MOM - December 25, 1933 - December 24, 2011
At 6:25 pm on Christmas Eve (12/24/11) our beloved mom left this world. She was surrounded by all 5 of her kids (Lisa, Rick and his wife Susan, me, Gretchen and Kristin and her husband Jason) and her soulmate - her husband of 50 years. It was a peaceful passing. Christmas Day would have been her 78th birthday.
Sometime on Thursday afternoon (12/22/11), we think she suffered a stroke because she couldn't move her legs at all. Her speech was slurred and her right eye was droopy. It's likely she had another one Friday.
We got a call Friday morning (12/23/11) saying we should get there sooner rather than later. I'm so glad we did! When we got there that afternoon, she was still somewhat alert. She knew who we all were, so we all had a chance to tell her how much we loved her. When I walked into the living room she looked at me and said she was miserable and that she wasn't going to pull through.
Her wish was that she be at home and not suffer and we honored her wish. We sat with her all Friday night and on Saturday, praying, singing hymns, reminiscing, laughing and crying. We even put Rod Stewart on the CD player. Sometime during the night, we were talking about books and Lisa mentioned "I'll Love You Forever". I googled it on my phone and read the story. It was just Mom, Lisa, Rick and I in the room at the time.
Mom got to see most of her grandchildren and several of her great-grandchildren in the weeks leading up to her passing. The 3 youngest grandsons, Ian, Dane and Aaron, were with us last weekend and all got a chance to say goodbye to their granny Friday afternoon. On Saturday, Lee, one of her older grandsons, came over and sat with her for several hours.
Finally, about 5:30 Saturday afternoon, I was going to take a shower and sat on the sofa for a few minutes and fell asleep. Rick was asleep at the foot of mom's recliner. Susan, Kristin, Jason and Gretchen were sitting at the kitchen table, Dad was sitting in his recliner, and Lisa had fallen asleep beside mom. Shortly thereafter, she took her last breath. I think mom just wanted to make sure we were going to be all right before she left us.
Three weeks ago, Mom's sister Ernie passed away. Mom just found out two weeks ago because we had wanted to spare her the pain in her limited time, but she decided to call Aunt Ernie and we realized we couldn't keep it from her any longer. As you can imagine, she was devastated.
Dad also got the results from his PET scan and he has a tumor in his right lung, non-small cell carcinoma, and has some cancer in the lymph nodes, clavicle area and at the base of his esophagus. Chemo isn't an option because this type of cancer is resistant, but an aggressive radiation treatment is being set up right now. The doctor said as long as he doesn't wait too long, he has a good chance of beating this.
Please keep our family in your prayers as we cope with the loss of Mom and the worry we have for Daddy in the next few weeks.
We will miss her forever but at least she is now free from the pain and suffering of the last few years. I love you mom!
We'll love you forever
We'll like you for always
As long as we're living
Our Mommy you'll be.