Dad and I went in to see Mom and the infectious doctor (I know that sounds like the doctor is infectious, she was a doctor of infectious diseases) came in and told us she had bacteria in her blood (pneumococcus) and the treatment would be the antibiotics she was on even if was meningitis so she was getting the right course of treatment for now. She also looked at Mom’s eyes. (I did not know this until later but Mom’s pupils were fixed and dilated since the day before. My sister knew that there were no reflexes and she had fixed pupils, but I was unaware. Dad and I still had some hope, being a nurse she was already preparing herself and her kids for the inevitable.)
The doctor finally came out sometime that evening to tell us all the test results (Mom’s brothers and sisters had all come back by then). It was not good news. Mom was not getting blood to her brain stem at all. He would not call her brain dead just yet said he had to repeat the test the next day. But the situation was dire. We told him she would insist on a DNR order should anything happen over night. My sister and I stepped out to see the test results for ourselves. It was scary to see only two small blood vessels supplying blood to a small portion of her brain and none at all to her brain stem.
So our prayers turned from “please help her through this” to “please give her peace”.
Once again we left to go home to sleep and take care of ourselves. I am so thankful Beth was there by my side every minute.
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