Not a Doctor or a Nurse.

One of my Uncles had stage 4 Pancreatic cancer. He was a tough guy and didn’t trust hospitals so he didn’t see a Doctor until it was way too late, despite being in debilitating pain. When he did, the prognosis was grim, he had maybe six weeks left and Pancreatic cancer is a painful way to die. He decided to get MAiD instead. Medical Assistance in Dying, which is legal in Canada.

On the day we were all gathered around his bed, all the paperwork and permissions were sorted out and the syringe of d***s was connected to his IV. He was heavily sedated, but he has to be the one to push the plunger, which he did with the help of his wife. He closed his eyes and his breathing got very shallow and slowed down. After a few minutes we thought he had passed.

We were all standing around him, some saying goodbye, a lot of people were crying. About 10 minutes passed and people started to leave when suddenly, in a strong clear voice he said, *”Russell, wait for me”*, then he was gone. Nobody knew who Russell was, and it was kind of a mystery we talked about from time to time.

Years later his wife passed and when his kids were going through her things they found a very old photograph of him when he was maybe 5 years old. He was in a sandbox with a small dog, on the back of the picture in faded ink it read ‘Russell, 1944’.

The thought that our pets that have gone before us meet us to help us cross over fills me with comfort. I hope it isn’t just a mind trying to make sense of a crazy time.