The Bad News Is, My Mother-In-Law Has Probably Closed Her Eyes For The Last Time

[dr_pretentious]

When it was just her lungs, her oncologist thought she might make a full recovery.

When her lungs were clear of the cancer, but she had a bunch of little tumors scattered in her brain, her oncologist thought she might have as long as two years.

When she went in for pneumonia and it became clear that her lungs were failing after all, her doctors thought she might have six weeks left.

This afternoon, her oxygen absorption dropped precipitously and hasn't come back up. No one expects her to regain consciousness. Her doctors anticipate that it will all be over in the next couple of days.

When Dan tries to wrap his mind around his mother's stoic acceptance of her mortality, he says, "She's like a mage of Earthsea, walking open-eyed into death. It just holds no fear for her." The books he loved as a child are making it possible now to face the very worst. If I ever meet Ursula Le Guin, I'll have one more thing to thank her for.

Comments

[wayzgoose.livejournal.com]

My family stood for two days by my mother's bed with the same symptom/results. Her cancer had metastasized to her brain and we all knew she was not going to open her eyes again. But she seemed most relaxed when we were there talking. We kept talking to her the whole time. I sat for a couple of hours the night before she died just telling her stories. The whole family was standing by her bed singing when she died. I'm glad Dan has such strong images to help his acceptance. Our hearts and thoughts go out to you all.