When Ladner's Lori Kaake was introduced to the Delta Hospice during her mother-in-law's final days, she had no idea she would be back again so soon for a different reason.
Kaake said she and her family were thankful for the services offered at Delta Hospice as her mother-inlaw lived out her remaining days at the Ladner facility in the spring of 2011.
"We made jokes that it was so nice there that she would live forever," she said with a laugh.
Just a few months later, in July 2011, Kaake was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer that had spread to her liver.
Treatment began and in October of that year, doctors removed three-quarters of her pancreas, her spleen and gallbladder. She spent four months in hospital recovering after some complications and more surgeries, but in February 2012 was finally allowed to leave the hospital and continue her recovery at home.
Due to her health, Kaake was housebound and after eight months was breaking under the stress of trying to deal with her illness.
"I just wanted to give up," she said, adding that at the time she felt that she could not go on.
She said that while she is thankful to be in recovery mode, "I just felt that on my journey it's been hard to let go of being a very busy, capable mother of four to not being able to do much because my recovery was taking so long."
She was referred by her doctor to counseling at Delta Hospice and after a few sessions, she said, the counselor suggested she
try attending one of the hospice's Relaxation Circle sessions.
"There's little things I can do for myself and this is one of those things," she said.
The weekly sessions have helped her tremendously.
Gilly Heaps, a clinical counselor at the hospice, runs the Relaxation Circle at the facility's Centre for Supportive Care.
"It's a drop-in group for people living with lifethreatening illnesses," she said, adding the main aim of the group is to help people relax in the face of a stressful situation.
Heaps uses soothing music, guided imagery and therapeutic touch to help participants relax in a way that might not otherwise be possible.
She said the sessions, designed for people facing treatments, a recent diagnosis or end of life, can help people gather some strategies for handling difficult situations as well as calm the nervous system.
"That can be a very chaotic, discombobulating time for people," Heaps said.
Relaxation Circle sessions run every Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. The circle will take a break over the holidays with no sessions on Dec. 24 or 31.
