One of my hospital consultants once explained my condition to me in a way that, although difficult to hear, turned out to be unexpectedly helpful. That was in 2008.
He told me that from that point onwards, all my care would technically be palliative. At first hearing, that sounds extraordinarily stark. The word carries enormous emotional weight. Many people hear it and understandably think it means that death is imminent, or that medicine has somehow “given up”.
What he carefully explained, however, was something rather different.
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Half a Mind to .. 