Return of your Organs

For some this will seem strange but not for all. It appears for some (as everyone is different) to be part of the grieving process. I had decided that I wanted my organs back. I had not said that anyone could take them and they were mine. I mentioned it to a couple of people and they all said they would have liked theirs back. These responses also made me feel more 'normal' about the request.

I promptly wrote off to the hospital. I did not get a reply. I had my notes by this point and so wrote of to the histopathologist. She fortunately had them on one side and so made sure they stayed safe once she received the letter. Letters passed from person to person in the hospital and eventually they asked if they could respectfully cremate them in accordance with the guidelines of the Royal College of Pathologists. I promptly wrote back NO.

Apparently this is not a normal request. Some of us find it hard to understand, when people have gall stones removed they are automatically offered to the patients. For us these are organs that have nurchured our child/ren. For some it has been the happiest time of our lives and we did not say they could be taken. Why after the tissue samples have been taken are we not offered them back?

I have suggested to the hospital and histopathologists that organs are kept for at least a year. I feel this is important as it gives you time to adjust and tiem to see if this is part of your grieving process. I am met withe the same reply, when we have to amputate a leg people dont ask for them back!

A professor was specifically written to to ask for the retention of the uterus and for it to be offered back to the person it came from. I dont think he took it seriously.

At one point I stated something like Something like, as Ican not have them in situe I will have them in a container! It took nearly a year from date of operation to bring my organs home. Allegedly they had to created a policy and some paperwork, with regard to the health and safely implications.

So they are in chemicals in bags, squished into a white container (I cant see them) with a blue lid with a hazard yellow tape on!

As a result of my success a couple of people have enquired about their own organ/s being returned. Unfortunely for one she was unsucessful as there was only tissue samples left after four years. We understand that there should be paperwork as to what happened to her organs if they were cremated or not. No one can tell her what happened to them. For her this is a loose end that has never been tied up.