My mother did not want to go to the hospital. My sister insisted.
She was
picked up by ambulance and takent o St. Lawrence hospital to be stabilized
and then she would be transferred to Ingham Medical where her doctors
were.
At St. Lawrence she was responding to treatment and she was responding
to
pain sensations so she was getting her feeling back on her paralyzed
side.
While transporting her to Ingham Medical her condition deteriorated
almost
immediately. She was taken to Sparrow as they have the neuro-ICU.
My
mother did not make it to the hospital. She went to be with the
Lord. I
am told that she had apparently knocked her head at some point and
being on
blood thinners caused her to bleed out in her head and that is what
caused
her stroke. Her body was kept going until I could arrive and
the 4 of us
children could make decisions as to what to do with her body.
My mother
did not want any fancy funeral or trappings. She wanted to be
cremated and
we have talked over the years about body and organ donation.
We, the
children, decided to donate her body to Wayne State's pathology department
for medical students and they will cremate her. We will have
a memorial
service on Saturday evening at 5pm hopefully at Mt. Hope Church as
that is
where she attended church for the last several years of her life.
It is very difficult for me. My mother and I had a very strange
relationship. It is somehow very unreal to me that my mother
is not
present on this earth any longer. I am mostly ok but every now
and then it
washes over me that I will not see my mother again this side of heaven.
I
will miss her a great deal as we were becoming quite good friends.
My mother had prepared a will before she had heart surgery 2 years ago
so
fortunately much of the fighting should be reduced. Naomi has
the biggest
job of all since she was living with mom. She gets to clean out
the house
- she's been threatening to for years! The rest of us will have
to go
through the various steps. My mom had 3 daughters and 3 houses.
She left
us each a house. Lee and I will probably look to sell our house.
The
money will come in handy later on when I head to grad school and then
as a
nest egg when we return to Alaska.
Thank you for all of your prayers during this time.