To Dana about Mom, Who Never Asked to Be Put on Ice

Sunday, October 09, 2011  E-letter to Dana

Hi, Dana~

            I know that tomorrow is your birthday, and I wanted to give you a better gift than this bad news!  I just got back from seeing Mom (and seeing is all we can do; she can’t respond—can’t breathe because her brain isn’t working at all), and Kathy came too.  As I told you in the earlier e-mail “reports” that I forwarded, one of the comforts for Mom and me is “cuddling,” but I didn’t try that today, what with her body being so cold as well as attached to machines, and tubes being attached to her.  The staff is really nice—very caring, very encouraging of our staying there, insisting that we’re not in their way as they work around us. 

            When Suzy contacted you, did she send the article about therapeutic hypothermia?  Mom’s undergoing hypothermia after cardiac arrest, but as I say, she’s not breathing on her own, and there isn’t any response or brain activity. 

            {Here I repeat a lot of what I told Jonathan, so I’ll omit it.}

            If I remember correctly, you said you wanted to be put on ice if anything happened to you, so your body would be preserved until they found a cure.  Do you have an Advance Health Care Directive to that effect?  Maybe that can be my birthday gift to you:  I’ll send you the form, and you can fill it out. 

            In the meantime, I’ll send you Mom’s invitation to a party we probably won’t be having—at least not on the 22^nd, but it’s possible.  The nurses told us today that it’s possible that Mom will come out of this with full brain function—as full as she had before she choked last night.  But we didn’t have the courage to ask, “And what are the chances of that?”

            Tonight at 10:00 PM, they begin the cooling down.  By 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, Mom may be responding, so Kathy and I will be there.  By tomorrow night at 10:00 PM, we’ll probably have a prognosis, if that’s the word.

               

Love,

                Tina

PS  Two things to your credit:  You suggested coming earlier than late October for fear that Mom wouldn’t make it that long.  I think that was just minutes before you slipped on the stairs and hit your head!  Also, you expressed an interest in the picture of Mom as a beach babe.  You’ll see it on the invitation, though not center stage.