Hi Bill…I’ve been following your journey from the beginning and I’m humbled to have read your latest post tonight. I’m fortunate to have gone to high school with Kathleen or I would never have had the privilege of following your story. I’m not nearly as eloquent a writer as you, but I speak from the heart. I’ve been so touched about following your path that I have often screen shoot some of your posts for future reference. I’ve learned so much through your eyes as a doctor and your religious beliefs. I have had the privilege of providing care for children and the beginning of their lives and dream about what the future will be like. I’ve also been witness to two palliative care endings of life. I hope that when it’s my time that it’s with the people that I love and that I’m not alone. Having said all of this, I hope you keep fighting,. Sending healing thought and a HUGE hug! And a big hug to Kathleen. Take care… Deborah Toogood
Is think when we are young we are stirred by the words expressed by Dylan Thomas "do not go gentle into that good night" and it takes a while to realize that we are all dying at some rate or other. I have seen humans who went into a cognitive decline and seemed pleasantly indifferent to it and at a certain point stopped eating and then slipped away. If one could achieve the slipping away without the loss of cognition maybe that would make dying easier, but who gets that choice? Whatever you decide I suspect your family will support you and it will be the right decision. Thinking about you
The decision is yours. You have the intellect to weigh the pros and cons. I do ask that you give antidepressants a try before deciding. I have long felt that antidepressants would make a difference in one’s senior years as health diminishes. The mind needs to be strong in order to view hardship as just something to work around. Depression clouds the mind and makes the hardship enormous and unbearable. I am very sorry you are suffering, but glad that you have your writing and your time with your loved ones. Thank you for your gift to others with your writing. A big hug to you. My thoughts are with you.
I remember when my father died. I wasn’t sure what he endured in his final days—he couldn’t eat because of his liver cancer. But before he passed, on Father’s Day 2007, he took the time to speak with us. He said, “Laura, I’ve always loved you.” He also told me he had been praying, which brought peace to my heart, and he seemed to find peace as well. I never thought I would be there to witness his final breath, but I sat with him as he took it.
Your honesty, vulnerability, and allowing others such as myself to travel this journey with you has been a ray of light in my own life challenges. Thank you Bill. For whatever lies ahead, I hope that you will have meaningful time with your loved ones and that when the time comes you and your family will be ready to cross that bridge together. Always in my thoughts💚
The way of Love is not a subtle argument.
The door there is devastation.
Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom.
How do they learn this?
They fall.
And falling, they're given wings.
Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
Thank you, Bill. Your writing on your journey, as always, is compelling.
❤️
"So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
William Cullen Bryant
Hi Bill…I’ve been following your journey from the beginning and I’m humbled to have read your latest post tonight. I’m fortunate to have gone to high school with Kathleen or I would never have had the privilege of following your story. I’m not nearly as eloquent a writer as you, but I speak from the heart. I’ve been so touched about following your path that I have often screen shoot some of your posts for future reference. I’ve learned so much through your eyes as a doctor and your religious beliefs. I have had the privilege of providing care for children and the beginning of their lives and dream about what the future will be like. I’ve also been witness to two palliative care endings of life. I hope that when it’s my time that it’s with the people that I love and that I’m not alone. Having said all of this, I hope you keep fighting,. Sending healing thought and a HUGE hug! And a big hug to Kathleen. Take care… Deborah Toogood
Is think when we are young we are stirred by the words expressed by Dylan Thomas "do not go gentle into that good night" and it takes a while to realize that we are all dying at some rate or other. I have seen humans who went into a cognitive decline and seemed pleasantly indifferent to it and at a certain point stopped eating and then slipped away. If one could achieve the slipping away without the loss of cognition maybe that would make dying easier, but who gets that choice? Whatever you decide I suspect your family will support you and it will be the right decision. Thinking about you
The decision is yours. You have the intellect to weigh the pros and cons. I do ask that you give antidepressants a try before deciding. I have long felt that antidepressants would make a difference in one’s senior years as health diminishes. The mind needs to be strong in order to view hardship as just something to work around. Depression clouds the mind and makes the hardship enormous and unbearable. I am very sorry you are suffering, but glad that you have your writing and your time with your loved ones. Thank you for your gift to others with your writing. A big hug to you. My thoughts are with you.
I remember when my father died. I wasn’t sure what he endured in his final days—he couldn’t eat because of his liver cancer. But before he passed, on Father’s Day 2007, he took the time to speak with us. He said, “Laura, I’ve always loved you.” He also told me he had been praying, which brought peace to my heart, and he seemed to find peace as well. I never thought I would be there to witness his final breath, but I sat with him as he took it.
Thank you so much for your writings! Laura Bacon
Your honesty, vulnerability, and allowing others such as myself to travel this journey with you has been a ray of light in my own life challenges. Thank you Bill. For whatever lies ahead, I hope that you will have meaningful time with your loved ones and that when the time comes you and your family will be ready to cross that bridge together. Always in my thoughts💚
A very thoughtful and moving commentary - thank you. You are in my prayers every day. 🙏