Posts

  • Cardiac Advances Versus Patient Benefit: A Moral Dilemma

    My story, Closing the Door, recently published in Stories That Need to be Told: A Tulip Tree Anthology, tells of the emergence some fifty years ago of cardiac catheterization, artificial heart valves and cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how I, as a young nurse, had to make sense of the advancement of technology versus patient benefit. This… Read more

  • Happy Lasagna Day

                My husband and I are spending Thanksgiving alone—by choice. We had been invited out but graciously declined. After having three sets of houseguests in six weeks, we are happy to be alone. By the way, the house has never been cleaner. And we broke from the traditional Thanksgiving dinner—we… Read more

  • 80 year-old male model

    As a retired gerontological nurse practitioner and a woman dealing with my own aging, I am always happy to read about successful aging. This one comes all the way from China. I hope you enjoy 80 year-old Wang Deshun’s story as much as I did.   An 80-Year-Old Model Reshapes China’s Views on Aging  … Read more

  • TRICK OR TREAT AT THE FRONT DOOR; HEARSE AT THE BACK

    Originally posted on Getting Older: Charting the Uncharted: I have been pestering my classmates from nursing school (we are about to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary next month) to write their stories so I can post them on my blog. Maybe pestering is too mild a word. Regardless, I have succeeded. Two women have sent me… Read more

  • The Gray Area of Nursing: Being Uncertain of One’s “Moral Role.”

    Here’s a great example how one nurse saved a patient’s life. Speaking Up to Save a Life by Diane Szulecki, Associate Editor American Journal of Nursing October 2016 – Volume 116 – Issue 10 – p 68–69     Abstract   A nurse’s advocacy alters the path of a patient with locked-in syndrome. On a… Read more

  • The Compliment

      Two weeks ago I flew to Sioux Falls to visit my good friend, Lois, in her new home. She and her husband left a Chicago condo off Michigan Avenue facing the lake to settle in a small town with less excitement than a big city. That weekend we attended the South Dakota Annual Festival… Read more