Friday, April 27, 2012

I saw today progressing different than that


Some days just never wind up how you planned.

My mom died last night. After expressing our love for her and going over plans for today, my sister and I wished her good night and went to bed. This morning I found her, called 911, and waited for the county deputy to finish his Unattended Death investigation before heading to the hospital to see about my dad who had been there since his emergency foot surgery a week earlier. He's home now and the coping and healing is slowly beginning.

Unsurprisingly it was deemed a death due to natural causes, but the death was a surprise nonetheless. Around Thanksgiving 2011 my mother had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. The cancer had spread into her gallbladder, liver, and lymph nodes, so everyone knew it was just a matter of time – just the time frame was unspecific.

As a family, we were blessed with the ability to say our good-byes, express our love and appreciation to her, and grow closer as a family. Right now I am emotionally and physically spent, so I’ll just cut and paste what I wrote on the Facebook family message board that has been updated as time has passed.

For those of you who haven't heard. Mom died during the night. I found her this morning and she had already passed. Although we're all saddened, there are many good things to take from her passing.

Luckily she died at home, which is where she would have wanted to be. She really hated hospitals and I know she wasn't looking forward to returning to one any time soon. Additionally, she didn't have to go through the intense pain and wasting away that is often seen with terminal cancer. Although her death was sudden (in that we didn't expect it to happen last night), she would tire easily and had other health issues. Overall, she was very upbeat and positive last night before she went to bed.


The greatest thing to remember is that she was so proud of her children. Like a proud parent she often loved to brag about how many kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids she had. She loved to talk about how successful each of us were as well as talk about how long she had been married.


In talking to the county officer who came this morning, he was impressed by how successful our family was (i.e. not in prison and we are upstanding citizens) and he talked about what a testament that is to what great parents we have.


So, to each of you, I want to say thank you for being someone mom could, was, and is proud of.


Funeral plans are pending, but it looks like they will be held sometime next week in Ellensburg, WA. We will post more when we know more.
 
Love,
Patty

For all the love, prayers, and condolences that have been expressed thus far, and will inevitably continued to be expressed: thank you.