Tuesday, September 26, 2006

In Memorium - Justin


Last week, Justin presented to an inner city emergency room with vomiting, a high fever, and abdominal pain, saying that he had done some drugs. He was admitted into detox. On day two his mother, who is a nurse and our next door neighbor, suggested that a CT scan be run to rule out appendicitis, but her suggestion was rejected while the staff was trying to figure out why the drugs were shutting his organs down. Four days later he had died from peritonitis from a ruptured appendix diagnosed late on day three, when it was already too late. He was only 27 years old. We just returned from the wake, and the funeral is tomorrow. He is also survived by his father and brother.

Beautiful Boy by John Lennon

Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both,
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Justin.

3 comments:

Doug said...

I like that song by Lennon. Now I look at it in a different aspect.

dpaste said...

While now is a time to grieve and put aside pettiness, and while I am not one for frivolous lawsuits, I hope at some point that his mom takes the doctors that ruled out the CT scan to the cleaners. They have no business in healthcare. That is brutally and preventably tragic.

Sue said...

Doug: Thanks. After I spoke with Justin's Mom about his final moments this song just kept coming into my head. So I decided to use it.

David: Grieve we did. His Brother's eulogy was brilliant and touching. His Dad told us that tomorrow (Thursday)the gloves come off (meaning they intuend to sue). It was totally preventable, and you are correct, it was brutal to Justin and his family. They all suffered horrible pain and loss.