Dogman
Veteran
I posted previously that my step-son had a stroke the week before Christmas. He was in ICU at the time and doing poorly. Sadly, he died last week.
His mother, older brother and myself are all still numb. We feel like we're in a bad dream and cannot wake up. I still keep seeing the photo I took of him when he was just a little boy, dressed for a Thanksgiving program at school with his Pilgrim's hat and full costume. Except he was wearing moccasin slippers on his feet.
His mother and I spent long hours in the ICU waiting room. Eventually, she was overcome with it all and was hospitalized overnight for tests while he was still in ICU. It just added to the trauma. She recovered. He did not.
The whole time, I took pictures. I had been told by a security guard not to take pictures inside the hospital. I just nodded, walked away and continued to shoot pictures, ignoring the order. It was my dealing mechanism. I don't handle these things well so I hide my feelings behind the camera and internalize the sadness and grief. I've shown some of these photos before, posted an abbreviated version on another photo forum and put a few on Flickr. I thought I should put together a more coherent group of photos for the forum where I spend most of my time. I debated posting these but decided to leave out only a few shots that are too hard for me to see.
















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His mother, older brother and myself are all still numb. We feel like we're in a bad dream and cannot wake up. I still keep seeing the photo I took of him when he was just a little boy, dressed for a Thanksgiving program at school with his Pilgrim's hat and full costume. Except he was wearing moccasin slippers on his feet.
His mother and I spent long hours in the ICU waiting room. Eventually, she was overcome with it all and was hospitalized overnight for tests while he was still in ICU. It just added to the trauma. She recovered. He did not.
The whole time, I took pictures. I had been told by a security guard not to take pictures inside the hospital. I just nodded, walked away and continued to shoot pictures, ignoring the order. It was my dealing mechanism. I don't handle these things well so I hide my feelings behind the camera and internalize the sadness and grief. I've shown some of these photos before, posted an abbreviated version on another photo forum and put a few on Flickr. I thought I should put together a more coherent group of photos for the forum where I spend most of my time. I debated posting these but decided to leave out only a few shots that are too hard for me to see.
















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