from Sacred Stories of Our Own, stories of Beacon Hospice volunteeres and staff-
Love and Family
My patient, Robin, had been in the nursing facility for some time, and when hospice services were brought in, she was most certainly in the end stages of dementia. Robin, as in the cases of many end stage dementia patients, spoke rarely, or in "word salads", making no sense as they attempt to communicate. Despite her inability to really communicate, Robin retained her pleasant nature, but I sensed she was declining, and knew her time was shortening. But she surprised me one day, by actually saying in fragmented wording, that she kept seeing a very tall man and little girl. She mentioned it a number of times, and I felt that she was being contacted in some way by this vision, and her death was close.
Robin did indeed die within a week of seeing these visitors, and I learned from her daughter that her father and Robin's husband was a very tall man, and that Robin had lost a daughter at the age of eight years old. I have no doubt in my mind that they had come to greet Robin, and bring her "home".
