O Blessed Joseph, who died in the arms of Jesus and Mary, obtain for me, I beseech you, the grace of a happy death. In that hour of dread and anguish, assist me by your presence, and protect me by your power against the enemies of my salvation. Into your hands, living and dying, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I commend my soul. Amen
March 10th 2016 will mark three years since my Mom passed away.
I’ve written about Mom in the past – this one is the fan favorite.
I wanted to write about so many things today in an effort to celebrate this most blessed anniversary of hers.
But after several drafts and re-writes, it seems I’m supposed to write about those 3 days. A Friday, Saturday and a Sunday 3 years ago.
Clearly, this will be a brief version with just the highlights.
There were many of us in the family that were there those 3 days but in an effort to protect their privacy, I’d like to just share my own views of those final days of my Mom’s life.
She requested hospice on a Friday and was gone by Sunday. 3 days…just like someone else we know.
“I hope I’m making the right decision.” She just kept repeating that…over and over. How do you even respond to that?
She was incredibly lucid in those first hours, especially that first day, to the point where we were in disbelief that the hospice nurse said she wouldn’t last more than 2 more days.
“But it’s Friday! What do you mean she won’t make it the weekend? This IS the weekend!”
It’s incredibly surreal – The hospice nurses instruct you when and how to administer the morphine and it’s like watching a movie, almost like it’s happening to someone else’s family.
“Will she tell us when she needs the morphine? How do we know if it’s too much? Or not enough?”
But then it becomes too real and you just want it to be over. But you can’t wish for that because this isn’t your battle. This is hers and you just have to be there.
We were told that she is going to go through a “life review” which at first you don’t quite believe but then you actually witness it. And it’s heartbreaking and mesmerizing and awesome and awful all at once.
By Saturday we had to laugh at certain points because if we didn’t we’d go nuts.
“She’s going to be so mad when she sees what she’s wearing and that we let the hospice nurses see her like this.”
The worst moment for me – I sat at her feet when she was in the recliner (before she had to move to the hospital bed) and just looked up at her and realized this was it. I cried at her feet and I can still hear her saying and repeating, “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
She eventually she had to be moved to the hospital bed. She just kept looking at it. She knew her own mother died shortly after being moved from the recliner to the hospital bed. I’m sure that’s what she was thinking. I know she was trying to prolong her stay here as long as she could. Not for herself, but for us. To spare us the pain of seeing her die.
She said goodbye to my nephews who recorded a beautiful voicemail for her that we played on speaker so everyone could hear. The look on her face as she listened was pure joy. I had never seen her smile like that in weeks. It was probably the most heartbreaking moment of all as we realized this was the last time she’d hear their young voices. Her grandsons were her source of joy. Hands down, they were her world. Especially Sean since he was so young and so oblivious to what was happening to “G.”
Time for a sidenote/side story:
Just two weeks prior to her death, she had ended up in the hospital again to drain fluid from her lungs. I was having a particularly bad time dealing with this and went over to my sisters to see the boys. Sean (the younger of the two) was hanging out with my brother-in-law. Out of the blue he pointed out that “Daddy has a cut on his head from shaving.” I glanced and saw, yes indeed he had a tiny cut on his head. Sean was asking me to look at it. I said I saw it but was clearly preoccupied with my Mom’s illness to not particularly care all that much. Sean looked me in the eye and said in his sweet little 4 year old voice: “I’m going to pray that my Dad is healed from that cut. Because you know what auntie? God hears my prayers. Did you know that? He hears my prayers.”
Twice. My nephew said this twice and looked at me in the eye as if he was channeling someone. I just looked at him and almost started crying. I wanted to tell him, “God DOES hear your prayers. And right now can you please pray that G is healed? Please?! I don’t want to lose my Mom!”
But I didn’t. I just remember that moment as being so surreal. How innocent a child prays. It wasn’t even a question – “Do you think God hears my prayers??” It was a STATEMENT. “God hears my prayers Auntie.” I will never forget that.
Sunday – I remember that morning as the one that my Mom saw her Dad. She spoke to him and said things like “Daddy, I’m afraid.”
“Afraid? This wasn’t in the brochure! She’s not supposed to be scared!”
She also said things that were incomprehensible as she flowed in and out of lucidity. Sometimes her eyes were opened and she spoke but you could tell she wasn’t talking to us. I don’t recall responding too often so as not to confuse her. But I also felt like if I spoke or responded to her, that would be…rude. :) She was clearly having a private conversation with someone and I was not about to interfere with that.
It was a sunny day and I thought “What a beautiful day to leave and go home!” However, things didn’t progress that well. In fact, we called the hospice nurse on call to tell us what to do. We were concerned she was in pain! After all, she kept saying she was afraid. So that must mean she’s in pain, right?
“She’s in spiritual pain. Have you prayed with her?” – the hospice nurse asked.
The look on my face was complete embarrassment.
Had I prayed with my mother on her deathbed? NO! Duh!!! What the heck was wrong with me?
I prayed with her as best I knew. I think many of us said the Our Father because that seemed to be the only prayer we all knew.
“How do you pray with someone who can’t hear you and can’t speak?”
I was clueless.
Sunday evening – We called her priest to come and give her last rites. He also managed to ask a question I was all too embarrassed to NOT know the answer to –
“What’s your mother’s favorite prayer?”
I went from feeling like a decent daughter to being the worlds worst. I had never even bothered to ask my Mother’s favorite prayer.
We ended up praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at her bedside which I think she would have approved.
Shortly before she passed, I ran out of “prayers” and instead took all the cards anyone had ever sent her and read them all out loud to her. I took her hand, told her it was okay for her to go and said I would see her in the morning.
My dad took over the “shift” change.
I went up to bed and prayed and cried to God to please ease my Mom’s sickness.
An hour later she passed away with my Dad at her side.
I don’t even recall crying. I immediately thought God heard my prayer just an hour before. (Thanks to Sean for restoring my faith in prayer).
My Mom was always happy and forever smiling during her life and in countless pictures.
As her body lay there, I stared at her. She looked so….GOOD! As if she would just sit up and say, “What are you looking at? Be happy for me! I’m home!”
I couldn’t help but think …
…that’s how you die a happy death.
