Today in ever increasing numbers, terminally ill people are choosing to spend their last days at home, in the warmth of familiar surroundings rather than in the cold, impersonal sterility of a hospital or nursing home. With skyrocketing hospital and nursing home costs, sometimes there is no choice. If you, or a loved one is faced with this situation, here is an information source to support and assist your efforts and knowledge to ease the path of the terminally ill to a peaceful conclusion. In "Coming Home" Deborah Duda answers many poignant questions with sensitivity, compassion, and knowledge born of her first-hand experience. Detailed diagrams support an active understanding of the specific techniques described. In clear, easy to understand language, she outlines how to make the final weeks as comfortable and meaningful as possible, encouraging the dying person to live fully, until the moment of death.
While I was living in a small village in Nepal, I had a dream about Mother Teresa. I made my way to Calcutta, dialed O for operator, and asked to speak to Mother Teresa. In a few minutes she was on the phone. Very afraid of death and wanting to overcome my fear, I asked if I could visit her. Mother Teresa said, Come right over, my child. I hoped Mother Teresa would allow me to work in one of her homes for the dying, but she said, There is suffering and sadness around you at home, my child. Go home and work with that.
After our meeting I returned to the United States, completed an MA in psychology and, after the deaths at home of several friends and my father, became a counselor with the terminally ill and their families. These experiences seeded my book, Coming Home, first published in 1981,which was endorsed by my mentors, Mother Teresa and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.
Working with the dying and their families has been, and is, surprisingly joyful work. Every time we transform a fear, our hearts open wider and life becomes more magic and joyful.
