pyewacketsworld

Part 13:

Before I relate what eventually happened to my mother when she went to the hospital on August 11, 2006, I just have to back-track a bit to give you an idea of the real seriousness of our court case situation.

This eviction issue with our landlord was actually the second one in relation to the cat situation my mother had created, as we had our first court case back in 2001. And as I’ve indicated, we had a heck of a lot more cats then, but managed to adopt out a lot of them, but not all, and certainly not down to the mere two that was in the stipulation agreement my mother signed June 11, 2001. So since this was the second time we were involved with another eviction issue the landlord and his lawyer in a sense were out for blood and really wanted to get us out no matter what. You kind of know the situation is serious, since quite often our lawyer came to our apartment to discuss things with us, and her attitude was that the whole thing was pretty dicey…in other words, it didn’t look good for us as technically speaking by having had more than the two cats we had breached the former stipulation agreement. So, bottom line, it was that serious, that dire and there was a real good chance we would lose the case and the landlord would win. So I had all this in back of my mind, when my mother was admitted to the hospital on August 11th of 2006.

As I indicated in my Part 12 of this series, I didn’t expect what I walked into, when I entered my mother’s hospital room on the next day, Saturday, August 12th. I certainly didn’t expect her to be attached to life support and respiratory machines. Like what happened to her? Just the day before, when I went with her to the ER she was conscious and talking. Now she was in a medicated-induced coma with all those life support hookups. And you know her condition was bad, as almost right off the bat, I was being asked, if the plug should be pulled, like gee, I really wanted to make that decision. Not! I don’t think anyone wants to make such a decision unless absolutely necessary, and on the days to follow it seemed a few times that she just might make it. In other words, I didn’t want to jump the gun if there was even the slightest chance she would pull through.

I had other things lurking on my mind all this time. The social worker on the hospital floor said if there was a slim chance she pulled through, she most definitely would have to go to some kind of rehab/nursing type environment, as it would have been impossible for me to take care of her adequately. So now my concern, was money. I was receiving a very small monthly SSI benefits due to my disability, but in no way was it adequate enough to live on. My Adult Protective Service person, Mark, who had been assigned to me for the court case, made an appointment for me for the nearest Social Security Administration office so I could discuss the possibility of getting a livable and workable increase in my benefits, since if my mother did pull through and sent to a rehab, I most definitely needed more money to live on. The scheduled date of the appointment was Wednesday, August 30th with the very next day, the 30st being another court date appearance, of course that court date was made before my mother’s hospitalization. So my Adult Protective Service person also suggested to me, to secure a note from the doctor explaining the circumstance, that my mother was in the hospital, and thus a viable excuse as to why she couldn’t appear.

Now before I go on, I have to add something that was, well a little strange, and some might call it a paranormal type experience and it had to do with one of my cats, Pyewacket. Prior to my mother going to the hospital about two weeks before, Pyewacket had a habit of jumping up on the sofa to keep my mother company. Then all of a sudden he stopped…wouldn’t go near her. Late Saturday night, on August 26th, I was talking on the phone to one of the pet rescuers who had taken five of our cats. All of a sudden, while talking to her, I noticed Pyewacket jumping on the sofa. I even mentioned this oddity to the rescuer, and even she thought maybe it meant something.

Now it’s Sunday, August 27, 2006. I went over to the hospital mainly to get that note from a doctor. I had awhile to wait for her to come. I was beginning to realize that there really was little chance my mother was going to pull through, so I said over and over again to her, in her coma-like state, “Do you want to go? Do you want to go?” They say that even in a coma, a person can hear. So then the doctor finally comes in and I explain how I needed a note explaining how and why my mother couldn’t go to the next court case date on August 31st. All of a sudden I notice the vital signs of my mother plunging down rapidly and alarms going off..she was crashing. The crash team came within minutes and I was kicked out of the room while they tried to resuscitate her. Believe it or not, I was annoyed at that. I wanted to stay. I’m not a bit squeamish and in no way would I have freaked out, but like I said they kicked me out and I had to wait in the hallway. About fifteen minutes the doctors, nurses, and crash team came out of the room. My mother had died.

They all surrounded me consoling me and telling me how sorry they were and I guess they were expecting me to fall apart with hysterics and cry or something, but I didn’t. Not to sound unfeeling, but to be honest it was a relief in more ways than I can ever tell you. To this day I haven’t shed a tear of my mother’s passing since she had put me through a lot of pain while alive.  But I do still have to wonder about that incident with my cat Pyewacket.  Did he somehow sense my mother was to die the next day and that’s why he jumped up on the sofa that night?  Also, who knows?  When I asked my mother, “Do you want to go?”,  did she indeed hear me?  Was she waiting for me to let her go?  Do you mean to tell me she finally listened to something I had to say?  It  was a first then.

Now, if you want to hear something rather funny. After I came home from the hospital, drained and just plain tired, you’ll laugh at my next emotion I felt. Anger. Yes, anger. I was thinking, “Gee, so typical of you mom, you go ahead and die on me, while I’m still left with all this crap to deal with, especially the eviction court case issue. Gee thanks mom!”

In my next entry, I’ll relate the “loveliness” I had to endure, not only concerning the court case, but handling my mother’s “affairs” as she had NO savings, NO checking account and certainly NO life insurance. The “fun” was about to begin.

©2009~Melanie Neer aka pyewacket

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