Realhousewife

My Mom passed away this afternoon. She had been in a NH for just about 3 years with Alzheimers and was doing okay until two incidents. In December she fell and broke her hip and a month later it was her femur. She needed surgery for both and never recovered.

Today we got a phone call saying she was bad off. Over the last month or so she would become comatose and you could not awaken her. But she rallied and within a few days she would be in the wheelchair and awake. Today was different-the fluid in her lungs kept coming up and she had the death rattle. We were there for about 3 hours when she passed. My Dad went out for a smoke and the hospice workers were in the hall. I was all alone in the room when she died. When she exhaled for the last time all the fluid in her lungs came out of her mouth and after a few seconds I realized she was gone.

Dying is not like in the movies-they don't just close their eyes and die. Being that she was in hospice I knew what to expect and I'm sad that my last images of her will be of her death. But I am also glad I was there at the moment she died-my Dad was upset that she passed while he was out having a smoke. Her death was not a peaceful thing-the body does strange things while it's in the process of dying. I know that she is in a better place and free from the pain and her mind is as sharp as a tack once again.

Once you have witnessed someone die and be there when they take that last breath you will never forget it.