At 6:50 am this morning I lost my soul mate.
One of a kind!
The day began early as I knew Robin was departing the hospital after staying all night long. I took over the watch around 6:00 am. When I got there, Sue’s BP was in the OK zone, but the oxygenation was a little low. Your blood oxygen level is a measure of how much oxygen your red blood cells are carrying. Your body closely regulates your blood oxygen level. Maintaining the precise balance of oxygen-saturated blood is vital to your health.
Sue was wearing a pulse oximeter (pulse ox) which is a noninvasive device that estimates the amount of oxygen in your blood. It does so by sending infrared light into capillaries in your finger, toe, or earlobe. Then it measures how much light is reflected off the gases.
I saw the level drop rather dramatically at about 6:50 AM, and I alerted the nurse in the ICU.
They said I should call anyone I needed now, and I did. I first called Robin, then Diane, Colleen, Joe, Vicky, Irene, Zack & Becca, and Connor.
Two nurses came over and simply said, “We were losing her.” They asked if they should remove the CPAP device to make her more comfortable, and I said, “Certainly.” Within a minute or so, one nurse said. Even though we had an NDR posted, they asked if they should attempt to keep her alive. Sue and I had talked for years about what happens if. I was prepared and said, “No.” The nurse said, “Her heart has stopped.” Mine also did. In that instant, she was gone.
Robin was the first to arrive and was shocked as she had just left her an hour earlier.
The love of my life is gone!
Everyone showed up, and at 10:00 am, we all moved to the ICU Waiting Room until Sue was moved from the ICU.
Diane was flying in, and she took an Uber to our home. Thank goodness for Diane; she was a blessing, a no-nonsense angel!
We all went home and talked until about noon, at which time we all went to CPK.
As the afternoon wore on, people headed for their routines. At dinner time, Diane and I went to Patty’s Place and got big hugs from the crew at Patty’s.
Diane and I talked for hours afterward until Colleen arrived at about 10:00 PM. We all talked until midnight.
