My favorite kind of hospice patient

This article examines a little talked about phenomenon in hospice; the person who thrives on hospice care.

Given the focused attention of hospice doctors, nurses, social workers and spiritual counselors, the patients get their minimum meds adjusted and take them regularly. They get painkillers adequate to assure a night's sleep. They eat regularly, and their loved ones get some help and relief.

"Often, just taking away the pain and enabling them to sleep through the night gives people a second wind," said Fillebrown, clinical director of the Lehigh Valley Hospice in Allentown, Pa.

There is little more rewarding for hospice workers than to see their patients rally and thrive on nothing more than good care and a smile. It happens more often than most outside the hospice community think.

My grandmother always told me that a smile was great medicine. I guess she was right.