Hello,
I guess I am writing this to sign off. Having gone into hospital with what was thought to be a urinary tract infection, mum had a stroke and died within a week.
With hindsight, of course, I would have pulled out all the stops to be with her in that last week, but as it was I was struggling to place my children with various people in order to visit every day and we were not told until two days before she died that she had had a stroke. I was lucky enough to spend a good few hours with her in the last two days, and although it was hard to tell if she could comprehend anything I feel glad to have held her hand, stroked her hair, given her lavender to smell (she had a great sense of smell and always loved it when I took her lavender) and just talked to her. It was a relatively peaceful death and I feel sure she would not have wanted to be alive if her quality of life had deteriorated even further. We had the funeral service within four days and I think I am still in shock.
It feels too strange to have lost her so quickly and to have such an important person die. I only joined TP in June and considered myself a bit of a novice, imagining myself writing these posts for years and seeing her reach the later stages that so many of you have written about. I wish you all well. Mum was only diagnosed with vascular dementia about 2.5 years ago, but these have been intensive and anxious years.
Thank you for being there when I needed advice and for sharing your thoughts on this forum. It has been a great source of comfort for me, and helped me to feel there was a space to discuss feelings that many others simply would not understand.
Peppa xx
I guess I am writing this to sign off. Having gone into hospital with what was thought to be a urinary tract infection, mum had a stroke and died within a week.
With hindsight, of course, I would have pulled out all the stops to be with her in that last week, but as it was I was struggling to place my children with various people in order to visit every day and we were not told until two days before she died that she had had a stroke. I was lucky enough to spend a good few hours with her in the last two days, and although it was hard to tell if she could comprehend anything I feel glad to have held her hand, stroked her hair, given her lavender to smell (she had a great sense of smell and always loved it when I took her lavender) and just talked to her. It was a relatively peaceful death and I feel sure she would not have wanted to be alive if her quality of life had deteriorated even further. We had the funeral service within four days and I think I am still in shock.
It feels too strange to have lost her so quickly and to have such an important person die. I only joined TP in June and considered myself a bit of a novice, imagining myself writing these posts for years and seeing her reach the later stages that so many of you have written about. I wish you all well. Mum was only diagnosed with vascular dementia about 2.5 years ago, but these have been intensive and anxious years.
Thank you for being there when I needed advice and for sharing your thoughts on this forum. It has been a great source of comfort for me, and helped me to feel there was a space to discuss feelings that many others simply would not understand.
Peppa xx