Swan Song - Part 1
Tales of Impermanence - Just Living Jenny #20
INTENTIONAL DRAFT NOTES:
Admittedly, I brought up the subject of hospice on my own, and sent information about it to my siblings. Everyone seemed to be on board that this was a great solution for my father’s issues. My dad was certainly on board, when I explained to him that he no longer had to go out for a million doctor appointments and he would just be made to feel comfortable at home.
“I’m concerned about the blood test,” wrote my dad, in what became his new obsession. He started firing off emails about his concerns around the cancellation of his nephrology appointment. The whole thing was spiraling out of control. The thread that worked its way through everything in my dad’s correspondence was his up close and intimate relationship with his impending death. We had begun to address it. But it seems there is never enough addressing it to go around.
PHOTO OF MY DAD WITH ALL HIS OBSESSIONS LATE IN LIFE
Lots of thought arrows coming out of him.
It seems that outsiders have a strange reaction to going on hospice. It makes people squirm. As if you have given them a death sentence. It is not a death sentence. Granted it is about death.
In any case. As soon as my dad got accepted into hospice, he began to wonder whether he had made a mistake.
Hi Jenny. You don't know me but, I am John Fox's sister. This strip, "Swan Song, Part 1," really hit home. Last week, my siblings and I, put our biological father on hospice. He has been given 2 to 4 months to live having a glioblastoma. At his age (87), treatment is not recommended. He still wants to do all of the things that he normally did even though he was told not to. Thank you for your story of your family.
Hi Denize. Nice to hear from you. Glad you enjoyed the comic about my father. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your mom. Sounds challenging. No, the comics don't have to be nonfiction. I am just oriented that way because of the type of writing I do, but I can help you create fiction comics as well in the class! I hope to see you there. It will be fun.