tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47183184247141202812023-11-15T23:27:11.986-08:00Steve Baker Rave OnSteve Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18065998641802782962noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718318424714120281.post-84886534775644940112007-08-27T07:31:00.001-07:002007-08-27T08:20:19.712-07:00My Sister Julie Is Dying<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhAVnSVUuGKuo9Dcc83FwmUzI3Ze6umFiOoimmIgb8I7E_IvK3r7trPVNaKndOTSto4rdnTRFIOk7xbgYN4OikBIJNM4zSFpwU0fHst9cu73tMXjziWI-z91ovcdyD2LAhl161zl2iCsRR/s1600-h/P1010106.JPG"> <img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhAVnSVUuGKuo9Dcc83FwmUzI3Ze6umFiOoimmIgb8I7E_IvK3r7trPVNaKndOTSto4rdnTRFIOk7xbgYN4OikBIJNM4zSFpwU0fHst9cu73tMXjziWI-z91ovcdyD2LAhl161zl2iCsRR/s320/P1010106.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5103391605230098194" border="0" /></a><br /><br />My sister Julie is dying. She is about 66 years old and has myelo fibrosis. She is probably going to die in the next day or so.<br />She is in a hospital in Brisbane and has now been given the sorts of narcotics that deaden the pain and ease death.<br />In about 5 hours I am flying to Brisbane to be with her in her last few hours/days.<br />She is being lovingly looked after by her children Tony And Kim. Her husband Gordon is also in Brisbane but he's ill too and in need of support.<br />What can I say. I've never been really close to my sister but in recent years, especially in the last month or two I've realised how important we are to each other. I rang her when she was in hospital a few months ago and she brightened.<br />I could cheer her up. That at least was important.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUJKdIWdHYgjBhbrQkjsmFka05OdYlcc3A-KBKsGjx1ayKdf7TozFu5qmmaLF4c7o5MK7IcPMK4piG1TRNgFZhyc2kICGN_7WGR3yiuLv65nvQwVP2zxeBi4CDo2t-plOLWHA8FLr3zgJ/s1600-h/P1010146.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUJKdIWdHYgjBhbrQkjsmFka05OdYlcc3A-KBKsGjx1ayKdf7TozFu5qmmaLF4c7o5MK7IcPMK4piG1TRNgFZhyc2kICGN_7WGR3yiuLv65nvQwVP2zxeBi4CDo2t-plOLWHA8FLr3zgJ/s320/P1010146.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5103393155713292066" border="0" /></a><br />So I went down to see her (Cairns to Brisbane) a month ago and took these pictures. I'm sure I cheered her up a little and saw her improve in health markedly over a few days (coincidentally of course).<br /><br />She had had 4 operations in one day! She had her spleen removed but the doctors couldn't stop the bleeding. That was a month ago, she's been pretty steadily getting better it seemed but just yesterday she suddenly worsened and she's now deathly ill.<br /><br />So in a few hours I'm leaving to see her. Am listening to Shane Howard. His music is gentle and comforting.<br /><a href="http://www.iig.com.au/film/steve/music/index.htm#beach"><br />I wrote a song</a> based on something Julie said to me about a month ago and here's a very rough recording of it. I sang the song to her in hospital a month ago.<br /><br />She seemed to like it.<br /><br />She said to me yesterday on the phone "I've got to go" I guess she really meant it.Steve Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18065998641802782962noreply@blogger.com0