New month, new day, new streak of writing. The past month was rough, with child-borne viral illnesses having hit hard for too many weeks. Finished off with an unexpected death in the family that caught me by surprise, despite almost 17 years of full-time palliative care work. Being on the other side of the bed is so different.

I’ve been thinking about my why. Previously it was, “To make the world a better place for dying people.” Vague, dreamy, too undefined to be obtainable? What were the outcome measures? The Key Performance Indicators. Could it be morphed into a Just Cause as per Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game?

I’ve often thought about Palliative Care as being the best sort of care – holistic, whole-person, patient-centred and quality-of-life-focused. Why do we save the best for last? Can we create a world in which people can have this sort of care from pre-cradle to post-grave? I have been saddened to hear from patients and their family members that for some people the short weeks they spent in our inpatient unit were some of the best weeks in their lives. I heard this about a patient in his eighties, the rest of his life must’ve been rough for the three weeks in hospice to be some of the best of his long life. What suffering did he endure during his life? What traumas? A lady in her forties told us that the weeks that she spent in our inpatient unit were also some of her best weeks. She had never felt so cared for, in her whole life. The time after she had received her terminal diagnosis was the best part of her marriage. Her husband stopped drinking alcohol to look after her. That’s not right. What can be done about those situations?

Can suffering be decreased throughout the lifespan? Not just at the very end. Can quality of life be improved throughout life, rather than just during dying and death? Instead of a sickness approach to healthcare, why not a wellbeing approach? A lot to think about and more to write about.

Happy Birthday Uncle Arthur.