Making Rounds With Oscar:

MAKING ROUNDS WITH OSCAR, The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat, by David Dosa, M.D. Hyperion (www.hyperionbooks.com), 2010, 225 pp., $23.99. ISBN 978-1-4013-2323-3

As Andrew and I were making plans to attend the ReaderCon book convention in Massachusetts, I was strategizing how I could make a side trip to meet Dr. David Dosa and Oscar.  Sadly, we had to cancel our plans so for now, the review is the best we can do.

By outward appearances, Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island looks like an ordinary nursing home.  Seniors come and sadly, seniors go, passing on, hopefully to a better place.  But here, nobody passes without the companionship and comfort from Oscar the cat’s bedside end-of-life vigil.  Author Dr. David Dosa, a geriatrician and professor at Brown University, works at Steere House, treating patients with severe dementia.  Dr. Dose described Oscar’s gift in a 2007 essay in the New England Journal of Medicine and the rest is history.

At of the time of the writing of this book, Oscar had predicted with uncanny precision the last hours of at least 50 patients at the home.  He can sense when a person is hours from death and spends their last hours curled up on their bed.  At first, that might seem rather morbid.  Visitors cast a wary eye if Oscar lingers a little too long in their loved one’s room!  But on closer examination, the cat’s gift is actually a blessing is disguise.  As Dr. Dosa relates, Oscar’s ability helps families prepare for the end and most importantly, offers a timeline for making a beeline to the bedside of a loved one to share their last moments.

People have gifts.  So why couldn’t a cat have an extraordinary ability too?  Nobody is quite sure how Oscar does what he does.  Medical professionals surmise is could be something in the odor of dying cells.

Death can be a very unsettling subject and the book acknowledges that fact.  Dr. Dosa offers solid advice on dealing with geriatric illness, in particular Alzheimer’s disease, and the slow and often difficult and sad downward spiral of our elderly family members.

I have a minister friend who is a chaplain for hospice.  He’s also worked in funeral homes.  I could never figure out how he could do this type of work but he is completely at ease.  Much like Oscar, he feels it is a blessing and privilege to help someone make a smooth transition to the afterlife. 

I remember well my first brush with death.  I was about 9 years old and walked into the funeral home and saw my paternal grandfather in his coffin, and I was outta there!  For most of my life, I would never go to a viewing.  Until I experienced death first-hand at my father’s passing.  Like Oscar, I kept a constant bedside vigil to the very end.  The experience was utterly transforming.

Oscar’s ability is truly a gift, in more ways than one.  Dr. Dosa’s book MAKING ROUNDS WITH OSCAR is a gift to all of us to help us on our journey to the end.