Six Roles for a Death Nurse - 1/6 Personal

Welcome!

There are many ways to practice nursing, and there are many roles for a Death Nurse.

I developed this tour for Nursing Mutual Aid 2020 to honor and share some of the people, places, ideas, and events that have brought us together.

Each Tweet leads to a page and explores one of the six roles I have served as a Death Nurse.

This is the first one. This one is personal.

I hope you’ll feel comfortable poking around as you would a favorite antique shop, chic boutique, book store, bar, livestock auction, barbecue joint, quiet forest, babbling brook, movie theater... 

Can’t get more personal

Every story starts somewhere.

I first encountered death before I was born, when antibodies attacked my red blood cells. (pdf)

We rushed to the Floating Hospital in my Uncle Jerry’s station wagon. A police car led the way. 

I came home two weeks later. Here's the receipt:

 Nostalgic hospital bill (NOT a bill)

Catholic grammar school was fun

“My personal encounters with death started early, thanks to a culture that didn’t think twice about dragging an entire first-grade class over to the convent, to pray the rosary in French while stuffed into a tiny room with several other grades, two radiators, no windows, and a dead nun.”

Eulogy for my mother

She often said,"Bring me flowers while I'm alive to enjoy them."

Posts I've written about Jeanne

A death I nursed
David Bowie is helping me grieve
Unconditional love (most popular post!)
Remembering Jeanne today
This is what a green burial looks like
Saint Brigid’s Prayer
Things that went badly, Part 1
Things that went badly, Part 2
I remember the day

Six Roles for a Death Nurse - 1/6 Personal #NMA2020