N4521U
Colonel
Firstly, thank you each and everyone for your condolences and wishes. The number of them was surprising, each of them means a lot to us.
Annie's mum has been laid to rest, last Tuesday afternoon, she was 87. Many people were there, family and friends, some from her childhood. It's been hard on Annie. For the last 13 years she has spent every Saturday with her, the only break being when we took our own vacations. For the last year Connie had been suffering after finally being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, she had a cough for years but left it unattended. Nine months ago she was on oxygen at home from a small tank, about 1.5 litres a minute. 6 months ago it was raised to 3.5 per minute and had to have a machine at home, the machine was near capacity. Three weeks ago she was admitted to the hospital as she could not get around even walking 15 feet without sitting down to recover. Annie had been visiting her after work, teaching grade three, all but two nights per week, Thursdays and Sunday. Annie was with her every evening at the hospital and the oxygen was increased to 6 litres per minute. She was struggling with her breathing and it was quite distressing for all. I missed being able to visit the first couple of weeks with a nasal infection and Annie had to go it alone. Connie had many visitors thru the day the whole time, close friends, their children and some of their grand children. I was able to accompany Annie the last couple of days. Connie never quite cottoned to me, Annie is 23 years younger, I was the Dirty Old Man, but I think she was glad I was there supporting my Annie. The last day Annie went in from school mid day as she received a call from her doctor, it was not looking good. Annie's brother was called and told to come up to Sydney from Melbourne, it was looking serious. I went by train to the hospital to be there, all her visitors that day expected to be visiting the next day. Connie had been removed from all the monitoring equipment by this time, it was obvious, and no heroic efforts were on order. About 6.30 the struggle to breath was heartbreaking, at 6.45 she took her last agonising breath. Ian was to arrive at the airport in another 20 minutes. Annie and I were with her, it was pretty tough to experience. We are lucky the school holidays start next week, and Annie and I will have some time to ourselves to get out of town. It's not totally over, now it's the house and belongings. Life goes on.
Again thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Annie-n-Bill
Annie's mum has been laid to rest, last Tuesday afternoon, she was 87. Many people were there, family and friends, some from her childhood. It's been hard on Annie. For the last 13 years she has spent every Saturday with her, the only break being when we took our own vacations. For the last year Connie had been suffering after finally being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, she had a cough for years but left it unattended. Nine months ago she was on oxygen at home from a small tank, about 1.5 litres a minute. 6 months ago it was raised to 3.5 per minute and had to have a machine at home, the machine was near capacity. Three weeks ago she was admitted to the hospital as she could not get around even walking 15 feet without sitting down to recover. Annie had been visiting her after work, teaching grade three, all but two nights per week, Thursdays and Sunday. Annie was with her every evening at the hospital and the oxygen was increased to 6 litres per minute. She was struggling with her breathing and it was quite distressing for all. I missed being able to visit the first couple of weeks with a nasal infection and Annie had to go it alone. Connie had many visitors thru the day the whole time, close friends, their children and some of their grand children. I was able to accompany Annie the last couple of days. Connie never quite cottoned to me, Annie is 23 years younger, I was the Dirty Old Man, but I think she was glad I was there supporting my Annie. The last day Annie went in from school mid day as she received a call from her doctor, it was not looking good. Annie's brother was called and told to come up to Sydney from Melbourne, it was looking serious. I went by train to the hospital to be there, all her visitors that day expected to be visiting the next day. Connie had been removed from all the monitoring equipment by this time, it was obvious, and no heroic efforts were on order. About 6.30 the struggle to breath was heartbreaking, at 6.45 she took her last agonising breath. Ian was to arrive at the airport in another 20 minutes. Annie and I were with her, it was pretty tough to experience. We are lucky the school holidays start next week, and Annie and I will have some time to ourselves to get out of town. It's not totally over, now it's the house and belongings. Life goes on.
Again thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Annie-n-Bill
