Sunday, November 25, 2007
Prayers for Alexia
Please pray for one of my patients, Alexia, who is fighting for her life in the PICU right now. Her Daddy had just gone home to Argentina because she was doing so much better. He is desperately trying to get back to Duke and Mommy, Ursula, is having to be strong for her little princess warrior. Pray that they will be re-united soon and that Alexia can hang on.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
November Road
Thought I would post a few pictures of some November happenings. Christopher and I were saying last night how fast this month seems to be going. Reminds me of the line from my new favorite song "So Small" by Carrie Underwood:While you're sittin' 'round thinking 'bout what you can't change
and worrying about all the wrong things
Time's flyin by
Movin' so fast
You better make it count
'cause you can't get it back...
When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else seems so small.
Quintessential Fall picture taken by Grandma
Elias: 21 months
Christopher at a Duke Men's BBall game in a UK shirt = )
Happy 28th birthday!
Thanksgiving Feast at Elias' school
We hope everyone has a peaceful thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for...our friends and family included!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Beautiful ending
I should be going to bed now that I have just completed another assignment for school, but instead I am checking up on my favorite patients through their websites and came across something I had to share. I have mentioned Kate before (see "Kate the Great" on the right hand side of our blog page), but not sure if I said that Kate had a sister named Caroline. Caroline was born with the same disease as Kate, but developed symptoms of the disease too quickly to attempt treatment. Caroline recently passed away at the age of 9 and her mom Allison wrote the most beautiful description of Caroline's passing. We hear about our patients dying, but often do not know the specific circumstances surrounding their deaths or what it was like for the parents to say goodbye. I just had to share from Kate's webpage the description of the Kirk's experience. It truly was a beautiful ending.
This option is not feasible or desirable for everyone, but we also found it a great comfort to keep Caroline at home after her death. We had cared for her so constantly through her life that it was hard for us to think about other people caring for her after she died. We found a compassionate and knowledgeable funeral director, Jim Brewer at Marshall-Donnelly-Combs, who basically said that he would help us attend to Caroline after her death in whatever manner we desired. He and his co-workers Katherine and Billy were in our house frequently over the next couple of days, at any hour of the day or night we needed them. After Caroline died my sisters, Doug, and I washed her body and her hair. We dressed her and placed her on the bed in her room. My sister’s friend Betty sent a gorgeous white dress, actually a first communion dress, for Caroline to wear. I told Caroline that if she knew what a froufrou outfit I had her in she’d be giving me the business. We compromised in that I let her stay barefoot under her big skirt. The girl never liked shoes. We put two small ice packs wrapped in towels on either side of her torso, and changed these maybe every twelve hours. There were a few changes in Caroline’s body over the next two days, not many, and they served to remind us that this was only her body, that her spirit had been released. Everyone had time to sit with her, read to her, talk to her over the next couple of days. I frequently found myself running into her room to tell her what I was doing, and it felt so natural. On the morning of her burial Doug carried her down the stairs and we placed her in her casket in our foyer. She was to be covered with a quilt which my sisters and I made with our mother as she was dying of cancer. My sisters tucked this around Caroline as if they were tucking her in for the night. We placed a few mementos in her casket and then closed it. Doug and I and other family members carried the casket from our porch to the hearse, and then from the hearse to the gravesite for the burial. At the burial Dahl read one of Caroline’s favorite books, The Circle of Days, Aunt Julie spoke, and Doug sang to Caroline one more time.
This option is not feasible or desirable for everyone, but we also found it a great comfort to keep Caroline at home after her death. We had cared for her so constantly through her life that it was hard for us to think about other people caring for her after she died. We found a compassionate and knowledgeable funeral director, Jim Brewer at Marshall-Donnelly-Combs, who basically said that he would help us attend to Caroline after her death in whatever manner we desired. He and his co-workers Katherine and Billy were in our house frequently over the next couple of days, at any hour of the day or night we needed them. After Caroline died my sisters, Doug, and I washed her body and her hair. We dressed her and placed her on the bed in her room. My sister’s friend Betty sent a gorgeous white dress, actually a first communion dress, for Caroline to wear. I told Caroline that if she knew what a froufrou outfit I had her in she’d be giving me the business. We compromised in that I let her stay barefoot under her big skirt. The girl never liked shoes. We put two small ice packs wrapped in towels on either side of her torso, and changed these maybe every twelve hours. There were a few changes in Caroline’s body over the next two days, not many, and they served to remind us that this was only her body, that her spirit had been released. Everyone had time to sit with her, read to her, talk to her over the next couple of days. I frequently found myself running into her room to tell her what I was doing, and it felt so natural. On the morning of her burial Doug carried her down the stairs and we placed her in her casket in our foyer. She was to be covered with a quilt which my sisters and I made with our mother as she was dying of cancer. My sisters tucked this around Caroline as if they were tucking her in for the night. We placed a few mementos in her casket and then closed it. Doug and I and other family members carried the casket from our porch to the hearse, and then from the hearse to the gravesite for the burial. At the burial Dahl read one of Caroline’s favorite books, The Circle of Days, Aunt Julie spoke, and Doug sang to Caroline one more time.
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