The doctors prepared Kelly’s family for his grandmother’s (Ma) passing after they removed the breathing tube Sunday evening. However, she doggedly breathed on her own without the tube – shocking the medical staff. To boot, Ma woke up and was very conversant for a few hours yesterday (Monday) morning. What a blessing for my in-laws to have a conversation with her – albeit at 4 a.m.!
By the time we arrived for afternoon visiting hours at 2:30, that moment had passed. Ma is sleeping a great deal and isn’t able to say anything intelligible. The doctor was quite frank with the family, telling us that this is a downhill journey with many hills and valleys.
As a slightly-more dispassionate observer, I think it’s interesting to see the many different ways people deal with grief. Reactions range from a flat vocal tone of acceptance to outbursts of anger at others to sitting, unusually quiet. And ours isn’t the only family going through this. The ICU waiting room was absolutely packed with other families doing the exact same thing.
It very much feels like our phone call could come any day now, or any week for that matter. But we did have a Christmas miracle and it didn’t feel small in any way.