Mid December we moved Ricks Mom in with us. She had COPD and although she wasn’t doing too badly, she kind of needed a little supervision. We sailed through the holidays with only one hospitalization trip. She was getting around as well as could be expected but it seemed every week or so we landed in the ER & usually she had to stay a few days.
Well at the end of Jan it looked like she had developed pneumonia. It was really a slight case-not even enough for them to truly say that’s what it was. So back into the hospital she went. By the next night she said she was feeling good, that they thought it was pleurisy & not pneumonia & they were probably going to let her go home the next morning. So the next morning Rick & I went to check up on her she said she had a rough night & that now she wasn’t sure it was pleurisy -she wasn’t coming home.
Well it just so happened that that morning it had begun to snow again--and it was really really bad on the roads. No plowing had been done & I was really glad Rick was here to drive! So we told Mom that we would probably just be going home & hunkering down because we were due for 30 or so inches of snow.
By 5pm that night we got a call from her Doc. She had begun having trouble breathing even with her bi-pap so they were moving her to ICU so she could be watched better. I left the house right away while Rick finished cooking dinner & by the time I got there they were getting her ready to put her on ventilation. Her bi-pap just wasn’t doing it.
They let me in for a few minutes to say hi but she was struggling so badly I think her co2 was already rising because she didn’t even squeeze my hand-she was out of it. I called Rick so he could let everyone know what was happening & his cousin came down to sit with me. About 20 minutes later they let us back & she look sooooo much more relaxed! But her heart rate was still in the 140's & her BP was really low (not normal for her, it’s usually high & she takes meds for it). So we were in the wait & see hold pattern.
Within a few days her BP was normal as was her heart rate, but it was beating abnormally. On the 5th day they "zapped" it to try & trick it into a normal rhythm but it didn’t work. At this time her blood gasses began coming back abnormal - she was beginning to retain co2 & by the late afternoon it was at the level where it causes brain damage & organ failure.
This is when, after talking with Hospice & them telling us she would never come home again, that it was time to let her rest. Being that it was Steph's birthday, we decided to wait until the next day, but if she began heart failure of anything else we told them not to try & revive her-she had been through SO much already!
The following morning, with the cousins & Hospice, after they removed her tube, we were with her while she passed as though she was asleep. It was very peaceful & quick-she didnt suffer at all.
She was the last parent & we miss her a lot.
Rest in Peace Myrna. We love you.
