Loving Choices, Peaceful Passing
Why My Family Chose Hospice
There is no guidebook for when, and how, to stop treatment of a terminal illness. Offered here is an intimate account of how the myriad end-of-life decisions affect a family. Bob Vallee had the courage to accept his impending death and lived out his final days at home in his daughter’s care. He passed peacefully, in his sleep, twenty-nine days after entering hospice.
At the heart of this deeply reflective narrative about choices in living and dying, the reader finds a story of acceptance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and finally awe for the utter fragility of life.
Peace is a place that lies between what is lost and what still remains. Kathleen Vallee Stein presents a lens-shifting view of role reversal as she takes on more, and sometimes unexpected, responsibility for her parents. Her service to her father was a gift of love and gave him the dignity we all deserve in the last days of our lives. A truly skilled writer, Stein’s attention to detail sensitively recaptures events, without falling prey to nostalgia.
Read this book to consider choices you may make for yourself or the ones you love.
At the heart of this deeply reflective narrative about choices in living and dying, the reader finds a story of acceptance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and finally awe for the utter fragility of life.
Peace is a place that lies between what is lost and what still remains. Kathleen Vallee Stein presents a lens-shifting view of role reversal as she takes on more, and sometimes unexpected, responsibility for her parents. Her service to her father was a gift of love and gave him the dignity we all deserve in the last days of our lives. A truly skilled writer, Stein’s attention to detail sensitively recaptures events, without falling prey to nostalgia.
Read this book to consider choices you may make for yourself or the ones you love.
Amazon customer review, May 2, 2019
Ms. Stein's own experience provides a window into how to solve problems (of mortality, of caring for a loved one, of the terrors and rewards of responsibility) that will eventually come to many of us. In doing so she provides us with the understanding and knowledge that we CAN handle the emotional ups and downs and the choices we may have to make as our parents become less able to manage their own care.
It is written in an honest, easy, almost conversational style that brings us into her own family experience. She does not sugar coat the story of her own family, yet I didn't want to stop reading even though this chapter in life can be uncomfortable at best. A great contribution to the subject. Very well done!
Ms. Stein's own experience provides a window into how to solve problems (of mortality, of caring for a loved one, of the terrors and rewards of responsibility) that will eventually come to many of us. In doing so she provides us with the understanding and knowledge that we CAN handle the emotional ups and downs and the choices we may have to make as our parents become less able to manage their own care.
It is written in an honest, easy, almost conversational style that brings us into her own family experience. She does not sugar coat the story of her own family, yet I didn't want to stop reading even though this chapter in life can be uncomfortable at best. A great contribution to the subject. Very well done!