Tea at Trianon: Dying at Home

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Dying at Home

How one family came together to care for their dying mother. To quote:

When Teresa Pilarski, 86, died of breast cancer at her daughter's Toronto-area home on April 12, the family said they wanted to respect the frail woman's wishes not to treat the cancer and to spend her final days as comfortable as possible in a familiar setting. Daughter Dorothy Pilarski called the at-home palliative care from myriad professionals an "outstanding" complement to the support of family members and friends.

"She did express a tremendous amount of gratitude and a tremendous amount of affection, and that kept us going," Dorothy Pilarski said, her voice breaking with emotion.

The experience was so rewarding that the family wants to encourage others to consider the option. Pilarski's physician, Dr. Harvey Pasternak, said the goal is to control symptoms with less anxiety to the patient and to their family.

CIHI also reported that 30 per cent of rural residents with cancer had multiple hospital admissions in their last four weeks of life, compared to 20 per cent of the urban residents. Multiple hospital visits near the end of life can be difficult for individuals and their caregivers, when compared with care received at home, in a nursing home or a hospice, Morris acknowledged.

"Anything that can be done to improve the consistency of care and co-ordination would be very helpful," she said.

Strengthening services outside the hospital system, such as through family doctors, hospice care or support in the home, are all possibilities, Morris said. (Read entire article.)