Hospice did a good job with my mom

Published Nov 3, 2016

3 Posts

First, I am so very sorry to hear of ALL of your losses.

I just experienced my mom's passing earlier this evening. We knew she was getting ready to go because she hadn't had food/fluid intake for almost a week.

Back in May 2016, she had brain stem stroke (she had a few smaller ones within the past year)... hospital in SC left her in a bed for 5+ months, no physical therapy, no rehabilitation. She didn't have insurance.

My sister (4 of us siblings) fought and got Legal Medical Guardian (step father is either dementia stricken, turned evil after 20+ years of marriage, or a little of both, but he didn't get her help or insurance)

So, poor mom, 62yrs old, paralyzed (some of the paralysis is from lockdown from the stroke(s) due to no physical therapy), cannot eat/drink, struggles (and slurs) her speech if she can muster enough energy to talk, has a G/J feeding tube. , already has had pneumonia 5 times in the last 10 months, her little lungs were so weak from the stroke and she couldn't clear her throat or cough when she needed to... so she suffered horribly.

4 days after my sister got her up here from SC, nursing home she was in neglected her and she contracted septic pneumonia, (she's already high risk for aspiration), spent 1.5 weeks in ICU at hospital, went to (what we thought) was a better facility, not as much neglect, but she contracted pneumonia and was 1 point away form being septic and had internal bleeding.

Close to about a week in a different hospital ICU, we had Hospice take her. She was alert for most of her stay... She got there last Friday night. Feeding tube food came out about 1pm Thursday (day before Hospice) and hospital removed her IV's, fluid intake Friday night about 8pm. Mom died this evening (Wednesday) around 9:40pm. The last few days she wasn't responsive and we started seeing mottling this morning around 5am.

During her last moments, poor mamma's eyes opened, pupils fully dilated but she wasn't looking around (staring straight ahead... she was on morphine and ativan), mouth open, gasping for air as fluid started building up in her lungs. Then her skin turned white (the mottling already had went from feet to her head. ) and she spent about 14 minutes, slowly drawing what we thought was going to be her final breath. Poor mamma just kept at it. Me, my one brother, and sister, held her hands and kept telling her we loved her. Then she finally passed.

My comfort comes from knowing that she was saved and put her faith in Jesus Christ.

I never ever want to witness that again... her poor body will be forever burned into my brain. :`(