Late on Tuesday evening Dan's grandmother passed away. She has been quite sick for some time now with congestive heart failure and many other aliments which had made her quality of life quite poor. I had taken her to the hospital a week and a half ago while I was at the house visiting with her and she got very short of breath and could not breathe. We rushed to the emergency room as fast as we could. By the time we got there her lips were blue and she was gasping for air. it was very terrifying for us both. The doctors gave her many breathing treatments which eventually allowed her to breath more easily. They then admitted her to the hospital where it seemed like she was getting better and they talked of releasing her after 5 days or so, but then because her heart was working so hard and the medication she was taking for it has adverse affects on other parts of the body, her kidneys began failing. When that happened they knew it was just a matter of time.
So they tried to keep her comfortable for her little while longer. She was in a lot of pain and it was very hard to see her like that. On Monday night we all went to the hospital to visit with her. All of her family she has in the area were able to be there. It was a very bittersweet time. We were so happy to all be together and having one last memory with her and sad to see her suffering and know she would not be with us much more. The men gave her a blessing and we sang some hymns for her. It was so sweet. I could not help but cry. Our niece and nephews made her the sweetest cards on best wishes and get well soon and how much they loved her. it was very very sweet. During our time talking we were disusing the names we were thinking for our little girl and getting her opinion and I said I had not thought of a middle name yet, but I thought Ruby (her name) would be nice. she has never had someone named after. We were all able to tell her we loved her one last time and I followed mine with I will see you tomorrow as I was planning on coming back during Parkers nap the next afternoon. During that night her pain got much worse and they started an IV pain killer around 2 in the morning and when they did it pretty much sedated her. She was not responsive when I arrived the next day. It was very sad to see her like that. She had so much fluid building in her lungs it sounded like she was gargling as she breathed. When I arrived at the room no one else was there so I went and got a nurse and she said yes that was the fluid in her chest and she was not in good shape and did not expect her to make it through the night. She suctioned out the fluid as best she could. I took my opportunity alone with her to tell her how much I loved her and I was so glad I was able to be her granddaughter during these past five years of our marriage and how much she meant to me. I wanted to tell her all those things again while she was conscious. But hopefully she could hear me lying there, I had told her all those things before, but I wanted one last time.
Later that night dan met with his brother, sister, and parents for them to all be together without children. That night her breathing slowed until there was just so much time between breaths until she stopped breathing. But we are so happy she was not conscious of any pain and she went very peacefully. We feel very blessed that she was not in pain.
The Funeral is this Saturday here in Boise and then David and Kay (Dans parents) will take her to Nashville, where she had lived before she came out here to have a service there and be buried next to her Mother.
Nanny was a very sweet lady who was full of life and always had a funny story to tell or the greatest expressions for things I have never heard before. I love that she could find beauty in the simplest thing. We love you Nanny and you will be missed!
4 comments:
i am so sorry for you and your family. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Lovin you guys...jenny
That was such a nice post about Nanny. You are such a great sister in law and I know that Nanny loved and adored you just as much as the rest of the family does. I think she would be so honored to have a namesake.
I'm sorry about Dan's Grandma. It's always hard to lose a loved one no matter the circumstances.
I am sorry to hear you lost a loved one. Our sympathies to your family from ours.
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