We didn’t want him to have any surprises.

We thought his wife was dying and we needed to prepare him.

We weren’t the only ones who had done this.

We heard the Oncologist had told them she would only have three months left to live, but that had been five months ago.

We thought she would die six weeks ago when her mind became less clear, so we prepared her husband for death within days. The same afternoon she went out shopping for furniture.

We thought she would die four weeks ago, again her mind had become less clear, so we prepared her husband for death within days. The next day she went out shopping for clothes for the children.

Two weeks ago she thought she was about to die, and we agreed. She fell asleep and we thought she wouldn’t be waking up again. Again we prepared her husband for death within days. Two days later she woke up and wanted to eat something.

At the end of last week, she thought she was about to die, and asked her husband to bring the children in. We thought this time she had to be right and prepared for her death. Somehow she carried on but became less conscious over the rest of the week.

Her husband had thought he had prepared himself and the children as well as he could.

He thought she was sleeping, but the nurses who came in for the routine check and bed turn found that she had died.

Everyone had been prepared for her death but when it happened it still hit hard. The brains were ready but the emotional hearts are always slower.

For almost six months we had worked on connecting with our patient in order to help her. We had listened, negotiated and flexed in order to earn her trust. The sudden disconnection took us all by surprise as the strong one had finally completed her long final journey. Off to a better place with no more suffering.

Rest in peace Dear Patient. Safe travels.

Back to plain boring fingernails.