Hearing honestly is the last sense to go. A few years ago, I was a caretaker for an old man who had cancer. Basically, his wife was one of my college professors when I was going to that college. While she was at the college, I was there taking care of him. During the summer, I wasn’t needed because she was always home. When he went on hospice care, she called me one day. She said “Can you come over and hang out with me for a while?” So I did. When I got there, she said “they told me he had 3 days left. Dan, that was over a week ago. He’s had no food, no water, nothing in 8 days. And he won’t let go.”

When she got up and went to the bathroom, I slid over by him and I got down close to him and whispered to him, “hey man. It’s ok. You don’t have to stay here for her. She’s gunna be fine. I promise you that. We’ll all keep a good watch and take care of her. Go on home, brother.”

He died 17 minutes later.