Palliative Care

Definition: Palliative care (from Latin palliare, to cloak) is any form of medical care or treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of disease symptoms, rather than striving to halt, delay, or reverse progression of the disease itself or provide a cure. The goal is to prevent and relieve suffering and to improve quality of life for people facing serious, complex illness. Non-hospice palliative care is not dependent on prognosis and is offered in conjunction with curative and all other appropriate forms of medical treatment. (wiki)

When a loved one is ill, it kind of prepares you for the inevitable to come. Somehow when the term ‘palliative care’ comes into play it really hits home that the end is near. It becomes more real, sadness sets in and you find yourself remembering back to better times with your loved one, which brings you more pain as you realize that your journey with that person is going to end soon.

You recall all the special moments spent with your loved one, all the kind things they’ve ever done for you and all the special moments ahead in your life that they’ll miss out on. But there’s comfort in knowing that suffering will end, that reunions of the soul will happen and happiness will resume.

So we sadly wait for what’s to come…