Friday, February 04, 2011

sick with simple math

The coroner's final report arrived in the mail yesterday.  It took nearly eight months for this report to be finalized.  My sister is reduced to a list of internal organs and their notable characteristics.  The word unremarkable appears over and over again and I know this is what would have troubled her most.   (Her brain, unremarkable?  Impossible.)  Her lungs, however, were remarkable.  Her lungs were unequal in size, significantly more so than normal, no doubt a result of her birth defect.  And this fact was far more sharp in the back of my throat than the details of her toxicology.

I have no idea what I am to do with this report, whether I should be saving it for her daughter to read when she is older and ready for more detail, or sending it to my parents.  Or throwing it away.  I cannot imagine what use this information is to anyone, or what benefit, but maybe it could answer someone else's questions.  (None of mine.)  Do other people need this kind of information; does it provide a finality that is otherwise lacking?



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7 comments:

Jerry said...

This would leave me at a loss. I'm sure that I would fold it up and put it away to be retrieved when it unexpectedly becomes important to have.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I have no idea, but I am absolutely certain that a woman who was your sister would have had a most remarkable brain.

The only benefit I can imagine this report serving would be if J ever develops lung problems, and there is a genetic component. Of course, I hope she won't. A dry anatomical analysis does little for me because I know that a human being is also made up of intangible qualities, which may be even more influential.

J.B. Chicoine said...

I don't know what one does with such a thing...all I know is that for someone who reveals so much of herself (yes, you), you remain such a mystery...

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Kim said...

Someone in my family received the report for my brother and like your sister's it came months and months later. I didn't even ask to see it. I don't know what it would do for me. It said that he had ingested a lot less drugs than we had previously believed. While some people sighed, I hurt more. You mean to tell me, he might have felt all the pain and all the loneliness and all the water? I don't know what to tell you in regards to your niece.

Thank you for your kind visit!

mischief said...

I put it in a drawer. I do not know if it will ever matter to anyone. But for now that's where it goes. Thank you all for... you know.

secret agent woman said...

I have my brother's autopsy report. I asked the pathologist to send it to me (rather than my mother). I put it in a drawer after reading it, also not knowing quite what to do with it.

glnroz said...

does the paper have any significance?,,,my own opinion, no,,, if it causes discomfort.