do. Treatments are sometimes available, and are sometimes prolonged. Sometimes there is no treatment. For every patient and family there is a relationship with me. As you would imagine, it usually eventually comes time to let the patient go. Euthanasia is a wonderful thing, but for me, it can also be a horrible thing. It is a wonderful gift for me and the family to let the pet pass peacefully without suffering. But I lose something every time I take a life away, and I grieve. And then, of course, there are the patients that die unexpectedly while you are trying to help them. Sometimes there is time to feel the grief, other times there are too many other patients to try and help. If I was to let my grief overwhelm me, I could not survive. So I have to believe that Ennis has it within himself to heal and move on.
Okay sorry to be depressing. I'll repost a delectable picture after I read the chapter.
--- End quote ---
Actually Kelly I think your comments and observations are very true to the psychology of moving on. You deal with the real world of sick and dying pets and loved companions, and death is a part of life... a part we cannot deny happens if we want to be healthy human beings. And dealing with death appropriately is a crucial theme in the Laramie Saga... moving on and processing grief. And I thank you for sharing all of that... it was not depressing at all, but very real and understandable.
MaineWriter:
--- Quote from: louisev on July 30, 2006, 06:25:57 pm ---Actually Kelly I think your comments and observations are very true to the psychology of moving on. You deal with the real world of sick and dying pets and loved companions, and death is a part of life... a part we cannot deny happens if we want to be healthy human beings. And dealing with death appropriately is a crucial theme in the Laramie Saga... moving on and processing grief. And I thank you for sharing all of that... it was not depressing at all, but very real and understandable.
--- End quote ---
As a nurse who has done a fair amount of work in hospice (one of the journals I edit is "The Journal of Hospice and Pallliative Nursing"), I'll chime in with my 2 cents. Kelly and Louise both make very good points. After many families go through a dying process with a loved one, they find that the opportunity to share that experience is, in an of itself, a gift itself. They learn that death is not something to be feared but just another of life's transitions, something to experience and learn from. Unfortunately, not all families have this opportunity, for whatever reason. Ellery was very perceptive when he said, early on, that if Jack had died of cancer, Ennis might have had some time to process that. But the way Jack died, plust the total secrecy of their relationship, did not give Ennis any opportunity to grieve in a "normal" and appropriate way. Ellery has given Ennis that, 2+ years after the fact and it has made Ennis a more mature and insightful person.
I think that Ennis appreciates and understands this on some level. As time goes on and their relationship becomes more firmly established, Ennis will understand more, and perhaps even be able to articulate this to others...I am thinking, specifically, of Junior.
Leslie
laurel:
Thank you, Louise, for the new chapters. I am still absolutely loving this story! I'm glad your day is going better than it was.
Thank you, Kelly and Leslie, for sharing your insights on working with dying patients and their families. That you both have real life experience in this area, and you also appreciate Louise's story, is a tribute to just how "right" she is getting it.
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