OT: Chicken Little -
I'm very sorry to hear of your pain.
My mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1994 and died last year. The years in between were the most difficult of my life. Everytime the phone rang, I was afraid it was "the call." Everytime I saw her, she was a little bit worse - a little weaker, a little more forgetful. The toll her dying took on all of us, especially my father who was her primary caregiver, was more difficult than I can even begin to describe. In the months leading up to her death, when it was clear that she had no hope of surviving, I was a total basketcase. I had no idea how I would react when she finally gone.
Several days before she died, I received a call from her hospice nurse telling me I should come down to Florida immediately to say goodbye because she had all the signs of dying imminently. To say I was a wreck would be a huge understatement. But I got on the next plane to be with her and I did get a chance to say goodbye. The next morning she was gone.
After her death, something remarkable happened. Instead of fear and anxiety, suddenly there was a tremendous sense of calm. She was no longer in pain; she was at peace. And I was at peace. Once I recognized the inevitability of death, it helped me come to peaceful terms with her death. Her body may be gone, but her spirit lives on. I sense her constantly. And I know she is with me in everything I do.
I wish you peace. GTinsdale |
