Woody Cavenaugh

I am a Cavenaugh, and like all Cavenaugh's we die precisely when we mean to and we don't lolly gag around. If a Cavenaugh is in the hospital, they are either dead in eight hours or going to make a recovery. We do not fear the next step. One thing we discovered we hate more than anything is to be told to go ahead and die, and that is just what has happened to my uncle.

He survived esophageal cancer, but the chemotherapy caused the muscles in what was left of his esophagus to stop doing their thing. He couldn't eat well, he got weak, he was hospitalized. He was so weak he couldn't breath well anymore so they put him on a machine that would breathe for him and inserted a feeding tube into him so he could get nutrients. This worked out pretty well so long as the tube stayed properly inserted. He's on his fourth feeding tube now. Every time it clogs or falls out or whatever, he gets weak again and he can no longer get rid of the carbon dioxide in his blood, he goes on the machine, they reinstall his tube, pump the nutrients to him and he perks right back up.

Most of the time he has been lucid and awake. If there is a tube down his throat he writes notes, if there is no tube down his throat he talks. His mind has remained sharp this whole time.

It is during one of the "tube slipped out" times that the clerics showed up. They are the ones paid by the hospital. I wonder if New Hanover Memorial hospital screens these people. I am a big supporter of the freedom to worship, whoever you follow, and I even try to keep abreast of the various and sundry sects that are in vogue these days. Sooner or later I am going to end up meeting, working with, or near a follower of one deity or another and I don't want to cause any unnecessary faux pas.

I admit that I don't perhaps do as good a job at knowing about them as I should. For instance, I had no idea that there were currently any death gods in vogue these days and definitely not enough of them for the hospital to have two clerics on the payroll dedicated to one. I wasn't there to see them myself so I couldn't look for icons or other clues so I have no idea who they served. Wikipedia list 67 death gods and it will take time to figure out which one these clerics were serving.

All I know is this. They went to my aunt and tried to convince her to take him off of his machine so he would go ahead and die. They told her it would be best for everyone. They were insulted when she told them, "No, he is going to stay on the machine, thank you very much." Plus he signed a form that says, "Keep me plugged in". He will die when he is good and well ready to do so.

So what do these two people do but go into the room and try to convince him to go ahead and die. Isn't this precisely the opposite of what hospitals are there to do? Let these guys administer to death row inmates, or even work the suicide hotlines (who is to say they don't already). I just don't think it is appropriate for them to seek out sacrifices in a hospital. A hospice, sure, a hospital definitely not.

If I am to meet them I will find out which god they follow, and I will ask questions to make me smarter. For instance, does it matter who dies? Does the manor of dying matter. I can think of no greater sacrifice to a death god than one of their own clerics. It would be best for everyone right?