On Sun 04 Jan 2009 07:30:56p, Omelet told us...

> In article
> >,
> Dan Abel > wrote:
>
>> In article >,
>> Omelet > wrote:
>>
>> > In article
>> > >,
>> > Dan Abel > wrote:
>> >
>> > > I suffered a permanent personality change when our son died. It
>> > > was 27 years ago. It's not a big deal, I just have a little
>> > > different sense of humor. I still have a sense of humor, but some
>> > > things just aren't funny any more. I'll hear a joke, and it just
>> > > leaves me cold.
>> >
>> > Losing a child is very, very hard on parents.
>> > My parents lost 2 out of 4, so I know very well what it does to
>> > people.
>> >
>> > Dad still cries sometimes, and I lost my older sister when I was 8.
>> >
>> > That was 38 years ago...
>> >
>> > I don't think mom ever got over it. She was driving.
>> > Candisse was 10.
>> >
>> > Karen died before I was born of SIDS at 4 months of age. Dad still
>> > blames himself for it.
>> >
>> > How did your son die, if you feel like talking about it?
>>
>> We don't know. It wasn't listed as SIDS, but no one could explain why
>> not. He just died. He was two weeks short of his first birthday. My
>> wife was driving on the freeway. He was in the carseat in the back.
>> My wife peeked back there using the mirror and his eyes were rolled up
>> in his head. She stopped and flagged some people down. A truck driver
>> called it in, and a nurse administered CPR. He was taken to the
>> hospital, and put on life support. The doctor told my wife that there
>> was no remaining brain activity, and that he would never come back to
>> life. My wife consented to discontinuing the life support. The
>> autopsy showed nothing.
>>
>> We had a two year old, who was home with me. That helped us focus, as
>> he needed our care, and we couldn't just mope around and feel sorry for
>> ourselves. We went on to have two more children.
>
> Sounds a lot like mom and dad... After Karen died, they had me. After
> Candisse was killed, mom had my sister. That's why there is a 10 year
> age difference between us.
>
> I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I understand the pain based on
> what I've seen with my parents.
>
> Hugs!

My parents went through a lot, too. They were married 8 years before I was
born. During that time my mother had 4 miscarriages and 2 full-term
stillbirths. When I was 9 years old my mother was in her 8th month with
identical twin boys. She developed a very serious case of uremic
poisoning. The twins were born live; one lived an hour, the other 30
minutes. My mother also nearly died and was in the hospital nearly 3
months. This was in 1954. I know all of this really changed their lives.

--
Wayne Boatwright
(correct the spelling of "geemail" to reply)
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Date: Sunday, 01(I)/04(IV)/09(MMIX)
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