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November 1, 2004
Hi everyone,
What a couple of weeks. I've been wanting to update, but I forgot my password, I found it saved on my computer, so here I am.
Well let me start off with a very sad thing that happened to my family. I lost my step mom from a massive stroke. I got a phone call from my step sister at work on Wed Oct 20. I left work and we all traveled the 6 hours it takes to get up to my Dad and Step mom's house. It was my sister, me and my two step sisters. We got there late on Wednesday. We all got up very early on Thursday, but were not prepared for what we were going to see. She was in a coma and hooked up to a ventilator, but she looked so peaceful, just like she was sleeping. We all had cried and helped each other through a very hard day. We all took turns holding her hand and scratching her back and telling her how much we loved her, and sharing great stories about her. She even responded a few times, so we all held on to some hope. We were waiting for the cat scan results, but we knew a decision had to be made.
We left Thursday night with a heavy heart and a promise from the nurse that she would call with any changes, good or bad. We went in at about 8:30 on Friday morning knowing that this was probably going to be the day a horrible and hard decision had to be made. The doctor came in and told us that she had a massive stroke on the left side of her brain that left her a vegetable. I didn't even realize I was sobbing until I felt somebody hugging me and telling me that everything will be okay. We were told she was taking no breaths on her on and as soon as they turned off the ventilator, it would probably happen fast. Well she had one more thing to prove to the world. She was not going to give uo that easy. We all said what we thought was our final goodbye's and they turned down the ventilator a little at a time. This started at 12:45 in the afternoon. By about 1:30 the ventilator was turned all the way off, and she only had an oxygen mask on. It was so wonderful to see her beautiful face again. Well visiting hours were over at 8:00......but none of us could get up to leave. We let the nurses know that we just could not leave her, so they started to set yp a room for a couple of us to get some sleep.
We left the room about 8:15 so they could clena her up and turn her over. When we came back she was making a gurgling sound, which was really hard for us to hear. I wanted to run and tell them to turn the machine back on. Didn't they see she was dying here....why wasn't anyone helping her....but I knew they couldn't. Suddenly the gurgling stopped and she opened her eyes. I noticed at the exact time that her oxygen level was going down and so was her heart rate. I grabbed my step sister's hand to let her know.We both started crying knowing what was happening. She looked around the room just to see everyone who was there....just to say her final goodbye. We all gave her a kiss and told her it was okay to go and become an angel. There was no pain up there. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, looked at her husband a final time, and took her last breath.That was at 9:10 PM.
It was probably the longest day of my life, but how I wish it could have been longer. I loved her so much and I will miss her more than I can say.
On Monday and Tuesday we had services in the town where they shared the last 7 years. Then on Friday we had a special memorial mass for her in Philadelphia to give everyone a chance to say goodbye. All of the services were beautiful, I know she would be proud.
I love you Moe, you were my second mother. You gave us so much happiness, and have been a wonderful wife to my father. Thankyou for sharing your life with us.
Janis
I'll update about Kayla later, I just didn't want to forget a detail about that day!
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