Memento Mori

Tom’s brother called today, his mother passed away this afternoon. After months of ups and downs and turn-arounds, the inevitable finally happened. Now we’re going up to PA (a trip that we had already put off until after the holidays) for the last part. I’m not sure how I feel yet. I’m sad, of course, and sadder still for Tom and his sisters and brother. I’m glad Geri was pretty lucid up to the end. She would ocassionally get a little weird when her oxygen level fell, but she didn’t have to go through the dementia and catatonia that some people have to face. I’m also glad she didn’t suffer too much. She was in some discomfort, but the doctors were able to manage her pain for the most part.
Mostly, I’m having trouble believing it’s really true. This whole experience has had a bit of a surreal element to it. We’d hear that she was sick, so sick and then we’d go up and see her and she’d be sicker, yes, worse, true, but not dying or at least not what I think a “dying” person should look and act like. I don’t know if she pulled herself together because we came to see her, or what, but she always seemed so robust.