Wednesday, 9 April 2014
What is Not So Easy to Block Out
A month ago yesterday was one of the darkest days I have experienced since this whole odyssey began. But what I only recently learned about that day - things over which I have no recollection have recently come to light - unsettling things that made me realize how serious this has become. It was a day that I was a total mess - so unsettled that I spent over 12 hours wandering through the house - unable to sit, lie down- or find any place that was comfortable until my sister eventually had to hold on to me as I grew weaker while I wandered - endless circles around our living room. Eventually it involved a nurse coming to the house and even a visit around 6pm that night from my family doctor. What I didn't know or recall is that one point she pulled my sister aside and suggested she contact my family in case there was anything they wanted to say to me before I was eventually sedated. What I didn't remember is that everyone in my family came that night...my Mom and Dad drove in from Duncan, my nephews and my sister and brother-in-law David...that I actually spoke to them - again, moments I don't remember - before I was finally settled for the night. It is hard for me to think of these events and how so seemingly close to the end things seemed at the time - and yet still I am here - somehow going through these experiences and unfortunately taking my family with me. Perhaps it is why now I find myself on some levels pushing them away to some degree - discouraging visits - managing phone calls but perhaps in some ways thinking that while I thought initially I wanted desperately not to be alone near the end - maybe I am in a different space now. Things turned again since that time - I haven't had a significant repeat of that day since - but it sticks with me, haunting me in a way that these things could have happened and yet I blocked them out so completely from my mind. It is all so unpredictable where I will be at any given moment and why the whole notion of focusing on the here and now seems the only way to live through this. Again, I simply don't know how long I can or will continue to live this way and so each day I wait - wait for something which seems impossible to envision.
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Thanks for sharing this, Michelle. I expect a great many people reading the posts are thinking seriously, likely for the first time, about what might be ahead for them, and are troubled by the prospects. It's important that we talk about the way we die, and the posts are helping us to see that. You are doing good work.
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Thanks for this Paul...no matter how much we prepare, some moments just can't be anticipated. I think my care team are as perplexed as I am that I seem to bounce back from some of this. I don't really know the purpose - but as I said, I am here for whatever reason.
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