Things are moving along

The five of us (three children, two daughters-in-law) have gathered at our old house (where my brother lived with my mom). Calls keep coming in, as are food deliveries, chairs from the funeral home, etc. My sister and sister-in-law took some clothes there for mom, and made the official identification. Cousins are on their way.

We keep busy. It helps.

Change of location

I'm in Cleveland now. Mom's funeral will be Sunday. I'm actually in a hotel accessing the internet via the TV and a wireless keyboard of somewhat limited capabilities. (I have to make sue all of the ltters I type acually go in.) Hopefully I can realy post something frm my brother's computer tomorrow.

My mom didn't make it

My mom didn't make it. The pneumonia never was stopped, and maybe there was something else infecting her lung. I got a call from the doctor Wednesday morning, asking me to come in to discuss possible treatments, some of which she was refusing.

She went out her way, stubborn to the end. She wanted no tracheal tube, and when the heavy mask breathing assister became unbearable, she demanded it be taken off. The doctors said she might not last 24 hours without it, but she was quite clear in her decision, and we had to honor it. I called my siblings to tell them to come to NY as fast as possible.

A doctor did convince her to allow them to put the big mask thing on for 15 minutes, if things really got bad, and I think they did that about 9 pm, but it wasn't enough. Meanwhile my sister and sister-in-law arrived from Massachusetts. My wife and I took a little break, but they soon called us back to the hospital. My brother arrived from Cleveland in time for my mother's last few waking moments.

They made her as comfortable as possible, and she stopped breathing at 3a.m., with all her family around her.

Send Bush a message!

I've been rather preoccupied with my mother, but I'm still going to vote on the way to see her tomorrow. I did do a post on 52 reasons NOT to re-elect Republicans. There is a 53rd reason: we must bring an end to Bush the Lesser's war. If Congress doesn't change the direction we're going, in two years we will have even more troops in Iraq, and a lot more casualties--and the civil war there will go on regardless. Send Bush a message--enough!

Monday report

I think my mom is doing better. Though she still complains about how she feels, there is less of it. They are continuing the intravenous anti-biotics for a few more days, as the pneumonia is still present. There's still a problem of the heart arhythmia that they're watching.

The best part of the day, though, was when the physical therapist came. She got my mom to walk around the foot of the bed, from one side to the other. It was slow, aided by her cane, and it did exhaust her--she took a nap after her little trip. But it was so good to see her up and moving.

My mom can't take most of the food they give her. Breakfast is OK, cereal, banana and cottage cheese. But most of the rest just turns her off. She ordered cottage cheese for dinner once, and what came was a cottage cheese salad that was way too dry. She just ate some of the vegatables accompanying it. They do give her a nutritional supplement drink especially formulated for diabetics. She likes that, particularly when they chill it first.

Tonight though, we solved the dinner problem. I went out and bought her a container of cottage cheese. She ate part of that, with the fruit cocktail that came with her otherwise untouched meal. I also got her some pudding and jello cups, but she was too full. I'll bring them back tomorrow.

Sunday update

Mom's about the same. They finally moved her to the pulmonary unit 10 minutes after I left Friday night. The new room is quieter, but when she is sitting in the chair (where she's a little more comfortable) I have to borrow a another one from the visitors' lounge--there's only one in the room. I had to get her a little clock, as there's none in her half of the room.

I'll be going over to visit her in a little while--I just have to figure out how to get across the route of the NYC Marathon.

Futile websearches

My blog has been getting a number of visitors from people, probably men, searching for "kick testicles" or something containing that phrase. I got one for "women kick testicles" from Saudi Arabia.

Sorry, guys, you won't find anything about kicking testicles here.