no dialysis

dying to be heard

Carlos Garcia in the weeks before me, I read about how they had spent considerable time telling him about dialysis and how they recommended that he start dialysis as soon as possible or he would soon die. I read how they had spent even more time trying to get him to agree to do it after he had adamantly refused time and time again.

what the family wants

It was December. Mr. S was well into his 80s and had been trying to die all year. A clot in the lung here. A stop of the heart there. But his best effort to date began simply enough with a trip to the bathroom to brush his teeth. A loud thud brought his wife in to find him lying in the bathroom floor.

what we could have done

The old woman died. I heard she slept more and more of the days away until one day she stopped talking and eating in the awake moments. Then her breathing slowed and her breaths shallowed until she stopped breathing altogether.