The Dying Time: Practical Wisdom for the Dying & Their Caregivers

"One of the best books available on caring for the dying, The Dying Time combines deep insight and down-to-earth practicality. All caregivers need to know what's between these covers. This book demystifies the process of death, yet honors the sacredness of life's final transition. Highly recommended."

Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Prayer Is Good Medicine

"Living until we die can be difficult. This book can guide you through that time. It is practical, spiritual, and filled with wisdom."

Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles

Here is a comprehensive and thorough handbook for the dying and their caregivers. Joan Furman and David McNabb walk the reader through the dying time, providing details on how to make the environment conducive to peace and tranquillity, give physical care, understand and respond to the emotional and spiritual crises that naturally occur, and stay healthy as a caregiver. They answer with honesty and sensitivity the questions most frequently asked, such as what actually happens at the time of death. The book also deals with arranging for a meaningful memorial service and handling grief for those who are left behind. And it offers guided imagery for coping with pain and suggests literature and music to ease the passage of those whose health is irreversibly failing.

All of us would prefer to die quietly at home and remain in control until the end. Furman and McNabb look honestly at how this can be achieved and what to do if it cannot. They provide information on making the different options work for you: the rights and responsibilities of the dying, the use of medical equipment in the home, the creation of a healing and supportive environment (light, color, music, touch, food, visitors), physical care (choosing a bed, preventing bed sores, giving a bed bath, feeding a dying person), and spiritual care (dealing with isolation, distress, and grief).

The authors show ways to help the dying deal with changes in the appearance and function of the body, use guided imagery for pain, approach the moment of death, and review life as a whole so that there can be healing in closure. For the caregiver, they offer practical advice on shock, denial, guilt, self-forgiveness, anger, fear, sadness, and burnout. Suggestions are made for appropriate and useful things to say and do as death approaches. There are chapters on grief and on memorial and funeral services, including a section on problems encountered in nontraditional families when there is an argument as to who should be in charge. Plus an appendix with suggestions for reading, music, obituaries, and a foot reflexology chart!

that addresses equally the concerns of those who are dying and those who have committed themselves to meeting their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. The choice of home, hospital, or hospice care, the importance of basic nursing skills, and recognizing the signs of a failing body are all considered with frankness and sensitivity.