More Than Meets the Eye, True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife covers many aspects of the dying and grieving process and sheds light on euthanasia, suicide, near-death experience, and spirit visits after the passing of a loved one. ___________________________________________

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Stages of Processing Grief

While I believe that each person has the right to choose their own healthcare and treatment, some will undoubtedly have a better attitude and cooperate with their health care providers more than others. Some patients may be angry that they are dying. They are just not ready to accept the inevitable. Anger is a normal part of the five stages of grief noted by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross:

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Hospice care is not about fighting death or prolonging life with drugs, surgical procedures or technology. It's about making the patient as peaceful and comfortable as possible emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically while preparing for transition.

While each person goes through the grieving process differently, your being aware of what to expect during each stage will help you support the patient in a holistic manner—body, soul and spirit—and educate the family and loved ones.

If you are not familiar with the stages of the grief process, you may find more information on Wikipedia.com: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model

Share/Save/Bookmark

Monday, July 26, 2010

Coming to Terms with the End of Life

When I wrote More Than Meets the Eye About Death, Dying, and Afterlife, I interviewed Dr. Aaron Milstone who was co-director of the Lung Transplant Department at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. By the time patients reached his office, they were many times nearing the end of life. Therefore, he witnessed the death of many of his patients. However, many doctors are not comfortable with telling patients that they are dying. this skill is not typically taught in medical school.  In fact, it goes against the grain of medicine and physicians who many times see the death of their patient as a personal failure.

Here are some tips for doctors who need to tell family members that there's nothing more that can be done to save their loved one's life.

When Dr. Milstone realizes that a patient is going to die, he says it is helpful to remind him or her and the family that physicians are only human, and that there is a limit to what medicine can do. Regardless of how skilled practitioner, it reaches a point where medical therapy is not be able to help someone survive.

Some of the phrases Dr. Milstone uses in his end-of-life discussions with the family are:

“We’ve reached the limit of what medicine can do for your husband, your child, your brother, your sister,” and “Your loved one has reached the natural path of this illness and now we are going to let nature take its final course, and let your loved one die in peace.”

These words help families accept that the end is near. When people understand that death is a natural result of a disease, there is no need for blaming anyone or feeling guilty about the decision to remove life support.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife.
Purchase on Amazon.com


Share/Save/Bookmark

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Common Signs that Death is Near

How can you tell if death is about to occur for a critically ill patient? According to About.com, the following are physical signs that indicate the time of death is approaching.

• Major changes in respiratory health, buildup of fluid in the lungs, congestion, longer periods of sleep, and abnormal breathing patterns such as cycles of slow then fast breathing.
• Difficulties swallowing liquids or the resistance of all food and drink.
• Increased difficulty waking subject from sleeping, the inability to arouse them at all, or a coma-like state.
• Subject is unresponsive or cannot speak.
• Subject does not move for long periods of time.
• The extremities—hands, feet, arms and legs—feel very cold to touch. Subject may say that they are numb or cannot feel at all.
• Mottling of the arms, legs, hands and feet, giving a blue or purple splotchy appearance to the skin.
• Decrease in urination with urine darkening in color or changing colors.
• Urinary or bowel incontinence.
• A continued drop in blood pressure to 20 to 30 points below normal range or a systolic pressure below 70 with a diastolic below 50 points.
• Loss of hearing, feeling, smell, taste or sight at the final stage.
• Marked changes in personality, acting wildly, severe agitation or hallucinations.
• Patient states that he or she is going to die soon. Before my uncle Edmond passed in 2001, he told us that he would not be here after the 28th of December. He went into a coma and fulfilled his own prophecy.
• Reports seeing deceased loved ones, Jesus, patron saints, or angels. Since this is the only thing on our list that has nothing to do with a bodily function, I’d like to address it in a little more detail later on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife.
Purchase on Amazon.com


Share/Save/Bookmark

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

How Do the Deceased Communicate with the Living?

We have more than five senses with which to explore and experience life. We are multi-sensory spiritual creatures able to sense the presence and energy of non-physical beings.

Our “deceased” loved ones often communicate with us in a variety of ways. They may bring a familiar smell, or leave coins, feathers, or other objects in our path. They may appear as a bird, an animal or take human form. They may come to us in our dreams, or may be the voice we hear in our head. No matter how you sense their presence you can be assured that they really are near and they want to communicate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife. Purchase on Amazon.com Share/Save/Bookmark

Monday, July 19, 2010

Meet Atlanta Hospice Director Barbara Moore

On Monday, July 12, I spoke at the staff meeting for Atlanta Hospice. What a wonderful group of people! Here is a photo of me with my gracious hostess, Barbara Moore, Director of Volunteer and Support Services for Visiting Nurses. Barbara welcomes anyone interested in volunteering their time or talent to make a difference in patients’ lives at the center or via in-home visits. Contact Barbara Moore at 404-869-3000 or Volunteer Coordinator Ann Serrie, 404-848-7955.

During my talk, I  talked related some of the end-of-life commonalities and differences that may be seen by those who work as a member of a hospice team or care for a patient living with a terminal illness. In the upcoming days,  I will post excerpts from my speech on this blog.

Everyone's life is different because our experience is defined by our choices and beliefs. We may share similar life stories, human characteristics, and basic needs to sustain life, but we are unique individuals.

The same is true about our dying experience. Those who die a natural death may share common occurrences as the end nears, but that experience may be slightly different depending upon an individual’s belief systems.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife.

Purchase on Amazon.com

  Share/Save/Bookmark

Friday, July 16, 2010

A New Show for the Spiritually-inclined

For those who love to talk about spiritual matters such as seeing ghosts and angels, channeling, religion, empathetic abilities, intuition, human divinity, deities, chakras, Christ consciousness, divine and inner guidance, unity and oneness, energy modalities, enlightenment, healing and intuitive arts, heaven/hell, karma, last days, magic, manifesting reality, meditation, mediumship, metaphysics, ancient spirituality, new age, pantheism, past lives, prayer, psychic gifts, paranormal phenomena, reincarnation, spiritual communication and guidance, spiritual and personal transformation, and universal laws.

The show may not be a fit for everyone, but if you are interested in reading the posts on the blog as well as listening to the show, go to http://weareoneinspirit.blogspot.com.

You may want to subscribe to the blog so you'll get a reminder when something new is posted. If you are only interested listening to the shows, you may subscribe to the RSS feed at http://nashvillewriter.audioacrobat.com/rss/we_are_one_in_spirit.xml.

Thank you for being part of my life!

Yvonne Perry
http://writersinthesky.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife.

Purchase on Amazon.com


Share/Save/Bookmark

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Meet Dr. Caron Goode Author of Kids Who See Ghosts, Guide Them Through Their Fear

Today we welcome Dr. Caron Goode to our writing blog. She is discussing her book Kids Who See Ghosts, Guide Them Through Their Fear.

Dr. Caron Goode is gifted with compassion in assisting others to effect lasting transformation through spiritual coaching, books, classes and seminars. Caron’s continuous education, experience in psychology and professional writing makes her a great resource for parents wishing to create and maintain a nurturing relationship their children. The common thread of these disciplines is energy of the mind-body-spirit connection and how to access it, bring it into focus and then put it into successful action.

YVONNE: Tell me something about your writing background.
CARON: A creative writing teacher in high school told me I had talent, and that was new to me. I always had an interest writing, which I think came from a veracious reading appetite. At her encouragement, I entered several small writing contests and my entry won. Later as a teacher and diagnostician, I wrote lessons, curriculum, reports—educational writing—and received many professional accolades. Yet I never saw myself as a writer. My writing was always related to my profession, but never became my profession until midlife. The creativity peaked in my forties when thoughts of writing a book crept in. In my fifties, the dam opened and writing books on quirky subjects, great stories, and inspirational topics have become a fun passion.

YVONNE: Your story sounds similar to mine. It was a high school creative writing teacher who believed in me and helped me realize I had a talent for writing. What is the title of your book? Give us the basic story line so we’ll know what it’s about.
CARON: Kids Who See Ghosts, Guide Them Through Their Fears is a response to hundreds of questions from parents about their children seeing apparitions, from ghosts to demons to angels. Seventeen interviews from professionals, parents, psychics, even a skeptic, presents an up front and personal look at the phenomenon. Mostly it is about helping kids move through fears and not be paralyzed by such events.

YVONNE: I can relate so well to your book. I’ve seen into the spirit realm many times and have a grandson who also did when he was younger. What inspired you to write this book?
CARON: These questions about kids who see ghosts poured in after I started a blog on intuitive intelligence and children. I posted my opinion about the A & E channel program called Psychic Kids Who See Ghosts. My marketing specialists, Diane Bourgeois, of Marketing Magic USA said I had a niche there, and I was perfectly qualified to write the book. Moreover I was inspired by my childhood experiences of growing up very “Irish Catholic” and seeing the saints when I was a child. I thought everyone saw them.

YVONNE: I’ve seen the show you are talking about and I was amazed at the way the show not only demonstrated the gift these kids have, but also their fears surrounding it. At the end of the show, the children were more accepting of their gift and felt less isolated once their parents understood that the kids were perfectly normal. I really appreciate your writing the book to help adults guide psychic kids. Is this the first book you have written?
CARON: No, this is not my first book. I have a dozen books in education, parenting, and health under my belt.

YVONNE: How long did it take to write this book?
CARON: I wrote this book in three months, which is very tight for me.

YVONNE: Any interesting tidbits about your writing method or how the book developed?
CARON: I am a slow writer. My first draft contains words that are carefully considered. If I can say it with one word and not three, I do write in stages–gather all material, include all material on the topic, and then I have a draft of the 200-page count. From there, I will hone it down, tighten, edit, and cut. I may go through the manuscript twice or five times. I also find I need an editor to clean up the details and polish the text.

Like most writers, I also go with my gut. If a section doesn’t feel right or flow right, I have to stop and fix it. If I do not, the editor always catches it.

YVONNE: We all need editors. Even though I earn a living as an editor, I still have my own books edited. It’s hard to catch our own mistakes no matter how many times we go over the text. And, I love the way you trust your intuition about a passage not “feeling” right. We would all do well to listen to our intuition more. Tell me about your publishing experience and what you learned from it.

CARON: My agent loved the book idea and sold it to the publisher quickly. So Red Wheel/Weiser supports authors well and thoroughly reviews the book through two or three sets of eyes. I have excitement because this year, for this book, I have an enthusiastic team who love the book and are going all out to make it sell well. This is in contrast to the previous year when Raising Intuitive Children received little support from the team.

YVONNE: Being picked up by a conventional publisher certainly does ensure good marketing. It’s still up to the author to do a lot of promotion like you are doing. Where is your book available? Do you have a Web site or blog where we can learn more about you or your book?
CARON: My Web site is www.kidswhoseeghosts.com and the book will be on Amazon.com

YVONNE: Tell me some ways you have promoted your book. Give examples and links to any sites you feel might help other authors.
CARON: We are promoting through a syndicated column, Kids Who See Ghosts . . .
Blog Tour. I think your site and www.spiritauthors.com are wonderful sites for all writers, whether new or seasoned. We are having a blog tour for the book, as well as an Amazon email campaign.

YVONNE: I’m looking forward to posting on your syndicated column and I’m thrilled to be part of your blog tour for this wonderful book. Any other comment you would like to share?
CARON: Thanks for the opportunity to be on your site, which is a phenomenal resource for writers. I subscribe to your e-zine and recommend your work to others.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to get to know you and learn about your book. I wish you well in your journey as an author.

YVONNE: I’m glad to be able to help writers and authors. I truly appreciate your support, Caron. It is a privilege to network with you. I wish you much success on this timely and well-written book.

Listen to an interview with Dr. Goode and Yvonne Perry on http://weareoneinspirit.blogspot.com

Bookmark and Share

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Atlanta Hospice

Many people in nursing homes and hospice care are without the loving presence and spiritual support of friends or family. There is a great need for compassionate volunteers, but not everyone is up to the task of assisting people in their transition. It takes a special person to walk in, meet someone for the first time, talk intimately with them, and hold their hand, all the while knowing that person may not be around the next time they come to visit. Yet, this blessed gift of friendship is crucial in helping a soul leave peacefully.

I truly appreciate and applaud the people who give loving service to people like my aunt Kathryn who passed last November after a year in hospice and my grandmother who will turn 94 this coming Saturday.


On Monday, July 12 at 6 p.m., I will be the guest speaker for a training meeting of the Visiting Nurses staff of Atlanta Hospice. I will be talking about some of the end-of-life commonalities and differences typically seen in by hospice workers. This will include an open forum about spirit visitation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife.

Purchase on Amazon.com

Share/Save/Bookmark

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Spirit of My Husband's Father Visited Us

I suppose this is an amendment or clarification to yesterday's post on The Sid Series blog in which I spoke about my grandson hearing a spirit in my house when he stayed with us last weekend.

Even though my husband's father just passed last week, it didn't dawn on me that Jack might be visiting us. That is until I came home from picking up dinner and walk into the garage and saw the ghost of a man. The apparition only lasted a split second and faded.

My husband opened the door to let me in and immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

"I just saw a ghost. That's all."

"Sidney told you we had a spirit in the house."

"Yes, but who is it?" I asked. "Oh, wait a big 'duh' minute. I felt this strange energy when Sid was here; I felt it the moment you called to tell me Jack had died. I felt it that evening when you came home from work, and I feel it now. It has to be your dad."

"Makes sense. Maybe we should light a candle for him."

Usually, spirits come to me because they want me to help them cross over or give a message to their loved one. So we lit a candle and asked Jack what he needed us to do for him. Within just a few seconds my husband and I both felt an energy surge.

"Looking for Virginia." I repeated what I was hearing in my mind. Virginia was my husband's mother's name. She passed before Randy and I met one another. "Is your dad looking for your mom?"

"No. I sense that my mom has reincarnated . . .  She is embodied as one of my grandkids."

The energy level around us surged again. I tried on a few of the grandkids. Elise's kids? No. Ryah's baby? No. Keilie? A little stronger feeling.

"Definitely one of Jackson's kids," I confirmed. I thought of Mac and got a little stronger resonance with that guess. Kind of like the game cold, warm, warmer, warmer, . . . HOT!

"Lochlan," Randy said.  We both had a huge energy rush--an indication that we were correct.

So, it turns out that we didn't need to do anything for Jack. He had a message for us. We thanked Jack and spent a few more minutes with him. The energy let up and I dismissed the session.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information about spirit communication, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife.

Purchase on Amazon.com

Share/Save/Bookmark