My mum's journey through life ended on 18 April.
She'd been in hospital all over Christmas and came home in the New Year with a palliative care package. They expected her to live for about 2 weeks.
She had an underlying urine infection that kept recurring and needed intravenous antibiotics. Over the Christmas period she had five cannulas inserted and pulled them all out.
Since Christmas,as well as the uti, she had a chest infection that wouldn't clear up and then she got shingles on her scalp. She was in terrible pain.
On the Wednesday before she died she just stopped eating and drinking and refused all medication. We had to resort to a pain relief patch that just knocked her out.
By Friday she was on morphine injections and on Saturday a syringe driver was fitted. She wasn't really conscious after that.
I spent the weekend in bed with her just holding her and talking to her - even though I know she couldn't hear me.
My sister called for a few minutes on Friday and again on Saturday. One brother called on Saturday and on Sunday but he couldn't stay - he had to go to a barbecue. The other brother didn't come at all.
It wasn't the death I'd hoped for for my mum, I'd hoped she would just go in her sleep. Instead she needed lots of injections of drugs I'd managed to keep her free of all her life.
Monday morning came and mum left us. It was a time of relief that her suffering was ended and sadness that she'd gone.
My daughter, my friend and I washed her body and her hair and changed her into a clean nightie. We blow-dried her hair and laid her in a clean bed. She looked beautiful and relaxed.
On Easter Saturday we took her back to her birthplace, a tiny island off the coast of Connemara in Southern Ireland. She was received into Church on Easter Sunday and she lay there until her funeral on Easter Monday morning, then she was buried alongside her parents.
The funeral was a truly beautiful and joyous affair, all said and sung in her native tongue - Gaelic. Family attended from all parts of Ireland and more than 200 people came to pay their respects. For those two days she really was treated as if she were the Queen of Galway - as she had thought she was! My absent brother and sister remained absent.
We came home this morning and all mum's equipment was removed this afternoon. The house feels strangely silent.
I don't know why but I feel at peace.
Thank you everyone who has contributed to this site, you've been a great source of support and information. I wish you all well as you continue your own journeys.
Maureen
She'd been in hospital all over Christmas and came home in the New Year with a palliative care package. They expected her to live for about 2 weeks.
She had an underlying urine infection that kept recurring and needed intravenous antibiotics. Over the Christmas period she had five cannulas inserted and pulled them all out.
Since Christmas,as well as the uti, she had a chest infection that wouldn't clear up and then she got shingles on her scalp. She was in terrible pain.
On the Wednesday before she died she just stopped eating and drinking and refused all medication. We had to resort to a pain relief patch that just knocked her out.
By Friday she was on morphine injections and on Saturday a syringe driver was fitted. She wasn't really conscious after that.
I spent the weekend in bed with her just holding her and talking to her - even though I know she couldn't hear me.
My sister called for a few minutes on Friday and again on Saturday. One brother called on Saturday and on Sunday but he couldn't stay - he had to go to a barbecue. The other brother didn't come at all.
It wasn't the death I'd hoped for for my mum, I'd hoped she would just go in her sleep. Instead she needed lots of injections of drugs I'd managed to keep her free of all her life.
Monday morning came and mum left us. It was a time of relief that her suffering was ended and sadness that she'd gone.
My daughter, my friend and I washed her body and her hair and changed her into a clean nightie. We blow-dried her hair and laid her in a clean bed. She looked beautiful and relaxed.
On Easter Saturday we took her back to her birthplace, a tiny island off the coast of Connemara in Southern Ireland. She was received into Church on Easter Sunday and she lay there until her funeral on Easter Monday morning, then she was buried alongside her parents.
The funeral was a truly beautiful and joyous affair, all said and sung in her native tongue - Gaelic. Family attended from all parts of Ireland and more than 200 people came to pay their respects. For those two days she really was treated as if she were the Queen of Galway - as she had thought she was! My absent brother and sister remained absent.
We came home this morning and all mum's equipment was removed this afternoon. The house feels strangely silent.
I don't know why but I feel at peace.
Thank you everyone who has contributed to this site, you've been a great source of support and information. I wish you all well as you continue your own journeys.
Maureen
