By Debbie Stone and Gini Cunningham
Debbie: This book is not about a cat. Not really. It’s about love and family and letting go. It’s a memoir from Dr. David Dosa and his time in a hospice-care nursing home, with an amazing cat as a side character, who pretty much steals the show.
I loved this book. I didn’t think I would. In fact, when Gini proposed it for this month I thought: an animal, palliative care, end of life—this is going to be sad and depressing. It was sad, but not depressing. It was full of family love with funny, heartwarming, and bittersweet stories of how we, in America, view the end of life. While that is an essay (or more) unto itself—end of life care - let us get back to Oscar and why I can say the book is not about a cat, but rather about love, but the cat is the love, the vessel to ease the transformation. Too philosophical for you? Okay, in simple terms…
Oscar is just a stray cat who shows up when the nursing home is under construction and he decide to stick around. He is not an official assisted therapy cat, yet he senses when death is imminent. He roams the halls, cranky to most of the staff, but easing the journey of patients stricken with dementia and Alzheimer’s. In addition he comforts the families of those patients and the staff who care for them. He literally hops up on the bed of the dying and stays with them until they pass. It is hard to watch a loved one die slowly - letting go is extremely difficult - but when Oscar, whose reputation precedes him, appears in a patient’s room, some family members experience a sense of relief that a burden has been lifted from them. Oscar arrives to help them all with the journey.
This is not an uplifting book, and yet it is. I only hope when I die there is an intuitive “Oscar” by my side.
Gini: With Debbie’s writing to set you up, I promise that you will love Making Rounds with Oscar. Dr. Dosa begins as a non-believer in the Super Cat Powers of Oscar. Skeptical about the claims of head nurse Mary that the in-home feline senses when someone is going to die, he scoffs at the idea. But as days and weeks pass by, he realizes that Oscar possesses “The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat” – the rest of the book title. Actually, I would never call Oscar ordinary, even before I got to know him in this book. His wanderings from room to room, his leaps onto beds to receive a friendly pat or fur ruffle, his genuine perception of guardianship over each individual, his casual to intense oversight of all things are each remarkable.
A series of vignettes reveal the Oscar story as families and medical professionals wind the treacherous journey of later stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Dosa touches on many concerns: prolonging life regardless of no chance of reversal; family in-fighting as to what constitutes “best care”; the joys of living mixed with the sorrows of observing a loved slip into a cognitive cloud. Just when I felt I could not face another sorrowful dilemma with many of these hitting too close to home, Oscar would tiptoe in to relieve the tension – mine and those dying of this terrible disease. Reading it conveys a unique feeling of hope even when a situation feels hopeless.
Dr. Dosa also develops reader respect for those with Alzheimer’s. While many label those with dementia as totally lost, uncommunicative, and out-of-touch, the author finds gentleness and grace in every instance and every individual, adding value to a life that has so drastically changed. Humor mixed with sadness had me deeply engrossed and often mystified. I also reflected on the many cats of my past: independent, ornery at times and downright snotty at other moments, every one of these knew when I needed a cuddle, a soft purr, and a warm reception. Dogs have loved me regardless; cats chose the exact instant to intervene with a tender rub on my legs to reassure me that all would be well; that I would survive the trials and stresses of existence.
Debbie and I shared Oscar with Literary Book Club, a long-standing Winnemucca organization. The positive reception and wonderful questions convince me it’s perfect for every reader.