Pixiemom

My mom just called. My Grandma Martin has gone home to be with the Lord. My mom said that the family has been singing almost through the whole hymnal everyday. Around 4:00, they started “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” and Uncle Johnny said he was watching her and her last breath was taken when they sang the words, “Lead me home”.

Wow! What an amazing way to go to Heaven, to be ushered in with that song and all the love of her children and husband and other family around her.

I’m sure the family will appreciate any prayers.

I will have to wait to tell about her. I can’t do it right now.

This was sent to my mom and her brother and sisters from my Grandpa:

Dear Children,

Mom is still in Mercy Hospital. She has been unable to communicate since Thursday morning when she was taken in by ambulance. In the ER they did many tests including a CT scan for signs of stroke. She hadn’t had a stroke but her potassium was extremely high and she had high levels of ammonia. Her kidney function was at 5.4. Anything over 2.0 is bad. In September it was 1.2. The Kidney Doctor, Dr Fares, said that her kidneys had completely stopped functioning. In addition, her liver doctor, Dr. Whitcomb, said her liver has not been functioning for some time. Blood sugar has been going up rapidly. They were able to bring her sugar levels down to a reasonable point. Doctor Fares said that the only treatment left is dialysis. He did not know if it would be long or short-term. I told both doctors that I felt that Ethel and I would not wish to have treatment that could not improve her health but only postpone the inevitable but I would like them to do all they could to make her comfortable. Her brain function seemed to improve some today. She still can’t communicate but she reacted to discomfort and pain. Dr. Whitcomb said he believed that he could bring her potassium and ammonia levels down so that her brain function would be restored enough so she could communicate. He would like to continue that treatment for one more day. After that he would have all the tubes removed. They are going to move her to a private room on the fifth floor sometime this evening. The nurse said this was so that family members could come any time to visit and stay as long as they wished. They gave her another shot of morphine and that knocked her out. She seemed to be resting peacefully when Holly and I left about 6:00 PM.

Please to continue praying for Mom and Me.

With all my love,

Dad

From my mom:

I just talked to Holly and they were at the hospital. Mom cannot talk so she is unresponsive in that way, but she is responding to Holly singing to her and rubbing her feet. She is folding her hands as if she is praying. Also, she keeps trying to pull the oxygen tube out of her nose. Holly put the phone up to mom’s ear and I talked to mom. Holly said that mom did respond to my voice. Anyway, I thought we needed some clarification on her status. The doctors said that since she was so dehydrated it could take a few days to come out of it.

I’ve been letting you know every once in a while how she is doing. My sister went up to Massachusetts last week to help take care of her and do things around the house. She said that Grandma had a pretty good week until Friday. On Friday, she was in a lot of pain. Since then, my grandpa said she’s been sleeping a lot, but he’s been able to wake her up when needed. This morning, he wasn’t able to wake her, so she’s been taken to the hospital. I talked to my mom and I think she said they are going to try draining the toxins out of her body and see if that helps.

Just pray for her and my Grandpa and for my mom and her brother and sisters and the rest of the family. (No english majors are allowed to make comments about this last sentence)

She went to Heaven around 8:00 am today.

I’m driving back home tomorrow morning with the kids to feed the cats and get some clothes that we’ll need.

The visitation is on Thursday evening and the Funeral is on Friday afternoon. More details are on Read’s blog. Jeremy’s work did it’s best to help him get back earlier. He’ll be flying into Chicago early on Thursday morning and we’ll be driving down.

From Read’s blog:

The medicine wasn’t working so the family convened and decided that they should take her off of it, so they did.

its all in Gods hands now.

She is ready to go, I know no one else more ready to go. If it is her time, then the Lord can have her. We will all miss her though, she is a great woman and has left a great legacy.

they just moved her to a private room on the 6th floor, room 648. I think at this point there is nothing that they can’t do here for her that they could do in icu.

From Read’s blog:

well its a waiting game now.

she is asleep, but they can’t get her to wake up. the doctor says it may take her several days for the medicine to kick in. they did another cat scan but it is hard to tell, there may be a little more blood but they they think it is holding steady.

grandma is a resilient person but this may be the end of it, only time will tell.

———————————————-

the dr came in and explained to the whole family just now. the whole family decided that surgery isn’t an option even though it was offered.

this is the deal: there is no further bleeding in the brain but there isn’t any draining going on either. here is where it gets bad, her brain is replenishing its spinal fluid so the fluid buildup is creating a pressure buildup that has put her to sleep. she may wake up but the general consensus is that this may be the end for her.

they are not giving up, they are using medicines to help dry up the blood and water in the brain. hopefully it will work.

This is from Read’s blog:

she has NOT had a stroke,

apparently it was an aneurysm. She is also hydrocyphalic. So that means that in every area of her brain is flooded with both blood and water.

Surgery is not an option, so they are treating it with medicine. The doctor says that she may walk out of here in 5 days or she may have another one and that may be the end of it all.

more to come as it develops.

Jeremy’s Grandma had a stroke this morning. I don’t quite know all the details, but she is very confused and was having trouble with her right leg. I know the family would appreciate the prayers. My kids are very close to Grandma Anna because of we lived with his parents for a few years and she lives there too.