On Saturday September 13th, dad and Mel were visiting mom and noticed her breathing was different, she had a glazed look on her face and wasn't responding like she normally did, she was crying a lot and didn't know how to swallow her food. A hospice nurse talked to them and told then that mom is transitioning to actively dying.
Caitlyn and I went up on Sunday, I already talked about that in another post. I went to work Monday and got everything caught up from the campus closure. It was really hard to be back at work after the shooting. Everyone was having a hard time. I stayed late and got everything caught up and then Caitlyn and I went up to see mom when Caitlyn got off work.
She seemed worse than the day before. I tried to feed her a little, but she could chew or swallow.
They brought in sponges so we could wet her lips. She would bite on them and get a little water that way.
They decided on Saturday to give her more anxiety medications and morphine to try and keep her comfortable. This disease has been so hard on mom, she had so much anxiety and discomfort. Those medications helped her sleep a lot and we were grateful for that.
Ataiya and Alexys came over to say goodbye to mom. It was so hard for both of them.
It was heartbreaking to watch. They love grandma so much.
Mel was there too and we all cried a lot.
I decided I wanted to stay the night with mom so Keith brought me my stuff and came to pick up Caitlyn.
He also wanted to say goodbye to my mom. He loves her so much. She has been so good to him.
Caitlyn had a hard time leaving.
I slept in mom's chair. Mom slept all night. They came in every few hours to take care of her needs, so I didn't sleep a lot, but I did get some sleep. Scott came in that morning and checked mom's vitals and they were still normal. I also got to meet the hospice CNA, Juan. He came in with Oscar every morning and took care of mom. He was big and strong, but so sweet and tender. He took great care of mom and constantly called her sweetheart. It was so sweet to see. After he got her all changed and situated he got perfume out of his bag and sprayed it on her. It was so sweet.
On Tuesday I picked Matt up from the airport.
Mom didn't wake up much at all on Tuesday.
Dad always gives mom a kiss hello and goodbye and a few in-between.
It is heartbreaking to watch dad lose his best friend and wife of 54 years.
Tuesday evening the exhaustion hit me and I went home to see the kids and get some sleep.
Brie and Karrie were very understanding and told me to take the week off work. I came back up on Wednesday and we all sat with mom.
She would open her eyes once in a while, but hadn't made eye contact or connected with us since Monday.
They started giving her more morphine to keep her comfortable.
Gary was flying in that night and we were hoping she would make it that long.
Caitlyn took the week off work too and was there a lot.
It felt like she was very close to leaving us, but her vitals were still in the normal range.
Dad brought more chairs so we could all sit together in her room.
We would spend most of the day there and then walk over to Arby's to get dinner every night.
We were happy to be together and reminisce and talk about our love for mom.
1 comment:
Such a hard week.
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