And Then There Were Two

There were three sisters.
The oldest was six years and one day older than the youngest one.

Now, there are just the two younger sisters.

Back in March, my oldest sister had a stroke.
After that a vasospasm.
Next came meningitis.

She made it all through that and went to rehab.
She got done with rehab and was waiting for her foot to heal completely before she was released to go home.

She was diabetic and had had foot surgery the year before and it was taking a long time to heal.

Only her foot never healed and she never got to come home.

She was allowed to be independent in her room.

Monday, July 24th, she fell in the bathroom and suffered a subdural hematoma.
She was flown to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines.

I was at an appointment with my husband so after it was over, we headed to the ER to see her.
I was taken to the consult room.
That is never a good sign.
Before the doctors came in, I got a call from my brother-in-law letting me know what they were going to say.

She was in a coma. Bleeding had occurred on the surface of the brain as well as the brain stem.
They could do surgery to get the blood on the surface, but nothing could be done for the brain stem. She'd probably never come out of the coma and she would be living on life support. Eventually, the injury to the brain stem would cause her organs to shut down and she would die regardless of the machines.

So, it was decided that we had to let her go.
Now or later, the outcome would be the same.
And she would not want to live on a feeding tube and ventilator.

Her husband drives a truck and he was out in Indiana.
So, she was kept stabilized until he got back.

A couple hours after he got back, she was taken off all life support.

Just after 10:00 pm, my oldest sister had died.

My sister was an organ donor and her organs were healthy so some of her organs were donated.

Tomorrow, a memorial is planned.
Im the fall, she will be planted.
She was cremated and she will be put into one of those tree urns and planted.
It's a weeping willow tree urn.

So, it's been a week.