MORTALITY IS A CONSTANT TO WHICH ALL HUMAN LIFE BOWS, IT IS NO RESPECTER OF SOCIAL STATUS, TEMPORAL ACQUISITION, OR BELIEF SYSTEM. MOST TRAVEL LIFE WITH THIS REALITY PLACED SAFELY BELOW THE SURFACE...SOMETHING WE KNOW, SOMETHING NOT ARGUED, AND SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT LATER. IT EVADES OUR CONSCIOUS LIFE FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN SIMPLE SURVIVAL. PROPERLY CALCULATING MORTALITY INTO ALL OF LIFE'S EQUATIONS WOULD DEVOUR US...HOLD US CAPTIVE. CONSTANTLY EVALUATING THE ODDS WOULD HAVE BROUGHT MANKIND TO A HALT AS QUICKLY AS IT BEGAN.THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM HOME ON VACATION WITH A LOVED ONE; BURDENED WITH A COMMON URINARY TRACT INFECTION, 20-YEAR-OLD 325 SOUGHT TEXTBOOK TREATMENT. WITHIN DAYS 325 BECAME ONE OF ONLY 300 DIAGNOSES PER YEAR IN THE U.S. - STEVEN-JOHNSON SYNDROME. DAYS AFTER BEGINNING THE TEXTBOOK ANTIBIOTIC SCHEDULE, 325 BEGAN HAVING FLU-LIKE SYMPTOMS. THIS WOULD ESCALATE INTO A WIDESPREAD RASH TURNING INTO BLISTERS CONCLUDING WITH THE TOP LAYER OF HER FLESH SEPARATING AND SLOUGHING AWAY.
SIX DAYS DOWN THE PATHOLOGY, VENTED AND SEDATED WITH CONTINUOUS HIGH DOSE I.V. DRIPS, I ENTERED THE ROOM. COVERED HEAD TO TOE WRAPPED LIKE A MUMMY IN THICK BANDAGES, 325 WAS UNIDENTIFIABLE. DRESSING CHANGES TAXED OUR TEAM OF FOUR FOR THREE HOURS IN A 99 DEGREE TUB ROOM. I FELT MY OWN SKIN BEING TORN AWAY FROM MY BODY AS I RIPPED AND PULLED BACK THE SKIN OF HER TOES TAKING OFF THE NAILS ALONG WITH IT. I COULDN'T IMAGINE WHAT WAS GOING ON IN HER SEDATED MIND AS WE WORKED OVER EVERY SQUARE INCH OF HER BODY. TWO DAYS BACK TO BACK WITH 325 AND I WAS HUMBLY EXHAUSTED. AS I EXITED HER ROOM FOR A THREE DAY WEEKEND A THOUGHT RESTED ON MY MIND:
THIS IS SOMEONES DAUGHTER AND SISTER, THE GIRLFRIEND TO ONE, AND BEST FRIEND TO ANOTHER...HER WHOLE LIFE IS AHEAD OF HER WHEN SHE CLIMBS OUT OF THIS UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCE. THIS RARE EXPERIENCE WILL NOT DEFINE HER...IT WILL HELP BUILD WHO SHE BECOMES...FUTURE WIFE, MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER...
...YOUNG 325 PASSED AWAY LAST NIGHT...AND TODAY MY THOUGHTS ARE ACUTELY AWARE OF THE ACTUALITY THAT OUR MORTALITY IS AS THIN AS THE AIR WE BREATH. THAT WE EACH WALK A FINE EDGE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH EVERYDAY. AND NO ONE KNOWS WHAT TOMORROW WILL BRING...
