dealing with death and it's many aspects, rants, raves,

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Well, its the end of life certainly. Sometimes it just comes too soon.

[lukethedrifter]

Well, its the end of life certainly. Sometimes it just comes too soon.

Of course, and I'm not trying to tell you how you should feel either.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

You know, you see old people die, a lot, starting from the time you are born. And you continue to see it as an adolescent then as an adult and then as an elder. You know why? Because you can't live forever. And, the more you think about it, the more you realize that (mortality) is a good thing despite the temporary and maybe prolonged pain of saying goodbye to those whose time has come. I can accept that. And, I think many can.

I've said this on here before somewhere. But, the biggest [expletive] of dying isn't for the person that's dead. I mean, they are gone. They're either no more or presumably in a better place. The biggest [expletive] is for the people that are left behind. Those that are left without a friend or a brother or a sister or a son or daughter or mom or dad or boyfriend or girlfriend or wife or husband. Those whose lives are not complete. Who had many more memories left to make and good times to be had. It's a real [expletive] being able to look back at a part of your life and realizing that someone was missing. That a best man wasn't there. That a bride wasn't at the alter. That a father didn't give away his daughter on her wedding day.

Even after accepting death as a part of life, which I think we all do when we are young, you can still question the circumstances and timing of everyone's especially those who die too young. Those are the ones that I don't understand how people deal with. Because as sure as you are living and doing the things they would have been doing, they are dead and not.

[IMADreamer]

The hardest part is when you forget. It's only momentarily and your remember quickly, but it's like when you look up at the clock and see it's nearly time for them to be home from work. So you think that maybe you'll go get dinner started. You get up and then it hits you. They aren't coming home. That's the worst part.

The dog doesn't understand it all. He still goes to the door and sits around 5:30 at night. Finally sometime around 6:30 he gives up. That's always heartbreaking.

In a way I feel happy for her. She did not have that long prolonged period of a downhill slide that often happens with cancer. Yeah it sucked going through Chemo and all that but she had a period after that where she was in great health. At the end it was only about three days of sickness. She was good up to that. My biggest fear all along is that she would suffer a lot and she didn't.

[lukethedrifter]

Went over and talked to the neighbor a while back. Just to say how sorry we are. It's sort of more difficult because we hadn't really become friends, just waved and said hello and exchanged a few words on a daily basis.
Selfishly (and not), I was glad that she was having what she said was her best day so far. She invited us in, we hugged, then listened to her talk about what happened and how hard its been. About how she came over immediately to our house because she figured I knew CPR but no one was home, about how it seemed like it took forever for the Fire Department to arrive. About how supportive her family and both her and his companies have been. About being worried about hearing sounds at night. Stuff like that.

[Cronos]

Currently at Barnes, 7th floor at Siteman watching over my Dad.

While the doctors are doing everything they can to get him on a new trial drug for his multiple myeloma, my Mother was pretty shaken up after looking at some recent x-rays that were pretty disturbing. Suffice it to say, his bones have been pretty ravaged by the myeloma, there aren't very many healthy spots left. I didn't get this impression from the doctors, but my Mother (who tends to over-worry about everything, but who knows) is pretty convinced that they're out of options and are ready to (her words): "Let him die."

My older brother and I have been prepared for this for a while, but I'm not sure my Mom is. Prayers and good vibes would be appreciated at this point.

[planet planet]

Currently at Barnes, 7th floor at Siteman watching over my Dad.

While the doctors are doing everything they can to get him on a new trial drug for his multiple myeloma, my Mother was pretty shaken up after looking at some recent x-rays that were pretty disturbing. Suffice it to say, his bones have been pretty ravaged by the myeloma, there aren't very many healthy spots left. I didn't get this impression from the doctors, but my Mother (who tends to over-worry about everything, but who knows) is pretty convinced that they're out of options and are ready to (her words): "Let him die."

My older brother and I have been prepared for this for a while, but I'm not sure my Mom is. Prayers and good vibes would be appreciated at this point.

Cronos, I'm so sorry to hear that. Prayers go out to your family. That's got to be ridiculously difficult.

[Cronos]

Thanks, Planet.

It's the kind of situation where obviously we don't want him to go if there's still avenues we can pursue, but if it is his time it wouldn't be the worst thing for him t be free of his pain and for our family to be able to move on finally. He's dealt with just about everything you can think of since his original diagnosis back in 2007.

It's the kind of thing that made me so happy that the Cardinals had their amazing run in 2011; we didn't know how much time he had then, and to see the team he loves (and the team I wouldn't be as rabid a fan of if not for him) take home another trophy.

[IMADreamer]

Currently at Barnes, 7th floor at Siteman watching over my Dad.

While the doctors are doing everything they can to get him on a new trial drug for his multiple myeloma, my Mother was pretty shaken up after looking at some recent x-rays that were pretty disturbing. Suffice it to say, his bones have been pretty ravaged by the myeloma, there aren't very many healthy spots left. I didn't get this impression from the doctors, but my Mother (who tends to over-worry about everything, but who knows) is pretty convinced that they're out of options and are ready to (her words): "Let him die."

My older brother and I have been prepared for this for a while, but I'm not sure my Mom is. Prayers and good vibes would be appreciated at this point.

Sorry to hear it Cronos, I'll be thinking about you and your family. Best of luck.

[heyzeus]

Take care, Cronos. I'm glad you're there with your family now.