Today is November 27, 2007 and is the day that my grandmother would have turned 69. For those of you who don’t know why she died, here is a little re-cap of why….
My grandmother “G-mom” needed to have two knee replacements. She went in for the first one in December of 2001. Coming out of the surgery everything was fine, the doctors said that she would heal quickly and she was feeling great. Well, the night after her surgery my grandfather got a call from the hospital saying that G-mom had stopped breathing and had been rushed to intensive care. Immediately he and my dad rushed to the hospital. When they got there they found that a nurse had gone in to check on her in the middle of the night and she was fine. The nurse went back 20 minutes later and found out the she hadn’t been breathing for about 10 minutes. The nurse didn’t know this because they didn’t have a breathing monitor on her. They rushed her to intensive care and immediately hooked her up to many machines to make her start breathing. My mom came to Jonathan, Amber, and I in tears and told us what was going on as Joshua, Victoria, and Karah were too young to understand. As my immediate family, aunt, uncle, and cousins all gathered at the hospital we were all shocked! Seeing G-mom hooked up to many machines and not being able to respond to any of us wasn’t easy at all because she had been such a healthy person. At this point nothing could be done. 97% of her brain had been damaged and she would be living on machines the rest of her life. Because G-mom had told my aunt in the past that if it ever came down to it, she would never want to have to live off machines, the doctors, my grandfather, and my parents all decided it would be best to take he off of life support. Though this wasn’t what we desired as a family, we knew it was the best thing for her…..
As they took her off the machines, my Aunt stayed back with her as the rest of my family headed back to my grandfather’s house to congregate there. My dad stayed on the phone with my aunt as G-mom very slowly started to pass and the announcement came that she had gone to be with the Lord.
As we all sat there with tears running down our faces and hearing our dad crying in the other room louder then I had ever heard him cry, we were all heart broken as we had just lost someone that was so special to us all. She was the one that always kept us going and was such a woman of God and example in my life. It was a very difficult time with her death being 4 days before Christmas.
Because of many things that went wrong in the hospital with the nurses and doctors, my dad and grandfather, for about two years after her death had to go back and forth with lawyers. That wasn’t easy for any of us because it continued to remind us of her sudden and unexpected death.
Though it is difficult for me to say it was for my own good and God’s glory I know it is. It was the Lord’s will to take her and all my family and I can do is trust God.
I was reading the Girl Talk blog yesterday and they posted a great reminder of when Mrs. Spurgeon sat next to her husband on his death bed. It is said that when her husband, the great preacher Charles Spurgeon died, she knelt by the bed and “thanked the Lord for the precious treasure he so long lent to her.”
I look forward to the day when I will see her in heaven. Until then, I have to press on and remember that God is the blessed controller of all things! I will always remember my “G-mom.”
Daily Bible Verse:
Romans 8:28-“And we know that for those who love God all thing work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
My grandmother “G-mom” needed to have two knee replacements. She went in for the first one in December of 2001. Coming out of the surgery everything was fine, the doctors said that she would heal quickly and she was feeling great. Well, the night after her surgery my grandfather got a call from the hospital saying that G-mom had stopped breathing and had been rushed to intensive care. Immediately he and my dad rushed to the hospital. When they got there they found that a nurse had gone in to check on her in the middle of the night and she was fine. The nurse went back 20 minutes later and found out the she hadn’t been breathing for about 10 minutes. The nurse didn’t know this because they didn’t have a breathing monitor on her. They rushed her to intensive care and immediately hooked her up to many machines to make her start breathing. My mom came to Jonathan, Amber, and I in tears and told us what was going on as Joshua, Victoria, and Karah were too young to understand. As my immediate family, aunt, uncle, and cousins all gathered at the hospital we were all shocked! Seeing G-mom hooked up to many machines and not being able to respond to any of us wasn’t easy at all because she had been such a healthy person. At this point nothing could be done. 97% of her brain had been damaged and she would be living on machines the rest of her life. Because G-mom had told my aunt in the past that if it ever came down to it, she would never want to have to live off machines, the doctors, my grandfather, and my parents all decided it would be best to take he off of life support. Though this wasn’t what we desired as a family, we knew it was the best thing for her…..
As they took her off the machines, my Aunt stayed back with her as the rest of my family headed back to my grandfather’s house to congregate there. My dad stayed on the phone with my aunt as G-mom very slowly started to pass and the announcement came that she had gone to be with the Lord.
As we all sat there with tears running down our faces and hearing our dad crying in the other room louder then I had ever heard him cry, we were all heart broken as we had just lost someone that was so special to us all. She was the one that always kept us going and was such a woman of God and example in my life. It was a very difficult time with her death being 4 days before Christmas.
Because of many things that went wrong in the hospital with the nurses and doctors, my dad and grandfather, for about two years after her death had to go back and forth with lawyers. That wasn’t easy for any of us because it continued to remind us of her sudden and unexpected death.
Though it is difficult for me to say it was for my own good and God’s glory I know it is. It was the Lord’s will to take her and all my family and I can do is trust God.
I was reading the Girl Talk blog yesterday and they posted a great reminder of when Mrs. Spurgeon sat next to her husband on his death bed. It is said that when her husband, the great preacher Charles Spurgeon died, she knelt by the bed and “thanked the Lord for the precious treasure he so long lent to her.”
I look forward to the day when I will see her in heaven. Until then, I have to press on and remember that God is the blessed controller of all things! I will always remember my “G-mom.”
Daily Bible Verse:
Romans 8:28-“And we know that for those who love God all thing work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
1 comment:
Candace, this story sounds very similar to my own grandmother's passing, though she died from cancer. She also, died in 2001 and seemed to be the glue of the family. It's a sad reminder that she is gone when holidays come around and things just aren't the same. But she has left her indelible mark of a life lived for God's glory in all of our lives and I am happy she is with her Savior. I'll be praying for you and your family this Christmas season.
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