“What’s going on with the breathing? I counted a five second pause. I thought that was it. Then the breathing started up again. It’s been happening all night.”

“When you are very unwell the breathing control centres don’t work right. The breathing will speed up, then it will slow down. There will be gaps in the breathing, and then it starts up again. As a person becomes more unwell the gaps become longer and longer.”

“Why have the hands become cold?”

“As a person dies their organs don’t function as well. The blood circulation fails, that’s why the hands and feet can become cold. It’s like a light on a dimmer switch, the light of the body becomes dimmer and dimmer as it deteriorates.”

“We talk but we get no response. The last time they responded, it was all confused.”

“As a person dies their thinking becomes less clear, and they become sleepier. Nature or a higher power is trying to protect the person going through the dying process. So they don’t have the full 3D/HD experience, as it might not feel so pleasant. Keep on talking to them, they may not be able to respond, but hearing your voices will provide comfort. Hearing that the family are looking after each other will provide relief.”

“How long have they got left?”

“ I’m not sure, but a rule of thumb we use is, if changes are occurring over months, they might have months left. If changes occur over weeks, it could be weeks left. At the moment changes are occurring over hours, so there might be only hours to short days left. They are so unwell that they could actually die at anytime.”

“Will you let us know if you see signs of death about to happen?”

“We will try our best, but we don’t always get any warnings. I know you are all trying to be here at all times but I want you to know that some people will sneak away when there is no-one in the room. I’ve seen it happen too often to discount it as something that happens. No matter how long they’ve got left we are going to do our best to keep them comfortable. We’re going to get you all through this.”