Introductive Case Study. «My Health is Excellent but I’m Dying»

Ruth was 89-years old when I interviewed her as part of a larger study on the meaning of suffering in old age. She lived alone in the back apartment of a two-unit house; her daughter and daughter’s family (a husband and three grown children) lived in the front unit. Ruth’s apartment consisted of a small kitchen, living room area, private bath and a bedroom which also housed an oxygen unit to which she was tethered by a thin plastic tube long enough to give her access to the entire apartment. ..