My mother is dying.

[spookyevilone]

She's been doing that for years, but she's a bit more serious about it this time. She was in the hospital with aspiration pneumonia and COPD and is now home on hospice, getting fluids, o2 and meds only. She hasn't had food since Wednesday and is down to 67lbs. Considering that my mother only ever broke 100lbs when she was hugely pregnant, this is not as scary as it looks - but it's still scary that she weighs less than a child. Her urine is normal colour, so her system hasn't started to self destruct yet, but it's only a matter of time. How much or how little time, nobody can say. She could die tonight. She could live another year.

PSA: If you don't have a Health Care Directive and someone designated with your Power of Attorney, please get those documents and have them signed, notarized, and on file everywhere you can think to put them - including with your medical records. If you are DNR, please have that paperwork filled out and filed as well.

The only reason my mother wasn't put on a vent on Wednesday was because several years ago, when my sister started hospital shopping, I mass-faxed a copy of my mom's DNR paperwork to every hospital in the metro area. When the ambulance arrived, a copy was already there, so they did not intubate her. If they had, she wouldn't have gone home. I, as the holder of Mom's POA, would have had to pull the plug in the hospital, alienating my sister forever. I don't always .. Ok, I don't /usually/ like my sister, but she's still my sister and that's her mother, too.

So, mom is home, resting comfortably, with her cat. She seems more relaxed now.

Wish I could say the same about me.

Comments

[redselchie.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Loosing my mother was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.