First Death Notification

I had my first death notification this morning of a 16 year old boy today. He had a fabulous network of family and friends (teachers and caregivers too) who loved him greatly. He had cerebral palsy and double hydrocephalus, and got sick over the weekend with vomiting and fevers and sometime between 2:30am and this morning he died in his sleep. A frail thing; however, his adoptive parents had adopted 27 children throughout the past 35 years - all with special needs. Strong parents to be able to be so very giving. And, the caretaker had been his caretaker for the past 7 years who would help with some of his nursing type of needs. I spoke to the teacher, who the mother had asked for me to call and notify. She had worked with him on a homebound basis; and, while most of her children got well and went back to school, this makes #5 for her that was taken away from her to be with the Lord.

Amazing people surround us.

Later, I went to pamper myself a little with getting my nails done in order to defocus and re-center myself. It certainly helped. My first death notification process went smoother than I had anticipated it to be; perhaps it helped that they child had been sick prior to the death this morning throughout the weekend; perhaps it helped, too, that the child had had some conditions that made it seem that is was a miracle that he was this long on this Earth. Who knows?? All I do know is that I realise that each situation is going to be different; but, at least, I am more aware of what they can be like in person - rather than just on paper or in training.