Patricia Marsh

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Patricia had been trying to recover from a broken hip. She was also battling cirrhosis. She had gone in on a Monday for a colonoscopy. Results came back normal. I didn’t get to see her much that week but, from what my brother told me, she didn’t look good.

By Wednesday, she looked half asleep sitting up. I called her on Friday and the nurse practitioner told me I might want to consider Comfort Care. She could tell something was definitely wrong. The next morning, the nursing home called me to let me know my mom was not waking up.

When I arrived, she was lying in her bed shaking and breathing hard. My brother tried to wake her but she couldn’t talk or open her eyes. She just lay there breathing hard and shaking. I could tell she was fighting so hard. I told the nurse to call 911.

Within minutes she was at the hospital. It took some tests to figure out what the problem was. They told me it was blood poisoning. She had a staph and strep infection in her blood. They said she had a 50/50 shot at beating it.

I called on Sunday morning and the nurse told me she had two seizures that night. She was more calm when we saw her, but was easily agitated. On Tuesday, when I walked in, the nurse didn’t hesitate to tell me that “if she was going to wake up, she would have by now.” The doctor said she was basically in a coma. We arranged for hospice care on Wednesday. She passed away early Friday morning. I couldn’t figure how it had all happened. When I finally saw the death certificate it said:

Cause of Death: Sepsis. Contributing Factors: UTI. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infection)  I believe she caught a UTI in the hospital during her colonoscopy. Yes, a simple UTI can build up and lead to sepsis.

I miss my mom terribly, but am so glad she is out of her suffering.

Source: By Keelin Cutright (Patricia's daughter)

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