Hi all -
I wanted to post about my wonderful, loving, caring, and generous mom who passed away Nov. 22, 2009. I feel like I have a huge hole in my gut and like my heart has been ripped out. I have lost my best friend, and my dad has lost his soulmate (they were high school sweethearts, and taught me what "true love" really is).
She had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma back in 2005. During chemo, she picked up several lung infections that eventually left her with 20% lung function. She seemed to do pretty well mosying around the house with her 90 foot oxygen tubing, and we thought she could continue like that for a while, and be able to watch her grandbabies grow up.
We got back from Disney on Oct. 22, 2009, from a FANTASTIC trip. Mom had said several times while we were there, that she had never felt better. A few days after we got home, we all started to feel very sick. Mom spent the next few days in bed with a fever and a cough. She was admitted to the hospital and discovered she, and probably all of us, had contracted the swine flu.
She seemed to be tolerating it, until she started to seem confused. The night she was admitted to the hospital, we found out that the carbon dioxide level in her blood was three times what it should have been. She was placed on a ventilator, and began to deteriorate. Her lungs no longer were working, and the ventilator was barely keeping her going. She couldn't keep her blood gasses where they should have been. We took her off the ventilator at 3:00 p.m. on 11/22/09. She passed 10 minutes later. She was 50 years old.
I hope someday that I can be half the mom she was. She was the perfect mom, times ten. She was there for everything. We did everything together. I can't even bring myself to get my hair done because we used to always go together. She loved her grandbabies, my DS Kaden (2.5) and my DD Allie (6 months), with all her heart. She wanted to see her granddaughter get married. She wanted to see Kaden's soccer games. She always said, I'm not ready to check out, I have too much to do! I go over it again and again wondering what we could have done differently.
I am so sorry for everyone's losses on this thread. I can definately understand how you all feel, and my thoughts and prayers are with you all. We all have our very own guardian angels now.