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Dealing with seeing the death of a loved one.

CaitlinOldfieNew Contributor04 Oct 2026, 10:19 pm AEDT

Dealing with seeing the death of a loved one.

Hello.

My father died last Wednesday from an eight week fight with biliary cancer. He had 8 or 9 procedures in that 8 weeks and never got a chance to get to cancer treatment...

But my real question is how do you deal with the image of thier death (them dead) that keeps popping into your head? Especially when your trying to sleep of a night time?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I have a feeling I may need to get some medication [edited by moderator] from my g.p. to assist in sleeping. The last two nights or has been a struggle to sleep. I have two young children so I need to be functioning by morning. But sleep is the main challenge, this image keeps plaguing me, I guess it's a flash back?

Much love

[edited by moderator].

2 replies

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In response to: Dealing with seeing the death of a loved one.

RiverSealModerator05 Oct 2026, 2:31 pm AEDT

Re: Dealing with seeing the death of a loved one.

Hey @CaitlinOldfie, thank you for reaching out to the community and sharing your experiences!

It sounds like you are going through a challenging time right now and it is really brave of you to be vulnerable with your peers here on the Forums. I'm so sorry to hear about your father's passing.

If you are familiar with the program here at SANE RecoveryClub https://www.sane.org/recovery-club which provides specific grief and loss support. There are some resources in the portal which may be beneficial for you to learn more about grief and support you through this challenging time.

I encourage you to continue to share your thoughts and feelings with the community as I believe your peers with will have some valuable insights to share!

Take care

RiverSeal

In response to: Dealing with seeing the death of a loved one.

DimitySenior Contributor05 Oct 2026, 9:48 pm AEDT

Re: Dealing with seeing the death of a loved one.

Hello @CaitlinOldfie and welcome. I'm so sorry for your loss, and that you haven't had the welcome and support you deserve here yet.

I remember experiencing something similar to you when I lost my mother.

I've just copied this from another post for you... it looked as though it might be helpful.

In case you're unaware the EMDR reference is to a technique psychologists use to help with intrusive memories and flsshbacks after trauma.

Please forgive us for not responding sooner, the forums have changed a lot recently and many longterm members are no longer participating.

These may help:

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