His yoke is easy

Recently, I've developed a liking for orange foods, orange chocolates in particular- Marks and Spencer's orange truffle chocolate, orange chocolate thins from a relative, Honey orange mocha from Starbucks...... But also orange drinks, particularly Ichiban's Moonbeam drink/ variations with orange cubes. Yum.

Today I grieved for a boy whom I did not know but followed his case for six weeks from his parents' pretty detailed updates about his condition. He was the boy I wanted to donate my platelets to, but chickened out, though the need for them never arose. He presented with an unremitting high fever and was diagnosed with a very rare type of lymphoma that required foreign doctors expert in this area to fly to Singapore to take a look at him. He then underwent a bone marrow transplant from an unnamed donor which was successful but subsequently he acquired an EBV infection and spent many days in the PICU where he was sedated on and off. His organs started to fail, causing large amounts of blood to be passed in his urine and gut, affecting his BP and thus he needed multiple daily blood transfusions. He also had lung infection, clotting problems, and finally his consciousness was affected and he succumbed to septicaemia. He was a really cute boy (from the picture that his parents posted) with beautiful large almond-shaped eyes and a lovely face shape. His parents wrote, 'We love him, but we know Jesus loves him more.' Throughout this impossible journey, their faith in God's goodness was unceasing. From their entries it is clear that their strength these six weeks has come from having an total trust in His love.

It makes me wonder how I will cope when such a patient is in my care in the future, and if I will be able to cope with such loss.