Brief update

[Rhiannon]

Shanny is already aware, but I thought I'd share with everyone else.  (I'm writing this in part because it's cathartic, so don't anyone feel they need to read the whole thing)

My mother passed about a week before Christmas, at age 86.  She has suffered for years with a leaky heart plus other health conditions, but she had been slowly declining.  Then all of a sudden, that was it.  She was an identical twin, and that mysterious twin connection kicked in.  Her sister woke up one morning about 3 days prior to her passing, with a strong feeling that she must get down to visit her sister immediately.  She booked a flight and I picked her up at the airport.  On our return to the house, we found that my mom was in a great deal of pain around her shoulder area, with no discernable reason for that pain.  We decided to call 911 and have her taken to the E.R.  While there, they gave her morphine and said it was possibly pain referred from her kidneys.  (I guess that can happen when your kidneys begin to shut down.)  So she was discharged home, and we contacted Hospice.  The morphine made her comfortable and she and her sister were able to visit for a little while.

Hospice came the very next day and set up a hospital bed, oxygen if needed, and of course, the comfort pack.  All but one of her living children came over, we put on her favorite music (John Gary), we also put on the Raiders football game (she was a big Raiders fan), and we all spent time talking quietly to her.  We had her bed out in the living room, so she was surrounded by the sound of her family.   We kept her medicated so she had no more pain, and she passed away that evening, just minutes after her youngest child told her good-night and that she loved her.  My mother murmured in response, and a few minutes later, took her last breath. 

It is never easy to say goodbye, but I am grateful she had a good long life and that her children could care for her in her last years.  Not everyone is so fortunate. 

Thanks for reading. 

[Shanny]

Love & prayers, MJ.

[Grammabear]

I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to you on the loss of your Mother.  No matter what our age, it is never easy to say good-bye to a parent.

[skb]

Mary,

Please accept our deepest condolences.
May she receive eternal peace.

[starsign]

Very sorry to hear of your loss.

[Rhiannon]

Thank you everyone - very much appreciated.

[bigskygal]

So sorry to hear of your loss Mary. 

[rocky]

Hi Rhiannon,

I am very sorry to learn of you loss.

[Timewise]

Very sorry for your loss,

My wife also lost her Father on November 1!  He was a very special guy to me also....

He would have been 101 next month, he lived a full and wonderful life.  He died at home with friends and family around him.   He was as sharp as a tack mentally, but had lost his mobility over the last few months.   He was a Kansas farm boy who really did walk miles to school.  He also put himself through college becoming a petroleum engineer.  He followed that by joining the Army Air Corp to fight the war.   He became a B-17 pilot serving through the whole duration of the war. Following the war he started his own business....as I said, he was a special guy....

[cdncatlover]

Please accept my deepest sympathy. Hugs.

[Rhiannon]

Timewise - sorry for your family's loss.  Your father-in-law sounds like he had a full and interesting life!

[starsign]

Timewise,

Sorry to learn of your loss.

[Carbcrazydog]

I am sorry for your loss. Reminds me of my father who passed away at 52 (y: 2003). One heart attack followed by a week in the hospital. They told me that they will shift him out of the ICU the next day and i broke down. A part of me knew it won't happen. I refused to visit him at the hospital saying I will talk to him only when he gets back home. I was 23, i think. Finally he held on till I visited him there. I remind patting his head and thinking "Its ok. Go if you have to". The doctors said that his last brain activity was detected minutes after i said goodbye. I believe he waited for me and held on.

I wish you strength and in the lowest of lows, i hope you always remember that there are so many people like me who wish their parents lived till their 80s.

It is another thing that when i see how stubborn my 2 year old daughter is, i am convinced that she is my father reincarnated