Death is the one certain thing in each of our lives. It holds the most mystery, the least certainty, and often the most discomfort and fear of anything we encounter. When someone we know receives a terminal diagnosis and reaches their end of life, we may ask new questions. What’s it like? Do they understand what is happening? How do we help them? A practicing physician for over 30 years, Dr. Martha Calihan has helped many patients and families through the process of preparing to say goodbye to a loved one. But when it came time to do it for her husband, it felt very different. Join Dr. Martha Calihan in A Death Lived as she explores the questions of: How do you help your loved one approach the dying process? At what point does medical care become futile? How do you make the decision to stop treatment and begin palliative and hospice care? What happens when we die? Through her dual vantage points of wife and physician, Dr. Calihan takes us on the journey of her husband's final illness and death, and how they, as a family, mindfully navigated this most difficult of challenges. She explores these issues on a personal and professional level, while weaving in the mystical aspects of dying as she witnessed them.

A Death Lived

Book Cover: A Death Lived
Part of the grief & loss series:
  • A Death Lived

Death is the one certain thing in each of our lives. It holds the most mystery, the least certainty, and often the most discomfort and fear of anything we encounter. When someone we know receives a terminal diagnosis and reaches their end of life, we may ask new questions. What’s it like? Do they understand what is happening? How do we help them?

A practicing physician for over 30 years, Dr. Martha Calihan has helped many patients and families through the process of preparing to say goodbye to a loved one. But when it came time to do it for her husband, it felt very different.

Join Dr. Martha Calihan in A Death Lived as she explores the questions of:

  • How do you help your loved one approach the dying process?
  • At what point does medical care become futile?
  • How do you make the decision to stop treatment and begin palliative and hospice care?
  • What happens when we die?

Through her dual vantage points of wife and physician, Dr. Calihan takes us on the journey of her husband's final illness and death, and how they, as a family, mindfully navigated this most difficult of challenges. She explores these issues on a personal and professional level, while weaving in the mystical aspects of dying as she witnessed them.

Published:
Publisher: 2022
Genres:

A Death Lived

by Martha Calihan, MD