Thursday, February 26, 2009

Today has been, to put it mildly, a little surreal.

A few days ago aunty Diane fell and broke her arm. Now, for someone with ITP, Von Willebrande's and Hep C that is no laughing matter. We received word that she was in the hospital but would be going home on Wednesday or Thursday. Wednesday Chris and I were at my parent's house for dinner and my mother called the hospital in Nanaimo to check on aunty Diane and see when she'd be released. As she was on the phone her face drained of all colour and literally fell. The gist of the nurse's update was: she's in the ICU come as fast as you can because she's not going to make it through the night. Well, my mother was somewhat hysterical so I packed a bag for her then drove her to the airport (after stopping at my house to pack a bag for myself).

We approached the Air Canada desk and (crying) asked for the NEXT AVAILABLE flight to the island (we didn't care if we went cargo or strapped to the wing of the plane!) First we were shunted to three different counters then we were told (quite rudely) that there were no seats.

We went to West Jet and were escorted immediately to a separate counter, booked on the next available flight, and given $40 worth of meal vouchers. Talk about service!

The flight was delayed so we didn't get in the air until 11:00 pm (Calgary Time). We arrived in Victoria to hear that the Malahat was treacherous and it would be unsafe for us to drive up to Nanaimo. I explained our plight to the car rental lady (National Car Rental) and she upgraded us to an SUV (free of charge). It was a harrowing journey to Nanaimo and we had a few close calls but we made it.

We had discovered in Victoria, from my dad, that we were too late and that aunty Diane had passed away at 10:30 pm (BC time). We went to the hospital anyway because my mother wanted to see her and say her goodbyes.

I'm now at Aunty Diane's (well, I suppose it's just uncle Roy's now) house typing this on the computer. I don't think the enormity of the situation has hit me yet.

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