The Final Act of Living Quotes

“I also took care of a four year-old that was in the dying process. Both of his parents were already dead. His maternal grandparents were caring for him. In the weeks before he died he told everyone he was taking a trip, that he was going to live with his “parents.” In the hours before his death, he began looking around the room as if searching for something or someone. We asked him what he was doing, and he told us he was looking for his mother. It was as if the room was filled with people we couldn’t see. Just before he died, he raised his arm, pointed to the corner of his room and called his mother by name. He stayed focused on that corner until his last breath. You can’t convince me his mother wasn’t there to help him make the change from this world to the next. We do not die alone!”
― Barbara Karnes, The Final Act of Living: Reflections of a Longtime Hospice Nurse

“The labor to leave this world takes from one to three weeks. The key sign that tells us labor has begun is when a person begins sleeping with their eyes partially open, eyelids at half-mast. It takes energy to keep your eyes open; it takes energy to keep them closed. The normal position for our eyelids is at half-mast.”
― Barbara Karnes, The Final Act of Living: Reflections of a Longtime Hospice Nurse

“There was no perfect family. The Cleavers were on television. We are all walking wounded. We are all dysfunctional. It is only a matter of degree that separates us from each other. This is life. There are good times, difficult times, happy times, sad times. It is the name of the game.”
― Barbara Karnes, The Final Act of Living: Reflections of a Longtime Hospice Nurse