modom (palindrome guy) wrote:
>
> It's been a while since I last posted. Life got hard for a time.
>
> D's mom had a stroke three Saturdays ago. She was initially paralyzed
> on her left side. D had spent the night with her that Friday because
> the home health care nurse had been unable to get a proper blood
> pressure reading that afternoon (M's pulse was too irregular) and had
> suggested that somebody sleep over to be sure. Actually, the nurse
> had called 911, but M wouldn't get in the ambulance. She didn't like
> the hospital they wanted to take her to.
>
> So D was plan B. The two of them sat up late that Friday (2-16)
> talking and visiting. It was the last time. About 4 Saturday morning
> D's mom called out to her in distress. This time she wasn't consulted
> about her choice of hospitals.
>
> The stroke was massive, affecting motor control on her left side and
> some of her vision -- indicating damage to the right brain motor
> centers and to her occipital vision center. The medical staff were
> initially hopeful, and she did indeed show signs of improvement off
> and on over the next week. But there were dispiriting periods of
> decline also. It was a hard time with D in Dallas and me running back
> and forth between here and there. An MRI (the second one) indicated
> swelling in the left hemisphere, as well as the injured right side
> about ten days into the ordeal. There was also some indication of
> bleeding around the brain stem. D continued to hope, but I lost that
> ability. The medical team stopped checking her blood sugar and
> removed the insulin drip and the water IV early Thursday because those
> interventions were evidently causing more harm than good.
>
> My wife's mother died at 9 Friday, March 2. She was 81. Type-one
> diabetes (regular blood sugar checks and insulin injections) had been
> with her for almost 70 years. She was one tough woman.
>
> Our daughter took time off work down state to be with us when the
> stroke first hit, and again to help this past week. The evening after
> the death, the three of us had a meal at Nandina in Dallas, and it was
> good. But Monday evening, when we sat at the table in our dining room
> and ate a meal we'd prepared for ourselves was better. Much better. I
> made pan seared scallops and some other things that I don't remember.
> We talked at the table for an hour or more after we'd finished.
> Eating together at home meant much more than what we ate.
>
> Yesterday there was a memorial service at M's retirement home. Her
> other son-in-law, a retired Presbyterian minister spoke for a time
> about religious things, and then we celebrated her memory with a small
> jazz ensemble and snacks. The snacks were pretty bad, but the jazz
> was lovely. She loved jazz.
> --
>
> modom
>
> http://www.koyote.com/users/modom/home.html

Oh modom! So sorry for your family's loss. Can't think of what more to
say than that.

Sky