Do you think she went overboard in what she shared?
Created: 03/03/22
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This is Michelle's story to tell. What I remember as I think back on passages describing her mother's illness and death is the emotion not the graphics. In general I would say nothing descriptive struck me as beyond what is usually represented in movies witnessing a cancer patient's struggles. I can imagine for readers who have gone through it personally, other parts of the book were most welcome.
Join Date: 04/26/20
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I found it to be accurately detailed and refreshingly candid, especially since I am also an only daughter. I do have younger brothers, but I think daughters are more deeply involved — in both caregiving and in their grief.
If I had been able to read this book before my parents died (both of cancer), I would have been better informed and therefore possibly better prepared as to what to expect during their illness and after their deaths.
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Although some of the passages were incredibly real and "graphic," I almost felt compelled to not skip over the parts. I imagine that writing this was cathartic in terms of processing everything that happened, and I had this nagging feeling that I would be missing something if I skimmed or skipped those parts. Now that I think about it, I think those particularly difficult sections are what evoked such an emotional reaction in me; it definitely left me with a lump in my throat on more than a few occasions.
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As a nurse, I found the author's descriptions of illness accurate and honest. Any symptoms described came from a daughter's perspective of astonishment that these unknown experiences could indeed pierce her mother's always capable persona. I also feel that reading another person's experiences validates your own fears about whether or not you would be capable of handling such challenges. The author discovered she could rise to the challenge as many family members of chronic illness do out of love for the person suffering... the actual details fade in comparison to the love felt for another enduring such medical decline.
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It brought back horrific memories of my parents last days. I won’t get into details but her mother’s last days were far easier than what they went through. I found myself reading words that didn’t penetrate as these awful memories took over me brain. Writing this book might have been cathartic for the author but it brought back things that I bdralr with many years ago and had hoped never to go back again
Join Date: 04/22/11
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I can't imagine losing my mother when I was so young. It is a part of life that we, as a society, don't want to acknowledge. It's a shame that we are that way because it makes it that much more difficult to handle when nobody wants to be around sickness or talk about it.
Join Date: 09/14/11
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