In Grief: Missing Grandmother’s Funeral

[Reviewed and updated January 19, 2023]

A reader writes: I have been abroad for nearly two years now and just learned that the only grandparent that I have has a stage 4 cancer. Since two or three weeks she has been having hallucinations and seeing dead family members of hers coming to get her on a white horse. I know that I won't be able to make it back home for her approaching funeral and I am really not at ease with this idea. What are the tips to deal with this? Thank you in advance for the counselling.

Understanding and Managing Grief, May 31 - June 6, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Experts discuss honoring loved ones lost to COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on communities of color. Thrive With Your Family: Coping With Loss and Grief « The University of Michigan

Disenfranchised Grief: In The Wake of Girlfriend's Abortion

Find an updated version of this post here:

Abortion Leads to Partner's Silent, Disenfranchised Grief

A reader writes: My girlfriend and I got pregnant about two months ago. She went and took the abortion pill yesterday.I begged her not to, to marry me and have this child. But she said no. She doesn't want to be in a relationship with me anymore. I am grieiving not only the loss of our possible child together, but the loss of our possible life together. I'm not even sure where to begin, but I still can't believe that she actually went through with it. 

Understanding and Managing Grief, May 24 - May 30, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Thanks for the kind review! "This reputable blog provides professional insight into the latest news on grief with a focus on the needs of professional and family caregivers. Grief Healing Blog’s professional insight is given by author and grief counselor Marty Tousley RN, MS, FT. She regularly features her responses to readers’ questions about grief in her blog posts." Blog Profiles: Grief Support Blogs « Beyond Bylines

In Grief: College Student Struggling with Too Many Losses

[Reviewed and updated April 25, 2025]

What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes part of us. ~ Helen Keller

A reader writes: I don't know what to say, what to do, or where to go anymore. I have lost four very good friends within a 10 month time span -- two to death, one to multiple strokes and the other is in a psych institution for the entirety of his life. They were all my good friends, friends I trusted, friends I confided in, friends I did things with; they were all I had, and, now, they are gone. I am lost, sad, alone, and as each and every day goes by I get lonelier and lonelier without them.

Understanding and Managing Grief, May 17 - May 23, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

We can’t visit the dying in hospitals, and we can’t gather for funerals—but technology can lessen the pain. Grief in the Time of COVID-19 «  Scientific American

Voices of Experience: Noticing The Signs

by Chelsea Hanson

It’s only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.  ~ Antione de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

If you are like me, you want to know if the person you miss is at peace, happy, and is okay. You may have asked, “Is my loved one really in heaven? or “Is her spirit still with me?” You may struggle with these questions and look for proof and validation, as I originally did.

Caregiving, Grief & Pet Loss, May 10 - May 16, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Many people falsely think that we get over grief, we recover from grief, we recover from a loss. The reality is [that] we learn to live with it. And we're learning to live with this. Now, what is important for us to understand is: there is no night that hasn't given way to a new day; there is no storm that didn't pass. This will pass, this will end someday.  David Kessler on learning to live with grief in a "grief-illiterate" culture « KCRW

Pet Loss: When Social Support Is Lacking

[Reviewed and updated January 15, 2023]

We don't heal in isolation, but in community. ~ S. Kelley Harrell

A reader writes:  As one who loves my companion animal and thinks of him as a family member, I am especially interested in the issue of moral/social support. If my husband were to be diagnosed with leukemia, I would be flooded with cards, flowers, and casseroles from family and friends. But if my cat is diagnosed with feline leukemia, it would hardly register a blip on the consciousness of even my closest friends and family members.

Caregiving & Grief, May 3 - May 9, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Optimal strategies for helping people develop new rituals to remember those who die during the COVID-19 era: Death, Grief and Funerals in the COVID Age « COVID White Paper

In the midst of a global pandemic, this day might actually feel a bit more aligned with what I want it to be. A Widowed Mother's Day à la COVID-19 « Modern Loss