Questions ?

Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, SanStone Health and Rehabilitation, Dr. Larry Joe Russell, Susan Habel RN, Tammy Mace RN, Lara Mooney LPN, "Cookie" Maude Romeo, Mike Deloach, Christopher Sprenger, NC Board of Nursing, NC Medical Board and NCDHHS.
The first day after Mom's passing, we did as she wanted us to. We had a party, everyone came to the house, and my nephew and I went to the store and picked up beer and wine. Then we went back to the house, and had our version of a traditional Irish wake. Mom always said when she went, she wanted a hell of a party. We gave it our best shot, there were plenty of tears, plenty of laughs, and lots of hugs. I think she would have been pleased that we honored her wishes.
The next day, waking up was sobering, in more ways than one. At first, I couldn't get out of bed, I just lay there in disbelief. I felt comfort in knowing that Mom was not going to be struggling any more. She was in a place where she could see perfectly, walk without a walker, and would never again have to wait on someone to help her to the bathroom.  She had been set free from the troubles of this world. I was happy for her, but my heart was broken for all of us left behind.
We started a new day, gathering at my house again. My sister and her family came up from Atlanta, and everyone else came over. There was a great comfort in being surrounded by all the family. There was one family missing. During the stress of the last month, one of my sisters, had become separated from the rest of us. It was a terrible thing to happen to a family, that had always been so close.
As we were all talking about Mom, there were some things that just didn't make sense, about what had happened. The more I told the story from the staff at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, the more things didn't add up.  According to Tammy Mace RN, Mom had been assisted to the bathroom, by a cna from another hall.Tammy Mace RN told me that five or ten minutes later she walked by Mom's room, and she was slumped over in an awkward position. She then called her name, and got no answer, went into the room, and felt no pulse. They started cpr, which continued for at least 45 minutes or so. Depending on which version of the story is true.
The times just didn't add up, the more we discussed things, the more questions came up. The people who were there that morning, had never taken care of Mom before. The roommate at the time, didn't seem to realize the seriousness of what had taken place. When my sister went back to Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, to pick up Mom's things, Everything was in boxes. The bed was made, and there was no indication that anything had happened there just a few hours before. I would have expected that we would have been able to pack Mom's things. There were certain things that we never found.
Regardless of what we were learning about Mom's last day, we had to make the arrangements. My youngest sister and I went to the mortuary to sign the papers and make arrangements there. For some reason, we had to have a medical examiner check her body. It was now the weekend, and the medical examiner could not be there till Monday. The mortuary could not proceed until that happened. It seemed strange that we had to have a medical examiner check the body, when Mom had died in Pardee Hospital. There were doctors present, and I know they have medical examiners at Pardee. Just one more reason to question what was happening.
We had to proceed with the funeral arrangements without the remains. There was an issue with the church, but the Priest was fond of Mom, and made things work. Everyone else had there jobs to do also. My oldest sister went to St. Lawrence Basillica, to arrange the service. There were flowerers to order, someone had to write the obituary, and my middle sister, took care of the food and arranged to have a reception at Jubilee in Asheville. It was a busy couple of days.There was a picture board put together by a group of family members, with everyone contributing pictures. It was hard, but we were all together, supporting each other.