Tag: fear of dying

Daddy don’t leave me…. 12.1.2013


A year ago I posted this.  Yesterday we had visitors.  We swam; the grandchildren laughed and joked, played hide and seek; we ate spaghetti bolognaise and ciabatta.  I sat looking at all the happy faces and remembered Vic clinging to Danie.  I remember the fear in her eyes.  Her desperation.  Her final Sunday.

Vic was desperately trying to finish the cards she had bought the boys.  She wanted to write the perfect words.  Words that would reach out to her boys from the grave.  I remember my fear and frustration.  Frustration that the cards had not been written and fear that it would not get done.  So much pressure in death…

IMG_8516

Tuesday brought an avalanche of visitors.  It was a very, very emotional day.  Vic was confused and seeing visions of angels and dead loved ones.

Vic’s friend Angela has been absolutely amazing.  She has sat through many hours of Vic’s tears and fears.  She has consoled and supported – at great personal expense.  I have used Angela as a sounding board and dragged her into discussions with Siza. I discussed sedation and treatment options with her.  She has hugged and messaged.  She has been a pillar of strength.

Leigh, Jared BFF’s Mom, walked in on Tuesday with armloads of flowers.  Vic’s room looked and smelled like a garden!  It looked absolutely beautiful and Vic was thrilled.

Image

Vic has refused to let go.  She is holding onto life with every fibre of her being.  She does not want visitors to leave and will try to get out of bed when they are here.

She cries and keeps asking “How do I say my final goodbyes?”

Esther visits every day.  She picks up the boys after school.  She is Vic’s guide.  “Go towards the light.  The light is good!” she keeps telling Vic.  Esther is a ray of sunshine and like the Rock of Gibraltar.  She is Vic’s sister in love.

Image

It is heart wrenching!

Vic clings to her dad and the boys.  She puts out her arms and says “Daddy don’t leave me…”  When she sees her boys she cries “Please give me a hug…”  and then “I love you more than life and then some more…”

Image

I hate my life.  I wish I were dead.

dead woman walking


My post of one year ago.  IMG_8510Reading through this post, retracing last year, I can only thank God my baby girl’s suffering is over.  Do I miss her?  With every fibre in my body.  At times I feel as if I am drowning in my grief.  At other times I am so grateful that my prayers were answered and that my little Angle now runs, free of pain, Last night I had a discussion with someone who Vic loves very dearly.  This friend of Vic has spent endless hours, days, weeks and months in hospital with Vic.  She is actually the only person that has truly travelled this horrific journey with us.  Vic has lived through many death sentences and reprieves.  Lee has been around for at least the past 7 years of Vic’s journey.  Lee has nursed Vic back to health many times and I know she cares deeply for her friend.

I discussed the various treatment options with her.  Do I insist on having a stent fitted or do I request feeding tubes?  Or do I go with Vic’s non-intervention wish?  But if I comply how do I bring calmness and peace in Vic’s life?  Vic is no exception to the rule…As Bella (the Minister) pointed out last night: even Jesus of NAZARETH feared death….Fearing death is as natural as breathing is to us.

Last night I decided no sedation.  If I allow sedation, which is against her wishes, I would silence Vic’s voice, her fears and her tears.

Dr Sue says the bleeding is from the abdomen.  Her Oesophagus, throat and mouth are covered in a mass of sores from all the vomiting.  Her breathing is shallow and her heart rate weak but very rapid.  Her blood pressure is dropping and her circulation is poor.  The liver is very enlarged.

We are past the point of no return.  Vicky is dying and only a miracle can save her.  There is no operation, no magic medication.  Nothing can save her.

Today I again witnessed her anguish and phenomenal will to live. 

I had a dream.  I saw Vic being escorted, in deadly silence, down a long dark passage.  Her family and friends were escorting her on her final walk into the chamber of death.  I clearly saw the fear in her eyes and I could feel her little body trembling with fear.  I heard a voice saying “Dead woman walking…”

I saw her walk into the Chamber of Death, being strapped down, and the needle being inserted into her little arm.  In my dream I was the head warden and my eyes were flitting between the clock and a telephone…Would there be another reprieve??

Then I woke.

It is so cruel.  For all of us.  Why do people linger?  Why don’t we all just go to sleep and never wake up?  Or die in a car accident?  Why this suffering???  I want to go to sleep and never wake up.  Life sucks!

Vic is on a mild sedation.  She is more calm and peaceful than she has been for a couple of weeks.  She woke up this evening and had dinner…half a hamburger!!  My little take-away queen!! She only vomited at 11.30 pm so she managed to actually keep down the food.  She has passed no urine today.

She sobbed when I told her the boys had covered their school books…”I want to do it for them!”  She wailed

“I have let down my boys.  I always cover their books…”

The boys were in her room when Vic said “Oh Jared, look!  Oupa Tienie is standing behind you…”  It really spooked the boys.  Tienie, Vic’s biological father, died on the 5th of November 1999…

Her angels have come to fetch her.

I wish Vic was married.  I wish her biological father was still alive!  I wish the decision was not mine!!!

Tomorrow I will ask that the sedation be increased.  I will silence my child’s sweet voice.  I will also silence her tears and fears.

“Dead woman walking…”