Dying to Tell You

The Caring Perspective E02—Dr. Jeff Manuel

"She left this world feeling comfortable with who she was."
Jeff Manuel is a palliative care physician in Denver, Colorado, and joins Cody to share his personal story about what he learned from one patient in particular—a young woman diagnosed with metastatic uterine cancer—at the end of her life.
Jeff has been practicing as a palliative care physician and educator for 16 years. He has had roles as a palliative medicine fellowship director and medical director and is the president of the board of HealthEd Connect (healthedconnect.org) a non-profit that works with community health workers in Africa and Nepal.
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Dying To Tell You: The Caring Perspective is a series of interviews with healthcare professionals who sit down with Cody to share stories of patients and experiences that have changed how they practice, how they view death, and how they live their lives.

Special Series—The Caring Perspective E01—Hospice Nurse Penny on how the body "does the work of dying"

This week on our very first Dying To Tell You: The Caring Perspective, Hospice Nurse Penny shares her experience with a patient whose spirit had seemingly left them but whose body was still there "doing the work of dying." This moment changed forever how Penny approached her patients, her practice, and even her own belief in the afterlife.
Penny is a nationally certified hospice and palliative care registered nurse with over 17 years of experience who has created a massive and caring community on social media since starting during the pandemic. You can find her on most social platforms under the handle @hospicenursepenny.
And she now has a book out! 
You can (and should) order her book—Influencing Death: Reframing Dying for Better Living—from any online seller, including bookshop! 
And you can (and should) watch this video interview on YouTube! It's right here!

A Brief Giving Tuesday Request (and what's next for the show!)

A brief (3 minutes!) update after our Season Two finale!
It's Giving Tuesday and if you love the show, we have a humble request. If you believe in our mission to normalize death and dying and have the means, we'd like to ask for your support this Giving Tuesday. We are not a nonprofit, but even a small gift helps with production costs that include software licenses, stock music licensing, distribution platforms, and so much more.
Cody also shares news about our upcoming inter-season YouTube series "Dying To Tell You: A Caring Perspective," in which healthcare providers discuss their own encounters with death and dying, and how that has shaped both their practices and their lives.

A Very Dying To Tell You Thanksgiving (Video Finale!)

For the finale of Season Two, we invited back a few previous guests for a very special Thanksgiving episode...with video! 
Riyaz, Rachel, and Javeeda joined us live and on-camera to share how they're doing and what they're grateful for. Join us around the virtual Thanksgiving table for this lovely hour of reconnection, gratitude, and life.
If you're listening to the audio podcast only, head over to YouTube to see the video version or watch it on our site: dttypodcast.com
Thank you also for joining us as listeners for Season Two. We've interviewed more people living with an ever-greater spectrum of circumstances in more far-flung locations, and we continue to see the common threads connecting us all.
We are deeply grateful that, with your support, we're able to keep sharing these stories with the world.

I'm Still Me: A Reflection on Dementia, Aging, and Identity

Between each episode, Cody offers a brief reflection on the themes he discussed with his guest the week before.
Today, Cody reflects on his conversation with Jackie & Shannon, and what can happen to our identity—our sense of self—when we begin to lose memories, shift roles, and face what sometimes seems like a stranger in the mirror. What makes a person who they are? What do we do when our role in life changes?
Music for this episode is from Trevor Ransom, "The Lamp Kept Us Warm But Now We Walk."

Jackie & Shannon: How Alzheimer's Is More Than Memory Loss

Our final guests of Season 2 are Jackie & Shannon, a mother and daughter navigating the changes and challenges of Alzheimer's. Jackie has moved out of her home in California and now splits her time between the homes of her daughters in Colorado. 
There is so much more to the story of Alzheimer's and dementia than just memory loss. The transformations of this disease impact almost every aspect of daily life. Jackie and Shannon share their challenges, their joys, their hopes and their fears in this wonderfully open and honest conversation with Cody. 
>>Theme Music by Michael Shynes, "The Other Side"<<
Music featured in this week's episode:
Michael Shynes, “California in the Spring”
Low Light, “Lay Me Down”
Russo and Weinberg, “Were All Having Fun”
Giants and Pilgrims, “Empty”

How a Cancer Diagnosis Becomes a Label: A Reflection

"I'm no different than you."
Between each episode, Cody offers a brief reflection on the themes he discussed with his guest the week before.
Today, Cody reflects on his conversation with Javeeda and how a diagnosis can make you feel different. But people with diagnoses are still people, just like everyone else. We're all simply doing the best we can with what we have in front of us.
Cody offers advice for how we can all treat "patients" as people, and how we're all in the same boat.
Music for this episode is from Trevor Ransom, "The Lamp Kept Us Warm But Now We Walk."

Javeeda: A One-In-A-Million Cancer Diagnosis

Javeeda lives in Toronto and has Adrenocortical carcinoma—a rare and aggressive cancer that starts in the kidney area. Her diagnosis has gone from 3-5 years to 1 year to "months not years."
Today she is facing the reality of raising her daughter, planning ahead as much as she can while not knowing how long she has left. At the same time, she's balancing her cancer treatment—which can possibly extend her life—with the impacts it can have on her quality of life. 
Javeeda’s story is also one of the shared human experience. As she says, “I’m no different than you.” We all have our challenges in life, and a cancer diagnosis does not suddenly turn you into something Other. “I just maybe know what I’m going to die from. Maybe.”
>>Theme Music by Michael Shynes, "The Other Side"<<
Music featured in this week's episode:
Kyle Cox, "This World"
Claire Kelly, "Detour"
The Days, "Tell Me" 

Faith in the Face of Challenge: A Reflection

Between each episode, Cody offers a brief reflection on the themes he discussed with his guest the week before.
In this reflection, Cody reflects on last week's conversation with Deanna, how we all turn to faith in our own ways in times of challenge and fear. And how we can all try to find the peace inside to know we're ok.
We also share a remembrance from Beth Stevens of her grandfather, which will change how you see penny farthing bicycles from here on out. 
Music for this episode is from Trevor Ransom, "The Lamp Kept Us Warm But Now We Walk" and "Finding Rest" by Greg McKay. 

Deanna: Answered Prayers & Time to Say Goodbye

On the side of an ice-covered Wyoming highway, staring down an out-of-control semi, Deanna prayed and got a truly unexpected answer—she made it off that road alive but less than a year later was diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. What she sees now is that she was given time to say goodbye.
>>Theme Music by Michael Shynes, "The Other Side"<<
Music featured in this week's episode:
Tom West, “Antarctica”
Straight White Teeth, “Tell It In a Letter”
Maya Isacowitz, “All of the Miles”
Duce Williams, “Pray”
Feu Marinho, “Sopro do Mar”