Optimistic bias by a family member charged with healthcare decisions can be a barrier for your wishes to be carried out. Learn how to avoid it in your advance care planning: https://bit.ly/499XQqa

When Families Don’t Hear the Truth: Why We Ignore Poor Prognoses

When someone we love is critically ill, we hang on every word from the medical team. But research shows something surprising and unsettling: when the prognosis is poor, many families simply don’t hear it. Not because they aren’t listening, and not because doctors aren’t communicating clearly, but because human psychology steps in to protect us from unbearable news.

Learn Important Facts to Guide You in Your Advance Care Planning

Listen to learn more about this phenomenon and important considerations when you chose your healthcare decisionmaker. We also rebroadcast the S4E52 episode about preparing your paperwork for decisionmakers to speak for you when you are unable to.

#AdvanceCarePlanning #EndofLife #ICU #HealthcareProxy #DurablePowerofAttorney #HealthcareDecisions #EveryoneDiesthePodcast #EveryDayisaGift #LivingWill #AdvanceDirective #PoorPrognosis

In this Episode:

• 00:20 - How Appointed Decision Makers Interpret Information About Prognosis
• 01:51 - Why Do Some Family Members Push for Every Possible Treatment When Further Interventions are Futile?
• 03:35 - How Unrealistic Optimism Affects Decisions in the ICU
• 07:36 - Intro - S4E52 - Durable Power of Attorney
• 12:40 - Overlooked No More: Cordell Jackson
• 20:36 - Are You Prepared to Die? Get Ideas for Your Advance Care Planning
• 22:54 - The Importance of an Advance Directive
• 39:47 - Advance Care Planning Example - How to Be Thorough and Precise
• 50:44 - Outro

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Get show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org.
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Dementia, aging, and loss can reshape what the holidays means for our families when the people who created our most cherished traditions can no longer lead them.

In this episode, learn how to adapt long-held traditions when aging parents move to retirement homes, experience cognitive decline, or are simply no longer able to host the holidays as they once did. Remember, the heart of the holidays isn’t perfection—it’s belonging. https://bit.ly/44yXd8i

In this Episode:

• 00:16 - How Christmas Traditions Change When A Family Member Has Dementia
• 04:34 - S3E50 Rebroadcast Intro, What Does it Take to Care for a Partner With Dementia?
• 06:10 - Recipe of the Week, Funeral Raisin Pie
• 11:55 - How Becoming a Caregiver Changes the Relationship
• 14:51 - Interview with Michael Porter: Caregiving for a Partner with Huntington's Disease
• 52:16 - Outro

Support the show

Get show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org.
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Nurses are there in our darkest nights, our hardest hours, our miracles and our losses. But who honors nurses at life’s end? In The Last Shift, we share the powerful tribute of a Nurse Honor Guard, who ensure that no nurse’s legacy goes unrecognized, and the story of a nurse who spent nearly five decades in the nursing profession. https://bit.ly/48DcSof

In this Episode:

• 01:59 - An Essay by Ruth, 79, a Nurse For Nearly 50 Years
• 08:18 - Recipe, Pizza and Dip
• 09:23 - "Nurse" - A Pandemic Short Story
• 16:10 - Nurse Honor Guard: What it is, and How you Can Have a Nightingale Tribute
• 23:49 - The Night I Learned What it Meant to be "The Nurse"
• 36:02 - Outro

#nurses #nurse #ServingOthers #NurseFuneral #NurseMemorial #CareerNurse #NightingaleTribute #CareerChoices #MidnightOil #NurseHonorGuard #EverydayService #EveryoneDiesThePodcast #EveryDayIsAGift

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Get show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org.
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The Chemo Taste Struggle Is Real!

What happens when food stops tasting like food? For many people receiving chemotherapy, one of the most frustrating side effects is that everything tastes wrong. Meals that once brought joy can suddenly taste metallic, bitter, or bland.

In this episode, we explore why chemotherapy changes taste and smell, how it impacts nutrition and emotional well-being, and what you can do to find flavor again. From surprising foods that still taste good to creative meal ideas that help you keep eating, you’ll learn practical ways to nourish your body and reclaim one of life’s simplest pleasures. https://bit.ly/4pf8G5c

Get Our Handy PDF Guide HERE

In this Episode:

• 01:50 - A Man on the Inside, New Season
• 04:23 - Advice from a 90-year Old on Longevity
• 08:18 - Changes in Smell and Taste Perception with Chemotherapy
• 11:01 - Strategies to find Foods that Taste Good with Taste Changes
• 22:41 - Now I Have to Learn to Fly Solo - Greg, Who Lost His Wife to Alzheimer's
• 25:48 - Outro

Support the show

Get show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org.
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Grief is often described as waves that can crash through our lives like a tsunami. But what if you can learn to float, and eventually swim forward in the midst of that grief? We discuss how in this episode today as we also hear advice to someone grieving a friend, a father who lost a son, and a husband who lost his lifelong love to Alzheimer's. https://bit.ly/48gPjBq

#grief #loss #WavesofGrief #MovingForward #coping #healing #HealthPodcast

In this Episode:

• 02:56 - Recipe of the Week: Cinnamon Rolls
• 03:07 - “My Friend Just Died and I Don’t Know What to Do”
• 09:19 - Coping Forward: Mental Health Strategies After Major Loss, by Lucy Tate
• 16:39 - Discussion - Charlie's Journey after His Son's Murder
• 20:10 - "Grief, Am I Doing This Right?" Greg, who lost his wife to Alzheimer's
• 24:18 - Outro

Related Content:

• All Grief Content
• Moving Forward After Loss
• S5E35: Growth and Remembrance: What to Expect Your Third Year of Grief
• S3E24: Can Superpowers Overcome Grief?
• S3E20: Riding the Wave: Navigating the Second Year of Grief
• S6E9: Finding Your Breath in the Midst of Grief
• S6E16: Goals After Grief – Gentle, Practical Steps to Move Forward After Loss

Support the show

Get show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org.
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When advanced disease becomes a long-term reality, the journey changes. It requires strength, not just to survive, but to grow deeply and find a Vibrant Life in the Face of Metastasis.

This week, we talk about the incredible resilience of the human spirit that finds depth, clarity, and life's true priorities when cancer is treated as a chronic illness.

https://bit.ly/4nYz15Z

#VibrantLife #ChronicCancer #Metastasis #Resilience #HumanSideOfCancer

In This Episode:

• 02:51 - South Dakota - Hot Springs and Kuchen
• 03:31 - Advice Hotline - Get Life Tips from Senior Adults
• 06:06 - Why Cancer is Now Considered a Chronic Disease
• 09:00 - How Cancer Care is Adapting to the Complexity of Longer Lives with Cancer
• 15:39 - Discussion with Charlie - What Are Early Cancer Symptoms; What About Secondary Cancers?
• 20:52 - "My Hands" by- Joseph Hawkins
• 22:02 - Outro

Fifty years ago, a cancer diagnosis often meant a short, intense battle. Today, thanks to incredible advancements in detection and treatments like immunotherapy, cancer is transforming into a chronic disease. We are seeing people with Stage IV, metastatic cancer living for ten years or more.

But this new reality—this longer life—comes with a profound and often unspoken human cost: the uncertainty of cycling on and off treatment, the relentless drain of financial toxicity, and the sheer exhaustion of staying engaged. How do you plan a life when the prognosis is always shifting?

In this episode, we explore what it truly means to manage advanced cancer as a chronic condition. We discuss the evolving, deeply personal relationship between the patient and their care team, the moment a diagnosis becomes a strange kind of gift that brings incredible clarity, and how we can all learn to focus on living well in the time we have.

Join us as we dive into the resilience of the human spirit when faced with the long game of chronic cancer care.

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Get show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org.
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Pneumonia kills millions every year, often because people wait too long to get help. Learn why denial can be deadly, how to spot the warning signs early, and what you can do to protect yourself and the people you love. https://bit.ly/43S5ROB

In this Episode:

• 01:40 - Avoiding Falls - Kiss Guitarist Ace Frehley Had a Fatal Fall in His Home
• 03:49 - Road Trip to Wyoming and Cowboy Cookies
• 04:43 - Diane Keaton, Died From Pneumonia, Produced a Documentary Called "Heaven"
• 13:36 - Pneumonia-the Silent Global Killer
• 17:01 - What Exactly is Pneumonia?
• 21:05 - How to Avoid a Premature Death from Pneumonia
• 26:00 - When Is It Time to Seek Help for Possible Pneumonia?
• 27:02 - Pneumonia Summary
• 29:03 - Ticus Poetry from his book WHAT'S LEFT OF ME: Poems of a dead soul
• 30:03 - Outro

Support the show

Get show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org.
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