Anticipating Death
I had lunch with a girlfriend yesterday who watched her husband's father die, and then soon after was present for her mother's death. She told me that after having watched the first death, she recognized the signs in her mother. She said she knew when "it's a few more hours now" and "she's just about gone". I didn't get to ask about how she knew, but I am curious.
My friend's mother died with her family all around her, and all of her daughters and one sister singing the hymns that she had known as a little girl. Her heart rate would increase for certain hymns, and so they would sing those hymns over and over. She was otherwise unresponsive, but still enjoying the traditional music.
This morning I was checking my email and a friend sent this link, about a cat at a nursing home that knows when someone is going to die. This cat, named Oscar, is not "friendly" in general, but he makes rounds of the patients on his floor and checks them out with his kitty senses. Oscar has predicted 25 departures by curling up with the old folks in their final hours. The staff of the home now call the family when the cat chooses someone. Here's the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_fe_st/death_cat
My friend's mother died with her family all around her, and all of her daughters and one sister singing the hymns that she had known as a little girl. Her heart rate would increase for certain hymns, and so they would sing those hymns over and over. She was otherwise unresponsive, but still enjoying the traditional music.
This morning I was checking my email and a friend sent this link, about a cat at a nursing home that knows when someone is going to die. This cat, named Oscar, is not "friendly" in general, but he makes rounds of the patients on his floor and checks them out with his kitty senses. Oscar has predicted 25 departures by curling up with the old folks in their final hours. The staff of the home now call the family when the cat chooses someone. Here's the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_fe_st/death_cat
