Sylvia, that brought a little tear to my eye. and I hope it doesn;t bring you too much grief if I share a story with you.
I had the pleasure and honour of looking after an eight-year-old girl with leukaemia, who relapsed and sadly died. A fortnight before she died, she had yet to discuss it at all, and her parents had not been able to bring themselves to discuss it with her.
All of a sudden one day, during a ward round, she turned to her mother and said "Mum, after I die, I want you to lose weight." She turned to her dad and said "Dad, after I die, I want you to stop smoking." And she turned to her oncologist and said "Doctor, before I die, I want you to do the ward round in a nurses uniform.
She proceeded to plan, with her parents, both her "going away" party, so she could see all of her friends again, and her funeral. A few days later she was discharged.
A week and a half later, she woke up her mum and asked her to come and sleep with her. And in the early hours of the morning, wrapped up in her mother's arms, with the rain outside tapping on the window, she died peacefully.
Her father stopped smoking. Her mother has lost weight and to this day I believe has kept it off. And, the day before she was discharged, her doctor did do the entire ward round - a male doctor - in a female nurse's uniform. In full makeup.
When I die, that is the way I want it to be - at peace with myself, at peace with my family, warapped up in the arms of someone I love, with the rain outside tapping on my window. I can't even begin to put into words how much that experience, and the others I was privileged enough to share, have affected the way I look at life.
Life is far too short. Thank you, Silvia, for sharing your bittersweet story, and thank you to all of the people who have read this thread who will donate bone marrow, or be on the list to donate.
Schmickers that was a sweet story indeed and it brought tears to my eyes, I've actually never written about Reny's dead, her last minutes in this earth.
She couldn't hear and see very well before she died, her feet, hands and elbows were swollen and her eyes where practically swollen shut, she slept 22 hours every day and the 2 hours she was awake(around 3 am) she will count silently(we really didn't knew what she was counting and when we asked her she said "I will count to whatever number I want to count", in her birthday she only woke up to say "I love you" to me, DH and her siblings, she didn't open any of her presents. and a month before she write a "will" and told me to give some of her toys to her sister, brother and her beloved bike to a little girl that will really enjoy it, she also wanted to come to Australia, we lived here with her when she was a baby, we where on vacations in our home in Stockholm when she was diagnosed and we where afraid to travel with her, even though when she was in remission and she's burried here.
And she died in a similar way like the little girl in your story, DH and I slept with her every single day since she was discharged in mid December, there was nothing that was left to do for her so we took her home to wait as her body was slowly wasting, her last night she was restless she didn't sleep, she just opened her eyes one last time and gave us a sweet smile, then she close them again and said "I'm ready" she nodded her head yes as if she where talking to someone, I was holding her when she finally said "Mommy, Daddy I'll be waiting" she them mumbled some more and finally passed in my arms.
I just want you to know that you give life by donating, the family and the patient appreciate it
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