Life Advice

/

Health

Ask Amy: Gender transition highlights host’s rudeness

Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

As an RN of some 45 years, I have seen the awfulness of unresolved estrangements, which can be decades long.

I could recount way too many situations, during end-of-life discussions in which it was appropriate to discontinue life support.

But if a family member is estranged from a loved one, once the person dies, so too does any hope of reconciliation.

It is these very people who often struggle with what's called "complex grief.”

So many times, we nurses would hear stories that break your heart: Each person was longing for the other one to make that first phone call, and apologize.

Of course, many times no one could even recall what exactly was said so many years ago that led to such a fracture between loved ones.

 

Life is short. Regrets can tear us up.

– Nursing Some Hurts

Dear Nursing: Estrangement seems to be a particularly heartbreaking trend (at least in the questions sent to me). Your perspective is so valuable. Thank you for offering it. I hope your words inspire people to reconsider their relationships and seek ways to reconcile, if possible.

Dear Amy: “Passively Helpful Guy” seems to think that if he offers to help people, he’ll be trapped in an endless loop of offering assistance.

...continued

swipe to next page

 

 

Comics

Daryl Cagle Loose Parts Dinette Set Dustin Dave Granlund Cathy