Should you tell your child he or she is dying?

This has to be the hardest conversation to be had.
I am glad this research was done. I hope this is helpful reading.


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/canjclin.55.1.2/pdf

End of Life Process Websites

This is a list I will be adding to as I come across web pages. Please feel free to reply with helpful links.

http://www.hospicefoundation.org/endoflife

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/endoflifeissues.html  

http://assuringyourwishes.org/communication_endoflife_wishes.php

http://www.emergencycareforyou.org/EmergencyManual/EndOfLife/Default.aspx?id=1794

Pain: The most universal, base level, strongest emotion

Two weeks ago, I heard a  great speaker talk about our mortality and God's eternal purposes. We are grass fading and flower falling, and we fit into God's eternal plan for His loving kingdom. There were other great parts to the message, but what caught my attention was the mention of our mortality. Perhaps it is because I have suffered much in life, or so others say. Loss, death has been part of my experience. For many death does not significantly touches their lives until adulthood.

This interest and fascination of mine with the dying (or living) process has lately prompted me to reflect about pain. Pain fascinates me and horrifies me. The current research about pain's individual pathways in our bodies and how pain signals are carried and translated into the sensations we feel is nothing short of mind blowing. There are categories of pain. In healthcare one speaks mostly of 1. physical pain, 2. emotional pain and 3. spiritual pain.

Physical pain starts at....birth? Is pain what prompts the baby to cry? Is discomfort pain? When I feel cold and uncomfortable does that translate to pain in my brain? When the baby is removed from the comfortable, warm womb, does he or she experience pain?

When does emotional pain start? Are there differences between what we call emotional pain and what we call suffering?

If pain is the strongest and most abundant emotion in the world, does it provide a stronger bond when shared?

If pain is a protective mechanism our bodies have to protect us from serious injury, is emotional and spiritual pain also designed to contribute to our wholeness?

The pain I speak of here is not "evil" pain, meaning pain brought upon one willingly. As in flagellation or masochism of any sort. But pain that occurs as we move through life, not directly invited.

In the mind-body connection field that is much work to be done. If you come across some mind blowing research please feel free to post the link or findings.