A Yuletide Tragedy

[Elspode]

My mother died two days after her 56th birthday, in May of 1992. It was only when Christmas came that year, and I was placing an old family ornament on the tree, that the full import of her absence struck me. It was the first Christmas I'd ever had without my mom, and the whole concept was a bit overwhelming.

We mark our lives by such events. It is a measure of each turn of The Wheel, as reckoned by the ancients, and we humans attach significance to these dates in order to have some grasp of the flow of Time and our place in it. Family gatherings become touchstones, points in our memories, something to grasp and cling to as the inexorable river of time flows past and around us.

Wolf, that is truly a great piece. Every time I hear it, it gives me comfort with its great truth.

[Elspode]

Pie, I apologize...I've sort of overlooked your question, and I meant to answer it.

The issue of organ donation was never raised by the hospital staff. I can only assume that the extensive period of oxygen deprivation that Connor suffered made the possibility of harvesting his organs untenable.

My wife was with Pamela during every consultation that the doctors and staff had with her regarding Connor's condition and disconnection from support. The topic was simply not broached. The only explanation that I can conceive is that they knew that the organs weren't going to be viable, and so they were sensitive enough to simply leave the topic out of things.

Connor survived less than two hours after support was removed, and so I believe that his organs were indeed very, very compromised.

I am certain that Pamela would have consented had it been a possibility.