Life of Illness

Carol T. Olson holds a doctorate in education, and has taught elementary school and university level education in Canada.

• Introductory Essay: Others Acknowledgments Introduction Illness in My FamilyIntroducing My WorkChapter 1. Epigraph for Joy Joy's DiaryChapter 2. Heartbeat Wrapped With Plastic Past LivesMachine LifeMy Mother's Response to IllnessDarkness ThreatensResearch ObjectsBlood TestsX-raysSurgeriesCommon Sense ResearchPure WaterTo the Law Courts BuildingArthur and I Respond to Dialysis — 1975Machine ProgressBloodBlood WaterNew Bone, New LifeProtection from MedicinePatient Education for Individual CareInformed Consent for Individual CareIllness is PersonalChapter 3. The Question of Technology Children of TechnologyDialysisThe Meaning of Speaking and ListeningChapter 4. The Question of Understanding Can We Understand?Hermeneutic PhenomenologyExpressing Our Response to IllnessExperience as DialogueChapter 5. The Question of Theorizing Theory BuildingTheory FindingParsons' Theorizing: Professional Health CareCritiques of Parsons' TheoryTwo Revolutionary ExperimentsWhere Does "Theorizing in Order to Produce a Collective" Lead?Heidegger's Theorizing: The Homecoming JourneyChapter 6. A Pathway for Theorizing Wonder at What Is: Language and TruthfulnessSpeech in the Light of Logos: The Work of Art and TheorizingKierkegaard's Theorizing: The Freedom of FaithTheorizing with ExamplesTheorizing with Thematic QuestionsResponding to Kierkegaard's TheorizingTaking Up the JourneyChapter 7. Ivan Ilyitch: One against the Other Searches for the Other On The Death of Ivan Ilyitch : The Chaplain SpeaksEncounter with DeathAgainst DeathAgainst DeceptionThe Struggle for TruthThe Doctor Gives HopeAgainst GodListening to the Voice of ConscienceAgainst Self and FamilyThe Minister Gives HopeFrom Hope to HopelessnessThe Miracle of ForgivenessSet FreeThe Meaning of the Last MomentLetting Go of the ThingsCaius to IvanMoments to MemoriesInvalid to In-validDisease to DiseasePain to DespairHelp to HopeThe needy masterHope is a promise of helpJudgment to MercyAll Moments to the Last MomentChapter 8. Pauline Erickson: One with the Other On "Pauline's Diary": The Patient SpeaksSelf-pityPainBlessingsChangingGivingTranscending CaptivityHopeHope for TomorrowPeaceHope for TodayThe Struggle to be Born into a Life of IllnessSelf-pity is Honorable as a Step Away from Self-pityThe Pain of IllnessThe pain of illness is lossThe pain of illness is bearing the grief as hopeWe Find Refuge in BlessingsEach of Our Days is an Invitation to Live as though it were our Dying DayTo Live is to GiveThe Body, After All, is not the Source or the Limit of Our BeingHope is Stronger than DeathHope is the acceptance of blessings not yet receivedHope is the longing for healingHope is the acceptance of what we cannot understandWe bear the grief of death as hopeLife Gives Us PeaceChapter 9. Doctor Rieux: One for the Other On The Plague : The Doctor SpeaksThe Fact of the Doctor's DiagnosisThe Doctor Finds SolaceThe Meanings of Being a DoctorTo Have a Heart for Healing and No CureLife and the Doctor of DeathThe Doctor Fights for LifeThe Doctor Questions All ValuesThe Heart of PityScience does not PityScience because of PityThe Heart of Pity is "A Sympathy Full of Regret" for "All the Pain"The heart of pity is the manner of careThe heart of pity is the mortal helping the mortalThe heart of pity is renewed by deathChapter 10. Florence Nightingale: One by the Other On Florence Nightingale and Notes on Nursing: The Nurse SpeaksWhat Nursing DoesSeeing IllnessLight at NightThe Presence of CareTo Be There, a NurseTo Be There, a Nurse, is to Ease the Dis-ease of IllnessTo Be There, a Nurse, is to Remember that the Ill Person Feels Far From HomeTo Be There, a Nurse, is to See Pain in the Light of HopeChapter 11. Lord Tennyson: One without the Other On "In Memoriam,": The Mother SpeaksTo Speak About GriefDark HouseThe Paradox of CalmSharing a LifeLife Stops (The First Christmas After)"Be Near Me"Learning to TrustTo be Silent About GriefLife Goes On (The Second Christmas After)EulogySong of HopeChapter 12. The Homecoming Children of GodEddie's HomecomingChapter 13. Epilogue Student of a Research QuestionResearching Phenomenological TextsYields of the Literary TextsYields of the WritingFriendshipNotes Bibliography

"Olson's work is a lesson. It shows to health care professionals and others who are involved in lives of illness that a health care theology, although a hidden paradigm, is a reality. In the midst of a health care system that is primarily dedicated to economics, technology, politics, and industry, Olson gives voice to the hidden paradigm and reminds us that we need to recapture a synthesis between the health care culture and faith." — Qualitative Health Research"This book has a power and beauty to it because the issues are living ones for the author. Through her eyes, the reader is brought in a profound way into the issues confronting a person with a debilitating illness. This book fundamentally poses a challenge to rethink the effects and consequences of technology and health care practice for human life." — Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, Stanford University"The author's intimate involvement with technology while she is facing death allows her to capture the finitude of life in many insightful and provocative ways. It is in fact difficult to express the beauty and power contained in this book. The topic is important for those who are in any way involved with health care, nursing, and the healing experience." — Maggie Neal, University of Maryland at Baltimore, School of Nursing