hodge podge

so it's going to be another blog of ramblings on - mostly because i'm too lazy to divide up the subject matter.

anyways, today was a long - but interesting - day. i spent the day shadowing our palliative care pharmacist at work, and i began to barely touch the tip of the iceberg as far as the role of a health care professional in palliative care is concerned. the day to day issues that these people face when providing end of life care are nothing short of amazing, and the stories that i observed were great life lessons.

my day in palliative was capped off appropriately with a seminar on dealing with death and dying, delivered by joan halifax, a buddhist anthropologist who has been working with the terminally ill for about 30 years. she shared some heart-wrenching stories of patients she has cared for, and provided some great advice for clinicians on how to approach caring for palliative patients. she stressed that the experience of being with a dying patient is an honour, and that love and death are two gifts in life that often go unwrapped. she also made an interesting statement about faith, saying, "people who are scared of hell are religious, and people who have lived through hell are spiritual." the more i think about it, the more i think i agree.

and on a lighter note, i was on the elevator this morning and noticed the elevator license, which was titled as an, "ontario elevating machine". hello!!! why do we call them elevators when we could be calling them 'elevating machines'? it is beyond me. it's kind of like washers and dryers. we say the occasional 'washing machine' and think nothing of it, but do we ever say 'drying machine'? nooooooo. well, from now on i do. oh, and will you hit 5th floor on the elevating machine for me? i'm going up.