Friday March 19, 2010 - Missing you, Mom

My Dear Friends,

My mom has been in frail health, suffering from a severe lung disease for many years. Saturday night March 13 she went into cardiac arrest and was rushed to Queens Hospital in Honolulu.

I was lucky enough to get a flight out on Monday, March 15th. My brothers, sisters, their kids and I have been at the ICU around the clock wanting to be with her, talking to her, praying for recovery but she never came out of her coma state. Sometimes when I spoke with Mom, she blinked her eyes and her pupils dilated; she squeezed my finger and responded to soothing...and also to agitation...I knew she could hear me, understand what was being said, and believed she was desperately trying to communicate.

72 hours after mom was admitted, the doctors scheduled a battery of tests; a prognosis was made yesterday, March 17 evening that she most likely would not recover from extensive brain damage that occurred due to lack of oxygen. Additionally, my mother's will stated that she did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. Our family honored her wishes and all the tubes were removed at 12:30 am.
All immediate family members were present; we lovingly released our mom as she took her last breaths and peacefully passed away at 1:22 am.

I can't remember being so heartbroken and yet so relieved at the same time.
Watching someone you love dearly struggle to breathe and endure pain for so long is very, very difficult. It is truly a blessing that Mom is not suffering any more.
Services need to be delivered as soon as possible because many of us are from out of town, so today we met with the people from the church, mortuary and cemetery.
They couldn't all accommodate us on the same day, but we were able to get the wake scheduled for 5:30 pm Monday; the mass will be on Tuesday, and the burial on Wednesday.
Mom was truly an angel. Those that knew her say she was full of aloha - generous, graceful, kind and loving - definitely a beautiful example of servant leadership, adored and respected by so many.
We anticipate at least 400 people will attend Mom's wake.

Although I am grateful for the time I got to spend with my dear mom, I was looking forward to interviewing her on Native Hawaiian values for my ILA-B this summer. Oh well..I guess that wasn't in the cards.
I miss her so very much...
This PhD journey sure has been interesting, hasn't it? Thank you for your continued support through your friendship. I really appreciate you.
Me ke aloha pumehana, Cami