Nell Peters

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10 years ago on October 6th, my mother died from complications due to sepsis. She had 2 back to back UTIs and had suffered from a hand infection (her hand was kept wrapped up). (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections, Sepsis and Bacterial Infections) At the time, she was living in an assisted living home.

On Sunday, October 5th, I received a call that my mom had been taken to a nearby hospital. I wasn’t prepared for how I would find her.

She was unable to speak and had suffered a heart attack. The nurses had to get blood samples from the heels of her feet as her veins had collapsed. She was confused, scared and didn’t know what was going on. I called my younger sister and she eventually made it to the hospital. My older sister lived in California and I called her to let her know and to tell her what the doctor told us: Our mother was dying. Her kidneys, and her system, was shutting down. They mentioned something called sepsis, but we didn’t know what it meant. Did we want any life saving measures? Did we want her to be made comfortable?

Our parents had made it clear: No life saving measures. Nothing to prolong the suffering or to delay the inevitable. It was in writing.

So, my sisters and I instructed the doctor to keep her as comfortable as possible. We wanted to respect her wishes one last time.

We told Mom we loved her and we would see her at the hospital in the morning. We gave her a kiss, thanked the doctors and planned on seeing her the next day.

She was gone just after 12 am.

Source: Susan Meyer, daughter

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