Would you tell your child they were dying?

[ECO]

The thought of the whole thing brings tears to my eyes, not really sure what I would do and would never want to find out. My 8 year ago has a good understanding of how great heaven is so I guess if we made it out like she is going to Disney World (heaven) by herself to see all of our relatives then she might be cool with it. My 3 year old has no clue about heaven or even dying yet so explaining it to her would be like talking to a wall.

I'll read the link latter, while I accept and embrace death like the rest of my family I hate the thought of kids dying..........often makes me wonder why god takes them and in some cases makes me wonder if god still plays any roles in any of our lives.

[Batty_gyal]

This is a hard question. Today a young women on our unit discovered she has two months left to live. She has a four year old son and she has been in and out of our ward for two years. She has terminal cancer that has spread through her body. She is like a zombie. This morning I went in after my shift was finished to rub her back and let her have a cry. She has no idea how to tell her son mommy is leaving forever. Her son has no understanding. I think that some children are so perceptive...you would have no choice but most children would not have the capabilty to process something like that. If it were my child...I'd get all their meds and whatever medical equipment I needed..even if I had to rent it and i'd take my child home. Sit them in a chair on the lawn and play games, sing songs..pick flowers..read comics..play video games..eat pizza. All the things a kid might love and I'd pray that they'd go peacefully in their sleep with a smile on their face and the remenents of a bedtime snack of icrecream around their mouth.... without ever knowing they were dying.

What a heart breaking topic....

[Batty_gyal]

...on that topic...I truly believe and have witnessed in my line of work the fact that attitude can make or break your health. A determined spirit can be stronger than anything. On friday a patient is getting discharged after a year on our ward...twice to ICU where the doctors told her family to pull the plug. But shes a fighter and is now cancer free and getting discharged. If the child knew she was dying..she'd believe it and I bet she would have died in six months. But her brain had no idea she was dying and I think her belief that she was ok was probably for some time...those four years...stronger than the cancer!!

Ive seen lazy indulgent people come in for a simple surgery..refuse to walk and take physio and take care of themselves and die from something that should never have ended in death! Attitude is half of it!

[Batty_gyal]

I agree BB!!