Tuesday Truth 5/21/19

If any of you follow me on Facebook you will know that my mom had a stroke on Thursday May 2. It was a massive, horrible stroke with a massive, horrible brain bleed. The neurologist in the ER told us Mom would never wake up. But she did. On the third day in ICU they took her off the sedative. She came out of it enough to respond to shouted commands. Then they removed the breathing tube and she was able to breathe on her own and could talk a little. She recognized us and smiled her beautiful smile.

But after several hours of breathing on her own she began to struggle. The doctor recommended sending to her Palliative Care. That move, on Day 5, really wore her out. She was still smiling but it hurt to listen to her try to breathe. On Day 7 she was moved to a nursing home. My brother Steve and I were with her almost every hour. On Day 11 she passed away while neither of us were with her.

She was a stubborn Norwegian/German American. She did not die until all her children and grandchildren could travel to see her while she was able to talk. Her funeral was on Saturday. It was simple and quiet.

I find myself staring numbly into space for long minutes without even realizing time has passed. I’m afraid I have done no writing during the past few weeks, so there is no teaser for you. I hope to get back into a regular writing schedule this week. I am off to Lori Foster’s RAGT in a couple of weeks and that will cut into the writing too. So Gina’s Wolf will be delayed. I am so sorry. But I will keep you posted on the progress.