What a week! On Friday, I received a call from the ... try to follow this now ... the sister of "mom's" son-in-law. She was bleeding internally and her doctor told her to go straight to the hospital Emergency Room! I was at the hospice center with mom at the time (had been there since 4:00 am, as stated above) and the family was just arriving. I told them what was happening, then left to pick up the sister and rushed her to the ER. Turns out she had 3 stomach ulcers and had been bleeding internally for quite some time. They gave her 2 pints of blood (she only weighs 100 pounds!) because she was anemic. They were to get her stabilized and perform a procedure on her Saturday morning.

Saturday, I had an appointment at the Tampa VA for a CT Scan and really needed to have it done, so I again went to the hospice center around 4:00 am to be with mom until the rest of the family arrived (around 9:30 am). Lynn came in to visit for a few minutes, then drove me to Tampa. Not 5-mins. after arriving at the VA, we got the call that mom had passed away! SAD time, but at least it was not unexpected. I just wish I could have been there holding her hand.

Once we returned to town, the funeral home was getting ready to transport mom, so we went straight to the hospital to be with the OTHER family member. The rest of the family is scrambling to get the final funeral arrangements made, etc. for mom, so I've assumed care duties for the sister to give them a bit of relief. The docs are supposed to take another blood test at 1:00 this afternoon, and if all is well, they will release her this afternoon, THEN, I'll be taking her to an appointment with another doctor to examine her hip which is giving her a TON of pain (she's had a hip replacement). I don't even know when the funeral for mom will be yet, but Lynn and I have had a little get-away to the beach planned for quite some time and are supposed to leave early Thursday morning and return next Monday. As exhausted as I am right now, I think we're going to keep the reservations and miss the funeral if it's not before then. I've spent the past week holding mom's hand and sitting with her so she wouldn't be alone, so I've already had plenty of time to say my good-byes. Her real family is all here with her now, so I feel comfortable missing the final ceremony if it comes to that. I need a rest.