Sorry for not posting these updates more timely.....
Stan Sakai wrote:
November 13 at 9:07am
I have not updated Sharon's condition in awhile. It is difficult to always tell you she is the same, only a little worse. She sleeps almost 23 hours a day now, and is awake for 5-10 minutes at a time. She is sometimes alert, but more often is unaware of her surroundings. Sometimes she will squeeze my hand, though. She is deaf and blind now. We do not know how her other senses are doing, but we try to stimulate them by touching her or massaging her with pikake (jasmine)-scented lotion. She is in some pain from the pressure of the brain tumor. We give her Tylenol or morphine, depending upon how she looks. She always has ice packs under her head and on her forehead to help the pain and, perhaps, it helps with the swelling.
She pulled the oxygen tube from her trach early Wednesday morning. I discovered it when I went down at 5 AM. I had last checked on her at 2:30, so it was sometime during the 2.5 hours. Her oxygen saturation level was at 79%. I think Joan Rivers had gone into her coma because of low oxygenation, so it is a real problem. Anyway, I disconnected her from the oxygenator and onto an O2 tank. The oxygenator has a maximum output of 5 liters/hour whereas the tank is capable of a higher concentration of 8 liters/hour. She was soon back up to 99%. Brain cells start to die from lack of oxygen at 92%, or so I was told. Her blood pressure and heart rate remained really high. I gave her meds and continued to monitor her, and her numbers were back down to reasonable levels in about 90 minutes. She pretty much slept through all of yesterday. Each day brings new challenges but, after more than a year of caring for Sharon at home, we have learned to cope with them calmly and quite quickly. We are so glad she is home and not in the hospital or outside hospice care.
Stan Sakai wrote:
November 23 at 11:22am
Sharon's health continues to deteriorate. She is completely bed bound and mostly non-responsive. She will sometimes squeeze our hand after we squeeze hers. Her breathing is much more labored and we have to suction the secretions out her tracheostomy tube frequently, which pains her. It literally sucks the breath out of her lungs. We give her low doses of morphine to open up her airways and control the pain from suctioning and her headaches caused by the brain tumor.
We are so grateful that she is able to be at home
.
Stan Sakai wrote:
Yesterday at 4:33pm
We are transferring Sharon on to home hospice care.
Stan Sakai wrote:
9 hours ago (November 25)
Sharon's lungs are beginning to fail. Her oxygen level is down to 80% and blood pressure is 76/60 and falling. Her feet are cold and her hands are beginning to feel that way. We stopped her feeding tube yesterday as she was no longer able to digest her liquid diet.
Thank you everyone, for your prayers, good thoughts and overall support.
Stan Sakai wrote:
4 hours ago (November 25)
Sharon passed away at 9:00 this morning.
She died exactly the way she wanted to--at home, surrounded by her family. Matthew flew home from up north, where he is going to school, yesterday.
Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and support.
Almighty Father, source of forgiveness and salvation, grant that our relatives and friends who have passed from this life may, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints, come to share your Eternal happiness through Christ our Lord. Amen
Eternal Rest, grant to them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
May the Lord bless us, may he keep us from evil and bring us to life everlasting. Amen.
