“The odds of anything going sideways are less than one in a hundred,” the cardiologist said.
I was only half listening—too busy signing the papers indemnifying the Medical Colossus against any undue outcomes from my pending cardiac catheterization and probable stent placement.
“Less than one in a hundred,” he repeated.
No problem, I thought.
The day began in Mom’s room with a 10:00 am conference at Upper Valley Medical Center, west of Columbus, Ohio. In attendance were my ninety-three-year-old mother Joanne (now in her third week of hospitalization), her palliative-care nurse Richard, her Episcopal priest Mother Nancy and myself.
Prayers of Passage Read More »
Jef Gamblee
About the artist:
Jef Gamblee is a hospice chaplain from Westerville, Ohio. He first appeared in Pulse in December 2014. Jef is a second-career ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, having spent twenty-five years in commercial and corporate television as a director of photography. He keeps his hand in still photography to maintain his sanity.
About the artwork:
“As a hospice chaplain, I frequently visit adults with dementia who live in the ‘memory units’ of assisted-living facilities. On one such visit, my last of the day, I went to see a very sweet woman whom I hoped was stable. It was clear when I arrived that she was dying, and that I wasn’t going to make my grandson’s fifth birthday party. Walking to my car after she died, I took this photo. The light and the empty lot seemed to underscore my life story at that moment.”
I Missed His Birthday, Again Read More »
Jef Gamblee
As I stand beside the bed in Mr. Jerome’s living room, his pit bull puppy sniffs the body bag lying on a stretcher nearby. His cat curls up on the bedside shelf.
“That dog gonna be a problem?” asks Jude, one of the crematory guys.
“She might get underfoot,” says the neighbor, whose name I can’t remember. “But she’s a lover, not a fighter.”
Jude and Chuck are here to pick up Mr. Jerome, who died of prostate cancer today. His body lies on the bed–the wasted husk of a once lively, athletic man who had taught history in a New Jersey middle school.
I’m a hospice chaplain; Mr. Jerome was my client. I’d known him for about six months.
Casting Out Demons Read More »
© 2024 Pulse - Voices from the Heart of Medicine, Inc. All rights reserved.
