Happiness in this World » Life and Death

When A Beloved Pet Dies

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:00:43 +0000

Photo: wsilver

Several years ago, my wife and I had to put down one of our cats. Minnie was really my wife’s cat, having journeyed with her from Vancouver to Chicago almost a decade earlier. At some point during that time Minnie had developed a urinary tract infection that had damaged [...]

Pronouncing Someone Dead

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:00:06 +0000

Photo: Tim Green

When I was an intern in internal medicine, I admitted a patient to my service with pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is a bad one; back then, only ten percent of patients with it would be alive within five years after being diagnosed. My patient was a farmer in the full bloom [...]

The Caregiver’s Manifesto

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 23 May 2010 22:00:36 +0000

Photo: LaPrimaDonna

How many patients have I known over the years who’ve found themselves caught in the quicksand that is caring for a chronically ill loved one? Too many to count, so I’ll recount just one. Mrs. S is an elderly woman married to a retired university law professor, who has been slowly losing [...]

The Six Reasons People Attempt Suicide

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:45:25 +0000

Though I’ve never lost a friend or family member to suicide, I have lost a patient (who I wrote about in a previous post, The True Cause Of Depression). I have known a number of people left behind by the suicide of someone close to them, however. Given how much losing [...]

Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:04:54 +0000

One day, about a year and a half ago, my wife and I were walking along a street near our home when she grabbed my arm and suddenly exclaimed, “I think that woman is in trouble!”

I followed her gaze to a car stopped at a light and saw to my horror a woman being prevented [...]