Light

Late Fri night we got a call from Spouse's sister, notifying us that his mom Evelyn was in the hospital.  She was taken there after a fall in her apartment, due to extremely low blood pressure.  She's banged up her face but had not broken any bones.

Sat we got a pretty positive update on Evelyn's condition.  She was talking and laughing and seemed to be doing pretty well.  This news made Spouse & I feel much better.  Evelyn's blood pressure was still very low but they were treating it with medication.  

Late Sun night we got another call from Spouse's sister who was in tears.  Evelyn had taken a turn for the worse and was move to ICU and put on a ventilator.  Despite multiple medications to try and raise her blood pressure they doctors were unsuccessful.  Spouse wondered if he should get in the car immediately and drive to see her, but it was after 11pm and since she was on the ventilator he decided to wait until the morning.

So this morning he drove back to the DC area and met his siblings in the hospital and spoke with the doctors.  Evelyn was not conscious.  The medications were having no effect on her blood pressure.  It seemed the cardiomyopathy she'd been trying to outrun for 6 years had finally caught up with her.  Her weakened heart just couldn't pump enough to keep her blood pressure up.

Evelyn signed a medical directive years ago stating her wishes for the time when this inevitable situation would occur.  After 12 hours on life support the 4 siblings honored her wishes and allowed the doctors to turn off the machinery keeping her alive.  Within just a few minutes, surrounded by family, Evelyn's light went out.  She was 87.