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CHRISTMAS & GRIEF — A POTENT MIX
I love Christmas. My previous blog showed that I do and my memories of it are deep and powerful. I also realise that Christmas is not for everyone, is not celebrated in every culture or belief system and for millions it’s a very unhappy time of year.
I’m looking forward to Christmas 2021 yet this year it is tinged with sadness. We lost my father-in-law Dougie Scott just last week, his funeral will be next week, barely a week before Christmas. So suddenly my family and I are in that strange place of being excited, yet pulled back by grief and loss. I’m sure many people recognise that feeling.
Dougie’s passing was sooner than we’d expected yet it was not unexpected if that makes sense. He had vascular dementia which was getting much worse and a care home scenario was looming. His physical problems, particularly his breathing, was also worsening so, if we were honest, we knew another year with him to get to his 80th birthday would have been very, very lucky.
In the end though it was Dougie who made the decision to leave. He became ill with a chest infection — one of many he’s had over the last two years and he began to refuse medication for it. He’d already signed a ‘do not resuscitate’ a long time ago and the outcomes from each infection were poorer and poorer.
