Dear LPG

It is a situation that we will all eventually find ourselves facing and I am not sure that it gets any easier the second or third time.

My family have recently been told by the doctors who are looking after one of my closer relatives that there is ‘nothing more that they can do’.   I have been really affected by this news even though I know that it is a shared experience and while every member of my family is experiencing the fall-out in very different and unique ways I have to say that the news has left me feeling quite numb.

I find myself feeling guilty for thinking about after the inevitable happens and find it really hard to even be a part of the whole process of forward planning.  While I know that circumstances will force all people to hear this news from time to time in their lives,  it has to be one of the hardest things to deal with for the vast majority.

I feel that I want to share that there are some really positive aspects here and the thing that I find myself hanging onto is that even though our doctors know a lot, not even they can predict the future. 

My family was given this same news some three years ago and the object of the diagnosis is still with us.  So while we have no idea what the future holds except that no matter which path we take in life we are all certain to travel to the same destination sooner or later. 

Some of us believe that life on this earth is part of a much longer journey we are in the process of taking, while others think that this is all there is, but perhaps those who think that we have to look back to the wonderful things we have seen, been, done and experienced and acknowledge that fate (or as I believe, God) did not have to give us the opportunity. 

I just wanted to share my thought having found myself at this point and suggest to other readers that writing them down may help others.  

YB, Penge

While YB has written about the effect that news of an impending bereavement is having, LPG has found some related information.

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