Work, work, work - the hard job of dying

I'm always amazed at how brave, wise and humble my patients and their families are in the face of oncoming death.  They ask, with hope in their eyes, about the prognosis and are brazenly told that there is no point in further treatment because their bodies are too fragile.  Almost without exeption they bravely comment: "ok, that's what we thought, we'll just take one day at a time."

Then they handle every hardship, every sorrow, every goodbye on the long road to death.  Usually with a beautiful grace.  They are my heroes as I watch their wandering and do what I can to help them walk as easily as it is possible on their short or long road to the end.