Observations placeholder
The Dying lady who wanted to go shopping
Identifier
011151
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
From Opening Heaven’s Door – Patricia Pearson
Monique [a careworker in the West Island Palliative Care Residence] told me that most of the people she's cared for over the years have come to know, at a certain point, exactly when they will die. For the nurses, this certitude is uncanny. ….. Within roughly seventy-two hours of the end of their lives, many dying people in hospice settings begin to speak in metaphors of journey. They are not being euphemistic. They are far beyond the task of making everyone feel better.
They often haven't said a word in days, and then suddenly they say something focused on travel. They sincerely want to know where their train tickets or hiking shoes or tide charts are.
Monique offers me an example. "We had a patient who was agitated. It was a Friday evening. She keeps saying, 'I want to go shopping.' In life, she was a real shopper. I said, ''When do you want to go shopping? She said, 'Monday.' I said, 'Fine, let's go shopping Monday.' For me, she was telling me 'I'm going.' And actually, she died that Monday evening."