My Mom

Sometime between 10:15pm on Tuesday November 4th and 2am Wednesday November 5th 2014 my Mother died. Dave was the last one to see my Mom when he went downstairs to move the clothes into the dryer. Mom stayed up to watch her tv shows. Somewhere around 2am my dad woke up and noticed my Mom was not in bed. He opened their bedroom door and found her face down on the floor in the upstairs hallway. He called 911 and then yelled for me. I woke up and opened our bedroom door to find her on the floor, then all the CPR and training I've had for the past 20 years kicked in. I went to her head to stabilize it and had my dad and Dave help rotate her body. It took a while to rotate her on her back because of her obesity, but once she was on her back I did the ABC's (airway, breathing, circulation). Her lips were already blue. She wasn't breathing. I decided I needed to do rescue breaths. For a split second I got weirded out that I had to do this on my Mother, but I realized this is my Mother and I need to at least try. I did one rescue breath and her tongue was in the way so I tried to get it out of the way, but it was too slippery. At that point I knew she was gone. I asked my dad where the phone was so I could call 911, but he said he had already called and the phone was on the bed. I picked it up and asked if the police were on their way and the 911 operator said yes. I had Dave go downstairs and look for the police/ambulance outside and direct them where to go. I gave my dad the phone and told him to repeat everything I said to the operator. I tried rescue breathing again holding her tongue, but again no luck. The police showed up by then. I somehow ended up with my Mom's cell phone and began calling my brother while the EMT's attached the automated external defibrillator (AED) to her. The AED did not find any heart activity. Corey did not answer his phone, so I called my Aunt Sally and told her and asked her to call the rest of my Mom's siblings and the rest of the family. I again tried to call Corey, but no answer, so I called his wife's phone. Sara answered and I told her I needed to talk to Corey, she woke him up I told him. I had to stand in my parent's bedroom while they called the coroner to arrange for Mom's body to be picked up. The police then had us all go downstairs so we didn't contaminate evidence. Plus I think they didn't want us to freak out while they put her body into the bag. I called Sister Kilton and our neighbor Sarah, they immediately came over. I didn't know what to do. I sat at the computer in the kitchen. Sarah and Sister Kilton did the dishes. I knew that when a person is in morning they tend to not eat or sleep. Even though I wasn't hungry or tired, I thought if I drank water my body would make it through this. I got on my Mom's laptop and emailed her will to my brother, then printed out copies for me, my dad, and Aunt Sally. The Bishop came over and I gave him a copy of the will also. Until 6am I didn't know what to do except sit in the kitchen. My dad and Dave were in the living room. Once the police came in and asked me questions. Around 6am the coroner and police moved my Mom's body downstairs and out to his vehicle. After that I realized I had pajamas on and was grateful I wasn't walking around with only my underwear on. Aunt Sally and Uncle Alan arrived, read the will, then decided to go to breakfast while they ponder over what had just happened. I went upstairs to take a shower and Dave went to my class to tell them it was cancelled. While I was in the shower I started bawling. I haven't cried that hard in a while. Aunt Sally and Uncle Alan came back about 8am, so I went with them to the funeral home and cemetery to make arrangements. I'm normally a to do list person, but I would randomly remember something and make those phone calls throughout the day. My brain was functioning in morning, very sporatic, not logical or methodically like usual. I spoke to my brother more during that day than in the past few months. Aunt Sally and Uncle Alan dropped off my Mom's temple clothes at the funeral home as they were heading home and the funeral home already had her body and the autopsy found that she died of a pulmonary embolism. A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot in the lungs. The way we found her body now makes sense. It looks like she walked up the stairs, turned off the hallway light and was facing toward the bedroom, but got the blood clot so she face planted. Her arms were down by her side, so her spirit left before her body landed on the floor.

This was only 8 hours. Below are some pictures of her: