(no subject)
Yesterday morning when I got into work I had a message from my mom. She tried to call me on my cell phone but I had it on mute and did not hear it. The instant I heard her voice, I knew something was wrong....very wrong. I called right back and my mom answered and she was crying...crying so hard I could hardly make out what she said. But I did hear and what I heard knocked the breath right out of me.
My sister-in-law baby sits a few children, 2 of which belong to her and my brother’s best friends. Our family knows them well and they call my parents grandpa and grandma....they are other then blood...family. Well their little precious girl Trinidy died on Wednesday night. She was 6 years old. She had been sick with the flu, as was my niece, my brother and his wife and Trinidy's whole family. They all seemed to get better while did not. She was brought to the doctor and to the hospital several times over the past 2 weeks and they kept saying she just had the flu. On Tuesday the school called and said she was very sick and to come get her. Her parents brought her to the hospital where they kept her in, and eventually made the choice to have her brought into the city to The Hospital for Sick Children which one of the best children’s hospitals in the world.
She progressively got worse and eventually she went into cardiac arrest. She was brought back a couple of times but she did not make it. My brother and his wife had their little boy staying with them and learned the horrible news when she showed up at the door in hysterics wanting her little boy. My sister-in-law was told the news by the father who quickly rounded up his wife and child and went home.
Upstairs my niece was playing on the computer with 2 of the other girls and one other boy that come to stay after school. One of the parents happened to be there and when she left she called another friend and told the news. I am guessing that the news spread very fast because it is a smaller community and both families are very well known. My brother left work right away and the parents started coming home as he arrived. The children did not know what was going on and unfortunately no one heard the phone ring so my niece answered it. A child was on the other end of the phone and said she called to say she was sorry to hear that Trinidy died. This is how my niece found out that her best friend in the world had died. She screamed into the phone that it was not true and they were lying and threw the phone. She kept saying it wasn’t true
My mom and I spent the day there yesterday and it was horrible. I have never seen my sister-in-law in the state that she was in and I can’t get the vision of my brother out of my mind. They loved her like a second daughter and the grief was so deep. People were coming and going dropping off food for them to give to Trinidy’s parents and the steady stream of emotional pain was so draining. My brother never stopped crying at all though the whole day. My niece’s reaction however chills me to the bone. I spent a great deal of time upstairs playing with them, talking to them and generally just trying to keep them away from all the comings and goings downstairs. The other 2 girls spoke about Trinidy and how she had died several times, my niece changed the subject each time by being overly joyous as it seemed. I know she is in shock but it just left me so unsettled. The one time she mentioned her, she said, Trin is gone, she is dead and that’s it for her. After that when the kids mentioned her she acted as if she had no idea what's wrong. It’s almost like she does not see everyone around her is grieving. It scares me and I am worried about her. She is just like my brother and I….internal worriers. She worries about everything so I sense a huge breakdown of sorts and I just want to hug her and take it away….but I can’t.
Last night, we found out the results of the autopsy, she had a tumor on her kidney…larger then the kidney itself. They said it is 99.9% positive that it is cancer. The funeral is on Monday and I am dreading it more then any funeral I have had to go to. This weekend will be filled with much grief.