I decided to type this article after reading another story about the author who lost two dear friends from a lake accident. About two weeks ago my family and I had a glad weekend but it was also sad. On January 18 my husband lost an uncle to liver cancer. We all knew he had been sick but it was still hard for my husband and his family because you are never ready to lose someone even when you know they are losing the battle with an illness.
My son had turned 15 on the 17th of January so we were celebrating his birthday on the 18th. We had a wonderful time with family coming and some friends from church. My son has autism and he loves trains and was given a birthday cake from his granny with a train on it. He had a very good night.
That same day my mother received news that her brother, the only one she had, was in the Emergency Room. He had been diagnosed with pnuemonia but from tests that had been run they were pretty positive he also had cancer that was widespread. I told my mother that the next day I would take her to see him provided we didn't have bad weather because they were predicting snow for our area and in Alabama we don't do well driving on the roads in snow since we get so little of it.
The next morning the weather had missed us. I called the hospital because I found out my uncle had been admitted and I wanted to check on him and find out which room to go to. The hospital was in a town about two hours from our home. I was so glad that I called because my uncle answered the phone. It was the first time I had talked to him in quite a while because he was a type of loner and didn't come around the rest of his family that much. I told him that I was bringing mama to see him and I told him before hanging up that I loved him. He told me that he loved me back.
We left, my mother, my kids and I, and drove to where he was. When we got there he had been transferred to the Intensive Care Unit because he condition had suddenly taken a dramatic turn for the worse. They wouldn't let us in at that time because they were working to get him stabilized.
We finally got to see his wife. She told us that he had told her I had called and he was looking forward to seeing us. We waited and waited outside the ICU with his wife for them to tell us we could go in to see him. We were outside there for three hours before the doctor finally came out. When he did it was with the heartbreaking news that my uncle had passed away. They were working with him when suddenly his heart rhythm went bad. They tried everything they could to save him but they said he had apparently had a bad heart attac and nothing they did helped. It was very hard for my mother because she didn't get to see him or talk to him and it was hard on the rest of her sisters as well as his wife, of course, because it was so unexpected.
I told my mother later that I believe the Lord was preparing me for my uncle's death because I just had a feeling when I spoke to him that morning that it would be the last time. I tried to shake it off but the feeling lingered, so it truly wasn't a surprise to me when the doctor came out and told us. It hurt me deeply, of course, because I had very fond memories of times as a child with my uncle and it hurt to know I wouldn't get to speak with him anymore. I hurt for my mother because she had looked forward so much to getting to see him.
I say all of this to say, every chance you get tell the people that you love that you do love them because you never know when something can happen and you might not ever see them on this earth again.
God Bless All of You!
