Mom is still Transitioning

@Istoppedescaping

Hugs to you at this emotionally difficult time. The sound of dad's breathing is forever etched in my memory.

Some thoughts:

IME, sometimes people who are actively dying seem to need permission to leave. I know it sounds crazy, but hearing is the last sense to shut down. Your mom might need to know that you'll be OK once she passes. She'll pass more easily if you thank her for being there for you and that you'll miss her but be OK. Dad, who was no yet actively dying, passed within a few days of mom telling him we'd be OK and that being married to him had been an adventure.

Another thing I have seen play out is that some people who are actively dying seem to make a choice to pass when specific individuals are bedside or have stepped away. With my friend's husband who passed from complex heart-lung issues which suddenly stopped responding to treatment, he seemed to hang on until his favorite sister arrived from halfway across the country. He was lucid for about 10 minutes after she got to the hospital making a joke about not eating sugar-free ice cream on his deathbed, then became unresponsive passing 30 minutes later. With my MIL it was the opposite as long as BIL was holding vigil bedside she wasn't going to go. He was a physician and knew the end was hours away. He was bedside for 3 days until his wife convinced him to go home for a shower and nap while she sat with MIL. BIL didn't make it back to his house before she passed.

Can another family member or a hospice Chaplin support you bedside?

HB