I debated whether to post this but due to the circumstances I will. My MIL passed this past Wednesday at 88. She has been living in a memory care facility for the past 2½ years, she suffered with Alzheimer’s for the past 4. Last Sunday, on Mother’s Day, she went to sit on a couch, missed and landed on the floor. She bumped her head so the paramedics were called. She was transported to a hospital where an MRI showed she broke 3 vertebrae’s in her neck. At her age and medical state, a neurosurgeon determined that surgery was not an option. She was sedated to keep her from moving and given morphine to ease the pain. She passed at 3:30 am on Wednesday. My wife and I have started on making arrangements. My father in law has his own health issues and does not want to be involved. She will be buried at a cemetery with a spectacular view of Mt. Rainier.
She was born in Wyndmere, North Dakota. At 7 her mother left her and her 2 year old sister in a car in sub freezing temperatures. No one really knows why. Both were found and ended up being raised by an aunt and uncle. She was a farm girl and proud of it even though she could never get the hang of milking a cow. After high school she moved to the Seattle area and got a job at Boeing. While there she met a guy that would end up being her husband for 66 years. She raised a daughter and son. They bought a house in 1962, my FIL still lives there. He worked for years as a police officer till he retired in 1994.
She made lots of friends over the years. She was known for her sense of humor. I didn’t meet her till 13 years ago when her daughter and I started dating. She loved it when I called her Mom. The only time she wore a dress the last 30 years of her life was the day Tami and I married. If she had her way she would have wore the ankle high pants she had worn for years.
We noticed a change in her about 4 years ago. She started accusing her husband of bringing girls into the house at night. As the Alzheimer’s progressed, so did the rage against him. It was decided that memory care was the best option. While there, she had her good days and her bad days. The past couple years have been a challenge for my dear wife. Besides dealing with her mother’s issues, her father has onset dementia and her brother has lived through 3 heart attacks and 2 strokes. She has power of attorney for all 3, besides our household, she had taken care of all the issues of her parents and brother. She had hoped that her mother would just pass in her sleep one night, the suddenness of the way she went made accepting the death of her mother a bit harder. As for timing, we are glad it happened when it did, we were schedule to leave this past Monday on a 6 week trip to Mt. Rushmore, Jackson, Wyoming and Utah with our travel trailer. It was completely packed and ready to go. Had to cancel everything. Trying to deal with this if we were in Nowhere, Wyoming would have been tough. Sorry this is so long but trying to pack 88 years into a few paragraphs is kind of hard.