II
What kind of man would it make him
if he agreed to pull the plug on his wife’s life support? What kind of husband
would he be if he didn’t?
Wes had been circling around this, running
on hope and pure adrenaline for months. He’d spent what seemed like a lifetime praying
and hoping for a miracle but time was running out.
Kate was his wife, his best friend,
his one and only and the love of his life. They still had a lot of life ahead
of them to live, many more places to go and dreams to turn into reality. It mattered
not one bit to him that most of his days were all the same.
He’d wake up, get ready for work, and
wake Jacob up for school. Then juggle eating breakfast with him while packing
lunches and reading/signing the endless parent information forms the school
sent home and after dropping Jacob off at before school care it was off to work
for Wes.
After the long daily grind of
traffic and the office he’d pick Jacob up from school, take him home and go
over his homework with him before eating a quick bite of supper. If it was a
work night at job number two, he’d wait for a neighbour's daughter to come
over to sit with Jacob. If not, as was the case tonight, they’d head to the
hospital to visit Kate.
Keeping up with two jobs to pay the
hospital bills, taking care of Jacob, tossing and turning at night trying to
get some sleep so he could get up the next morning and do it all over again had
Wes on the verge of exhaustion, but he couldn’t let go. How could he?
He had another five days – the time
that Kate’s Living Will would allow -- to put off what looked like the
inevitable. And her wishes were very clear. If she was ever on life support she
didn’t want to live long enough to be a burden to him and it was up to him to
end her life with kindness.
She allowed one month’s grace from
the time her Doctor advised taking her off the machines -- a concession she
made after he protested that Doctors weren’t God, that God may work on his own timetable, and that he’d never be able to live with himself wondering if he’d
taken away the only chance she had at life.
Kate had no way of knowing that
decision would have him signing her death warrant just days before Christmas. How
could he look Jacob in the eye, when he was old enough, and tell him that in
the end it was he who took his Mom away from him? And at
Christmas?
Jacob would hate him, and who could
blame him?
