Coffee Love
  • Coffee Love
  • My Profile
    • I Believe
    • Stories from the Mists
    • Stay the Course
    • Respect, Honor, Gratitude
    • Favorite Links
  • Scattered Feathers
    • When You Need the Music
    • Coffee Love Images
    • Take it to the Roots
    • Love Notes
  • My Recipe Book
    • Appetizers
    • Bread
    • Casseroles
    • Crockpot Love
    • Meats
    • Veggies
    • Desserts - oh my!
  • Junk Drawer
    • Worth Sharing
    • Helpful Hints
  • Contact Me

A chapter of life is over ...

4/30/2015

3 Comments

 
Rick was in the hospital in Paris for a 8 days. He had a heart catherization. He had a scope. No blockages. No blood clots. No damage to the heart itself. The heart was shocked and the A-fib was corrected. He was put into the cardiac unit for a couple of days - he was stable and then released.

We came home. Home health began again ... including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and wound care - for his hands.
He was doing really good. 2 weeks ago (on a Monday) we went in for check ups. Every doctor, every lab report, every test - all showed improvement. He was in good spirits. He was feeling better. Tired - but better.

2 weeks ago (on Tuesday) he woke up with tummy troubles. Not really diarrhea, just a cramping and aching in his belly. On Wednesday he got up and threw up 4 times that day. We thought it was nothing more than a tummy bug. No fever. Nothing more than just an upset stomach for about 24 hours.
Thursday he was feeling better. But just was not hungry. Course that was completely normal for him - he never wanted to eat much after throwing up. I got him to eat some chicken noodle soup and crackers that day.
Friday, he was feeling weak and tired. I talked to the dialysis nurse - she said it was probably due to the couple of days of tummy troubles.
By Saturday morning, his blood pressure was getting low, but his blood sugar was high. Again, I talked with his dialysis nurse. She said that the body would release a flood of sugar to counteract not eating.
So, he began to try and eat - but nothing tasted right, and nothing seemed to sit right on his tummy.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday - we worked with his blood pressure and blood sugar. Home health nurse checked him out. I talked with the dialysis nurse. No one thought it was an emergency that he be seen. But we were all concerned - didn't want him to get dehydrated.
Monday was not a good day. He got very upset during the day. We argued. We talked. I cried. He cried. We both calmed down and quieted. Spent the rest of the day just being together.

Tuesday last week, he got up in good spirits. Told me that he wanted to live and not die. Said that his main goal was to get in better health so that he could go back to church, and find some way to serve the Lord.
He worked on his breathing exercises, his physical therapy, his occupational therapy. He ate good. He drank good.
I thought - whew! We have turned a corner!!!

Wednesday last week - he didn't feel good again when he woke up. I got some warm water and I bathed him before he got dressed for the day. We talked. We laughed. We loved on each other. It was a good time together.
When he got dressed, he was tired and weak. But that, too, was normal - especially since I had just bathed him. We got him to the living room, he took his morning meds, he drank a protein shake. We were going to watch a movie together. But he needed to go to the bathroom.
Got him back to the bedroom/bathroom. He almost fell 2 or 3 times. After the bathroom, he said he didn't feel like going to the living room. I said that was fine. Just rest in the bed for a while.

I got pillows, got him in the bed, not really laying, not really sitting. Called the nurse. She said it sounded like dehydration - so get him to drink something about every 15 minutes. He was very cooperative. He ate a little, and he drank. He was not swollen. No fever. He was clear minded, his eyes were clear and bright. His color was good.
We spent the day together - talking, laughing. He cried a couple of times, I wiped his tears away - he was missing some of those who had gone on to glory.
He had the option of going to the doctor, but he decided not to. The doctor said that he should be fine here at home. Rick agreed, said he would do everything the doctor said do - and if he wasn't feeling better by the next morning, we would go back to Paris.

He had a good night last Wednesday night. I sat on the bed beside him, he loved on me, I loved on him. We talked. He told me that he loved me, I told him I loved him. Then I said - Do you know how fine you are to me, Ricky Lee McCoy? He said he did, and that he wanted me to know how fine he was to me, too. (from the movie Rob Roy)
This was ALL ordinary for us. So far, nothing mentally or emotionally was out of the ordinary. And we all thought that the worst was the beginnings of dehydration - which could and would be alleviated in just a few more hours with him drinking the fluids.
He slept good, was not restless. He woke up a couple of times and got a drink of water.

Thursday morning, I was sitting in a chair beside my side of the bed. Waiting for the cycler to get to the dwelling point - then I was going to take a shower while he slept.
Ten minutes till 7 a.m. -- he woke up, stretched out first one leg, and then the other. I asked him what was wrong. He said that his legs were "cramping like crazy". I got up, walked around the bed to his side, and was going to rub his legs. But first, I looked into his eyes. Clear, filled with love and with peace. I asked him if he wanted anything. He couldn't talk. I looked over to his water (thinking that maybe he needed a drink for the dry mouth). Looked back at him - his eyes had glazed over, his eyes looked like a china doll's eyes ... there but nothing inside. I touched his face, I patted his cheeks, I patted his chest, I raised his shoulders and shook him. No response. I called for our daughter. She tried to get Daddy to respond. Nothing.
I called 911 - she began CPR. We waited for the ambulance. EMT's began CPR, they bagged him, they intubated him. They worked for almost an hour.

The EMT told me that they could take him to the hospital. I asked if he would be better.
I was told that for an hour, after 3 shocks to the heart, after everything - there was NO response. No heart beat. No pulse. No eye response. NOTHING.

My husband of 34+ years was gone. I am no longer married. I am a widow.  

Picture
3 Comments
Jerilyn Childs
4/30/2015 01:51:35 pm

I'm so sorry. I'm bawling so hard. I know Sis, God do I know! I love you.

Reply
Margaret link
4/30/2015 02:56:24 pm

I love you my sister! More sisters now than ever!!! I love you!!!!!

Reply
Lou Ann
5/1/2015 03:58:58 am

thinking of you

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    So why "Scattered Feathers" ? ? ? 

    You can read it here

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Past Posts

    January 2023
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    October 2010

    RSS Feed

    Picture
Website designed & developed by Margaret McCoy

​
God is God over the storms in my life & world -
and I am His.
Trusting in Him. Holding to His Promises as He holds me.

​
Learning to laugh, to love, & to live ... again - without Rick, but with God

Life goes on ... even when we don't want it to.

Great grief is indicative of a great Love.

Rick, my Sweetheart.
Margaret, his Beloved.
Always & Forever.
​
Picture
©Margaret McCoy, the Queen of Kamelot Coffee 
  • Coffee Love
  • My Profile
    • I Believe
    • Stories from the Mists
    • Stay the Course
    • Respect, Honor, Gratitude
    • Favorite Links
  • Scattered Feathers
    • When You Need the Music
    • Coffee Love Images
    • Take it to the Roots
    • Love Notes
  • My Recipe Book
    • Appetizers
    • Bread
    • Casseroles
    • Crockpot Love
    • Meats
    • Veggies
    • Desserts - oh my!
  • Junk Drawer
    • Worth Sharing
    • Helpful Hints
  • Contact Me