Death, Death, and More Death

Her avatar raised a hand. She asked if we could meet after the meditation. I said yes.

Then, when it was just the two of us off in the corner of the virtual meditation room she said without introduction that her lungs aren’t working and her heart isn’t working; she’s supposed to die soon and she’s scared. Can I help? I said yes.

I didn’t ask her what the disease is or what she is afraid of. She’ll tell me if she wants to. I just asked her who is taking care of her.

She said she is, now that her husband left because he was getting tired of waiting for her to die. She said she understood. Her doctors thought she’d be gone by now. She’s been in hospice and had close calls in the ICU. Her family thought that was it, and then again, and then again. How many times can they go through that, she asked? I get it.

I asked if she is in pain. She yes, bad. VR helps.

I told her we have a meditation leader who has chronic pain and who focuses on VR to help. She was interested. I also told her I lead a Death discussion in VR every Tuesday morning. She said she would come.

I told her I have served as a hospice volunteer caregiver, that I have been at the bedside of many dying people. Sometimes when they were having trouble, it was because there was something they needed to finish…