Update on Z.

A week ago I posted about Z., a friend of Ann who is very ill with cancer. Z.’s father regularly writes posts in a password-protected blog on the hospital website. Ann gave me access to these posts, and they are touching. And disturbing. It is clear that this is an important emotional release for Z.’s father. Z. was hospitalized so they could improve her pain medication. She will be coming home soon and receiving hospice care.

Some quotes from the letters:

I wish that I knew what Z. was thinking and feeling. We respond to her pain, try to understand her increasingly garbled speech, guess at what might make her less uncomfortable, and tell her that we love her, almost all of the time.

and

Thanks for your posts, your emails, your prayers, your love and warmth. And for our fellow Cagers and bball fans who are going to Greensboro, give a yell and clap really hard for our team. Tell them Z. sent you.

Go, Rutgers.

Love and Peace,
[Z.’s father’s name]

Finally,

As one of my friends has said right along, “no parent expects to watch his child die. It is our own personal Holocaust.”

Sometimes people mis-use the term “Holocaust”. Not here.

Unfortunately, too many families have suffered such a loss. Here’s another family’s story.