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Death part 2
We are in the intermission. The death has happened. It was not drawn out or painful. I watched and comforted as the waves of emotion passed through us, first in tidal waves, eventually down to crests, and now to undulating swells. We hold here. We wait in the swells. Tomorrow is the formal closing of life. The expected schedule of events are planned: service, grave, luncheon. Beyond that there is nothing. This is the eve and we sit here as if we are holding out breath. We know what is coming. We know what we are supposed to do. It’s simply not time to do them yet. We began this intermission…
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Death part 1
I don’t write about death often enough. There is an eminent death coming in the family, which is why I think of it today. The event that started it was inoccuous enough, a blow to the head. I’m not sure if it was a stumble or the push from an over enthusiastic dog. But the end result is intracranial bleeding, the ICU, rapid decline, and a DNR order. I am removed from this person but my husband is not. This circumstance makes my job easier–I become the facilitator. I can get things done to allow him to have space. I spent the day clearing our schedule for the weekend, and…
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Day in Review May 12, 2015
It’s been a mix of a day. It started with the death of a pet, one of our mice, that has been struggling for a bit. She had been fighting dermatitis to the point of extremem self harm. If I were in the lab, I would have ended her life for various reasons, mostly scientific. But at home she is a beloved pet. We got past the dermatitis and waaaas starting to regrow hair, but there was a patch of skin on her leg that was severly damaged. We had a couple of interventions because of dehydration. She was underweight. But overall, we felt that the worst was over and…
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Donald Bagger 2014
Tuesday morning, my sister called me to tell me that my uncle had died. I am sitting here at the end of Wednesday knowing that I need to write to get this processed in some way, but not knowing what to say exactly. This was my mother’s brother, the only sibling that she had. He wasn’t a content in my life. He’s been estranged from various parts of the family off and on, usually of his own choosing. At the time of his death (which at this point, we think was two weeks ago) he was living in Green Bay. It all makes for a very disjointed story. I found…