Goodbye Mom…

Hey High Drag listeners.

Part of the reason that our recording sessions have been so erratic this year is that I’ve had a lot of health issues in my family. Most of that being my mother. She has been battling Muscular Dystrophy for over 30 years. Year after year, loosing muscle to the point where she was bound to a power chair for locomotion and couldn’t lift her arms to even brush her hair. In January of 2016, she was also diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. So not only were her muscles deteriorating, but she was loosing access to them neurologically.

Last night, my mother passed away.

This is a woman that fought every minute of every day. When my father passed away last fall, she lost her partner and caretaker. She arranged home care and took a roommate to assist in her care. After a bout of illness this last summer that had her in the ICU for nearly 3 weeks, she confided in me that she would not go through that again. This woman, who had the strength of will to take on heavy weight contenders, was at last done. I received the call Sunday night that she had gone into the emergency room. I rushed up and meet with her and watched her gasp for air. She was admitted to the hospital and over the course of the week, she was put on multiple masks to get enough air into her. They had loaded her up with antibiotics for pneumonia. She did, however, refuse a feeding tube.

She never bounced back. Not this time. She declined daily until we had to make the decision to arrange for hospice. She would go home to pass away but even that wouldn’t happen. Yesterday morning I met her doctor and social worker. They said that just the transition to home would probably kill her. Plus, the amount of oxygen she needed would not be possible on hospice. We decided that we would make her comfortable and remove the mask. She wouldn’t make it back home. After 6 hours, she finally set aside her burden. As the sole heir, it is my job to see that her Will is taken care of, conclude her business and make sure that my kids, my wife and I move on.

I will give fair warning. I value my space friends like family. I may need to lean on you from time to time because my world just got a little colder.

Rest in Peace, Mom. You’ve worked hard all your life. Now, go and play.

Scott