Death and Dying: tuesdays with Morrie
Ashley Rodriguez and Bryanna Lopes
MCPHS University tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is based on true-life events and is a memoir about a man named Morrie Schwartz who suffered with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease; a disease that causes the debilitation of the neurological system. Morrie was a college professor at Brandeis University, where he wanted to have an impact on others, not exploit them like other professions – such as law – do. Mitch Albom was Morrie’s favorite student. Morrie wanted to teach a lesson about death and dying and how even though a person is dying, they do not have to give into death – they can still live life in the moment with the …show more content…
ALS is an incurable and fatal disease that causes gradual muscle weakness and paralysis that begins between the ages of 40 and 70, and leaves its victims with 2 to 5 years to live. (Nettina, 2014) According to Nettina (2014), the cause of ALS is unknown, but what is known, is that ALS, “Results in progressive loss of voluntary muscle contraction and functional capacity, involving the legs, feet, arms, and hands, and those that control swallowing and breathing.” Although ALS debilitates the body, it does not harm the …show more content…
Being dependent on others and trusting others will help individuals like myself continue to build relationships with people whom we want in our lives. (Albom, 1997). This part of the book really spoke to me, because I grew up being told that independence is key, and that I should not be dependent on anyone other than myself, yet Morrie is saying that being dependent on others can help ease the process of difficulties we face in life. This book changed my outlook on nursing because I realized that working in the medical field means that people will be dependent on me and must trust me for them to get better, but that also means that I must trust that my patients will want their health to improve. Death is a difficult and nerve-wrecking process that everyone must go through, but the best way to do so is surrounded by friends and family and going peacefully, just as Morrie did. This book taught me that once I can come to terms with death and loss, I can work on improving myself and helping myself accomplish what I feel is adequate before my passing. I hope to be able to provide this type of help to my patients. Being a caregiver and having people be dependent on me, I will need to be able to practice caring and compassion, but I will also need to cope with death and loss. Caregiver role strain is very difficult for nurses because they want to be able to help their patients the
Ashley Rodriguez and Bryanna Lopes
MCPHS University tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is based on true-life events and is a memoir about a man named Morrie Schwartz who suffered with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease; a disease that causes the debilitation of the neurological system. Morrie was a college professor at Brandeis University, where he wanted to have an impact on others, not exploit them like other professions – such as law – do. Mitch Albom was Morrie’s favorite student. Morrie wanted to teach a lesson about death and dying and how even though a person is dying, they do not have to give into death – they can still live life in the moment with the …show more content…
ALS is an incurable and fatal disease that causes gradual muscle weakness and paralysis that begins between the ages of 40 and 70, and leaves its victims with 2 to 5 years to live. (Nettina, 2014) According to Nettina (2014), the cause of ALS is unknown, but what is known, is that ALS, “Results in progressive loss of voluntary muscle contraction and functional capacity, involving the legs, feet, arms, and hands, and those that control swallowing and breathing.” Although ALS debilitates the body, it does not harm the …show more content…
Being dependent on others and trusting others will help individuals like myself continue to build relationships with people whom we want in our lives. (Albom, 1997). This part of the book really spoke to me, because I grew up being told that independence is key, and that I should not be dependent on anyone other than myself, yet Morrie is saying that being dependent on others can help ease the process of difficulties we face in life. This book changed my outlook on nursing because I realized that working in the medical field means that people will be dependent on me and must trust me for them to get better, but that also means that I must trust that my patients will want their health to improve. Death is a difficult and nerve-wrecking process that everyone must go through, but the best way to do so is surrounded by friends and family and going peacefully, just as Morrie did. This book taught me that once I can come to terms with death and loss, I can work on improving myself and helping myself accomplish what I feel is adequate before my passing. I hope to be able to provide this type of help to my patients. Being a caregiver and having people be dependent on me, I will need to be able to practice caring and compassion, but I will also need to cope with death and loss. Caregiver role strain is very difficult for nurses because they want to be able to help their patients the