Don't you hate that

Saturday, June 20, 2009

So I was listening to NPR's story of the day the other day and the story was an interview with an author. I can't remember his name (God I used to hate that when people came into Barnes and Noble with this kind of crappy information), I can't remember the name of the book either and so I can't seem to find the book anywhere. This is where you might be able to help.
Here is what I do remember, the author is a Doctor. The book was about how in America we don't embrace death as a cycle of life but we do everything we can to keep it from happening. In actuality prolonging the death process instead of accepting it as a fact of life. In the interview the author talked about the situation he encountered with his own Mother and it reminded me a lot about what is currently happening with my Uncle and what is beginning to happen with my Grandmother.
My Uncle is 90 years old and a few months ago he had a fall that led to bleeding on the brain they relieved the pressure on his brain, then there was another surgery and another surgery then treatments and therapies in a nursing home and now they have sent him home though he barely walks or goes to the bathroom and he has to be force fed a liquid diet by my aunt. There were days and nights of not knowing what was going to happen, tears and countless dollars spent on the months and months of time in the hospital and other facilities. And the fact of the matter is with all of that they have just prolonged the inevitable because in the end he will go and they will go through some of those same steps all over again. I can't help but ask myself if it is worth it
And since I feel that way and we are getting so close to making the hard decisions with my own Grandma I wanted to read this book but I can't find it now even though I have searched all over the NPR website and even looked all over in a bookstore but couldn't find anything.
If anyone has any idea of the title of the book I am talking about please leave me a comment here. I really want to read this book but I can't find it.


Currently "Reading":
Article - NPR's Three Books
Book - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Audio - Touch and Go: A Memoir by Studs Terkel