6 Months or Less Alexandra Salmon

This is 6 Months or Less, a podcast that explores life and death through the eyes of people who have been given six months or less to live.

Let’s do a thought experiment: Imagine you are in a room with someone who is dying. What would you want to ask? In this episode, I explore some of the questions I would want to ask, and I also interview my parents in an attempt to understand why I'm so curious about death and dying. Before they give me an answer, they turn the question around on me.
Music: “Threshold” and “Pounded Piano” by Podington Bear

How would you find people to interview with six months or less to live? Join me in this episode as I reflect on my process and explore the challenges of trying to find people to interview. I also have a conversation with my friend and old coworker, Lisa Stewart, about her work in hospice and her own personal experience of her mother dying.
Thank you so much to Lisa for also sharing her personal experience of her mother dying.
Music: "Silver Hatch" and "Naptime" by Blue Dot Sessions and "Indian Paintbrush" by Podington Bear

In this episode, I ask a doctor, a medical ethicist, social workers, as well as family, friends, and old coworkers about why it is so hard for us to talk about death and dying. I also share conversations I have had with my young son about the coronavirus and death and dying, and I share some exciting news from my own life.
Thanks to my friends and family for exploring difficult questions with me, and to my son for his uninhibited curiosity and sense of wonder.
Music: “Betty Dear” by Blue Dot Sessions and “Stronger” and “Sun” by Alan Spiljak

When Glenn Buckland was 55 years old, his wife told him, “You’re either going to the hospital or you’re going to the morgue.” After a series of tests, he was diagnosed with plasma cell leukemia, a rare and terminal cancer. But Glenn is not fearful of his death. He instead believes that it is something that can be celebrated. In this episode, you will learn how Glenn got to this place of acceptance and what he thinks a good death looks like for him.
Thank you so much to Glenn for sharing his story with us.
Music: “Sage the Hunter” and “Low Coal Camper” by Blue Dot Sessions and “Canada” by Pictures of The Floating World