Peaceful Endings
Alice was distraught over her best friend's health. Nancy, an adoring mother of three growing children, hadn't been feeling well. Alice encouraged her to go in for a check-up. Nancy said she would but tried everything she could to get over her symptoms. Eventually she realized something was seriously wrong and called her doctor.
After a battery of tests she was diagnosed with cancer of the liver; contained and operable but down the line she would need a liver transplant.
The shock was horrible. Alice and Nancy were only in their late thirties; this couldn't be happening to Nancy.
Alice worried about Nancy and often cried herself to sleep. Nancy was worried about her children. Amanda was only eight and the boys but twelve and fourteen.
The first operation went fairly well, but the recovery was slow. Six months later she went in for a third check-up. The doctor put her on the waiting list for a donor liver.
Nancy fretted over her children day and night. Her husband was by her side, wonderful in every way, but envisioning her children without a mother drove her into frenzy. She worked morning, noon and night arranging special things for them to do, cooking all of their favorite foods, taking them to the latest stage productions, museums, ice skating and everything she could find that she thought would add to their life experience. Even on her weakest days she was there in the stands yelling for her boys as they played their favorite sports.
Fatigue and a weight loss slowed her down. The phone rang: "Get to the hospital immediately. We have a liver."
The surgery was a success and Nancy slowly healed to resume being an all-time mother. But regardless of how much she did for her children, worry over their future held her in a constant state of distress.
Fourteen months after the liver transplant, things went from bad to worse - her body was rejecting the donor liver; her only hope was for another liver.
It is extremely rare for a patient to receive a second organ, but miraculously, Nancy's doctor called to say that there'd been a bad accident and that once again she should come to the hospital as soon as possible.
Another transplant, another hospital stay, another time of recovery.
Once again Nancy rose from the ashes, still worried, still doing all she could.
As one month followed another Nancy's body began telling her that things were not well and that in time everything would fall apart.
Shortly after those first knowing feelings Nancy called Alice to tell her of a vivid dream she'd had the night before. In the dream she was lying in a marvelous bed of satin. It was a beautiful and comforting bed. Then someone covered her from head to toe with a blanket of grass. She said it wasn't at all scary and that she'd never felt more at peace, never felt better or more whole in every way.
Alice grew numb as she listened to Nancy's dream but there was something in Nancy's voice Alice had never heard. Nancy seemed to be a state of grace, she sounded wonderful, there was no worry in her voice and she wasn't fretting over the children, her husband or even herself. "I just wanted to tell someone about my dream; it was so beautiful and peaceful. I'll call you tomorrow."
From that day forward Nancy never worried about anything. Now she sat with her children and told them stories of her childhood, encouraged them to read books that had made a difference in her life, allowed them to go to camp and be with friends. As weeks passed Nancy's family became a close-knit unit of love and mutual admiration. When her time came she told her family how much she loved them and left.
Nancy's knowing mind allowed her to dream an emotionally healing dream. When my late husband's leukemia went blastic and Death entered our home to sit patiently waiting for his departure, Dick experienced a complete change of personality. The fear that had gripped him and ruined his last years, as well as those who stood by, vanished to be replaced with what I refer to as Near Death Sight. Dick became a benevolent guru - all knowing, all accepting and full of grace. It was close to magical to be in his presence.
