Last month my mum collapsed at home and never made it to the hospital (she had signed a DNR order). She had lymphoma, been through one course of chemo, had six months clear then it returned. She started a second course but it proved too aggressive and she had it cancelled after the first dose. After that it was just steroids for management. I can’t honestly recall her complaining about anything related. When asked she always answered straight away ‘I’m fine’… I was especially close to her and I miss her.
#fuckcancer
12 days later my dad died. He had heart issues, hypertension and inoperable lung cancer. Fortunately my dad died peacefully in his sleep. I guess he couldn’t manage on his own and mercifully he was spared dying of cancer. And ‘independent’ living after 57 years of married life. The evening before he died most of the close family were round, he had perked up a little, especially when all three of his granddaughters turned up. I should have been mountain biking that evening but had sacked off as I wasn’t in the mood for it. I hugged him before I left (like always really). Someone else was staying in the house when he passed. he wasn’t ‘alone’.
#fuckcancer
Last Friday we were scattering their ashes, it was pretty sombre as you can imagine. My SIL had brought helium filled balloons for her kids to release. The youngest had written a letter to her grandparents and tied it to the balloon before release. Which proceeded to get caught in the branches of the tree we selected for the scatter. Me and my brother had various attempts to retrieve said balloon but we only made it worse. Not even my brother getting his brolly from the car worked and we ended up with my sisters partner (the lightest adult there) perched on the shoulders of my brother and using me for stability before we finally managed to remove it. My niece (yup the balloon releaser) had her iphone out and was ‘videoing’ us… we all dissolved into laughter, we reckoned my mum would be pissing herself with laughter at us but my dad would be going ‘Edith, its not funny, stop laughing…’
#laughter-after-tears
OP, you have my heartfelt sympathy.